Monrovia – The Mayor of Monrovia, Jefferson Tamba Koijee has announced an enumeration exercise within the City of Monrovia aimed at locating and tracking waste across the city.
Report by Gerald C. Koineyeneh, [email protected]
At his first press conference of 2019 at City Hall on Friday, January 18, Koijee noted that the entire city was overwhelmed with waste and the project is intended to engage residents in deriving at a sustainable waste management approach and provide proper address system for homes and business areas.
According to the Mayor, the exercise will enable the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) have a complete data of households and structures within the city and will guide the MCC in deriving at the minimum amount to be paid by residents for their waste disposal.
“Liberia is the only country that we don’t pay for waste. You just take your dirt from your house and put it on the coal tar (asphalt road). We say to you that when we have the data, we will be able to have a full understanding, a proper calculation of how many structures in the various homes. Based on the data, we will be informed to make a sound decision. But people will be asked to pay for their waste,” he averred.
He added the exercise is one of the major projects under the ‘Weah for Clean City Campaign’ and is expected to cover ten of the seventeen electoral districts in Montserrado including district numbers Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen and Sixteen.
For its smooth implementation, the Mayor noted that the MCC has contracted a Liberian based company, All-Terrain Services (ATS). The project, according to him will create jobs for many youths; adding that 370 young people, all residents of Monrovia are currently benefiting from the exercise.
He called on the community residents to cooperate with the team, clarifying that it is not political or intended to destroy their homes as it is being perceived in some quarters.
“To all community dwellers, please give your full cooperation. They will mark your home; no politic and nobody is going to break your homes. We are just trying to give your home a proper address system. Let that initiative not be misconstrued,” he pleaded.
In addition, he revealed that the MCC has also hired a group of popular Liberia comedians including Angel Michael and a local non-for-profit NGO, ICARE, to create awareness through comedy, jingles and symposium in the communities about the exercise.
He frowned on residents who are in the constant habits of burning waste in the city and called on them to desist from such hazardous act.
Meanwhile, the Operation Manager of ATS, the company contracted to carry on the enumeration, Edwin L. Massalay sitting alongside Major Koijee commended MCC for the opportunity and disclosed that the project which will last for a month has already commenced with 8,000 structures being enumerated so far.
Massalay added that the project is currently benefiting over 400 hundred residents, predominately young people with 250 benefiting directly and 150 indirectly.