President George Manneh Weah was expected, as part of his nationwide tour, to visit Lofa County on May 17, 2021. The visit was put to a later date in order to allow citizens of the county, with the support of the Liberian leader, to adequately prepare to receive him giving the immensity of development challenges in the county particularly bad road, according to City Mayor of Monrovia, Jefferson Tamba Koijee.
Addressing a news conference on May 17, 2021 in Monrovia, Mayor Koijee said he saw the need to inform his kinsmen about interventions the President is making in handling one of the county’s most pressing development needs –the reconditioning of near impassable roads before visiting the county –a contradiction to what is being conjectured that President Weah will not visit the largest county because the people did not support his presidential bid in 2017.
“I want to say to you that because of the bad condition of the roads the President’s trip did not materialize on the date announced earlier. We want to say to the Chiefs, zoes, youth, farmers, all the citizens of Lofa County that President Weah was magnanimous in taking a decision to make emergency intervention on the road before going to the County on June 3, 2021,” Mayor Koijee stressed.
According to Mayor Koijee, as of the time he spoke to the press, the Ministry of Public Works has already began putting its machineries to work on the road based on the President’s instruction.
He pointed out that the falsehood being spread that President Weah is not interested in Lofa County is not true evidenced by the fact that he and other sons and daughters of the county comfortably seated in strategic position in the Weah-led government and making unhindered contribution to national leadership and development.
“The President is interested in Lofa County. He is enthusiastic and prepared to enter Lofa County triumphantly. On June 3, Lofa County would be the place to be. President Weah will visit the remotest village in Lofa that have never seen a Liberian president before,” he noted.
The Monrovia City Mayor said that while the preparation for the President’s visit to Lofa is steadily ongoing, the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) is working tirelessly to ensure that the final waste disposal site moves from Wein Town to Cheesmanburg before the end of this year despite resource constraints.
He noted that the City Government holds dear to its chest the need to keep Monrovia clean and green amid the challenges that abound. “People would take their wastes on dump them in the streets; Community Based Enterprises (CBEs) are in the habit of throwing trash to designated sites without paying a penny to the City Corporation but all everyone thinks is that Monrovia should be cleaned. While that is true, cleaning the City is everyone’s business. We have to change our mind-sets about handling wastes because even the cleanest cities in the world were not made clean by one person; it took the collective effort of every citizen,” the Mayor indicated.
Mayor Koijee also told newsmen that the City Corporation is cognizant of the fact that market structures constructed in the commercial district of Waterside are not being used while marketers are still selling in prohibited areas. “We will be moving there to ensure that people use those facilities. That’s why the government invested so much in building them. We will send our community engagement team there to educate them that those infrastructures were built for them to use. It is not for them to be abandoned. There will be a strict order in that regard. That project was solely funded by the Government of Liberia because the President saw the need to construct a decent place for our people to ply their trade,” he maintained.
