Monrovia – Residents of Peace Island were delighted on Wednesday, May 20, 2020, when the National Housing Authority, Monrovia City Corporation and Habitat for Humanity International visited the community while monitoring ongoing water sanitation and hygiene activities during the regular community clean-up campaign.
The clean-up exercise held by community PASSA volunteers was marked by the installation of 20 signboards with the inscription “NO DUMPING BY ORDER OF MCC AND EPA – Violators will be fined LR$500.00” in the community. This work was carried out in the framework of the incremental slum upgrading support to the Republic of Liberia under the Liberia Country Program, co-funded by the OFID and European Union grants through Habitat for Humanity and Cities Alliance.
Speaking at Peace Island, the Commissioner of Congo Town Township, Mr. Mensah Suku, highly commended the community for initiating the project and continued engagement in their own development. He commended support of the government (NHA, MCC) and development partners (Habitat for Humanity and Cities Alliance) for facilitating exemplary integrated slum upgrading model and praised the donors (EU and OFID) for their support especially during difficult time posed by COVID 19 outbreak. Mr. Suku reiterated his commitment to support the community leadership in reinforcing of the recently developed community by-laws in accordance to city ordinances of the City government of Monrovia. He said ‘’the sign boards will enable us reinforce the rule laid down for door-to-door waste collection as the only way to keep a community free from waste, pests and disease vectors such as cockroaches, rats and mosquitoes’’. He stated that this can help improve health for the local community residents.
Mr. Dkern Carlors, the coordinator at MCC taskforce on Covid-19, expressed his gratitude to the residents and commissioner of Congo Town for their tireless work on ground and appreciated he financial and material support which has also enabled the city government to deliver its mandate of waste removal from the communities across Monrovia.
According to the Chief of Party of Habitat for Humanity International, Mr. Mathew Ndote, residents of Peace Island and the leadership have been very involved in the whole process. He noted that over 36,000 cubic feet of accumulated of waste, since the foundation of the settlement in 2004, were removed from the site and encouraged the community to sustain their roles in reinforcing payment for door-to-door waste collection.