Liberia: Garbage Disposal Vis-à-Vis Pollution Issues in Red Light

It is said that cleanliness is next to godliness and a population that practices proper hygiene will always feel well and a long life span is guaranteed. We tend to agree to those who harbor this opinion because filth is a proponent of disease and underdevelopment which lead to death and destruction.

The Red Light suburb of Paynesville City that plays host to more than 100,000 people on a daily basis, who use this very busy interface as a frontier to trade as well as commute to other parts of the country and beyond, is gradually becoming the home of garbage that is unattended to. There are stockpiles of garbage all over Red Light and its surrounding communities that are not attended to by authorities responsible.

As far as we know, the Paynesville City Corporation [PCC] is receiving funding from the central government through the national budget to ensure that the City is maintained in accordance with acceptable standards. Again, whether the allotment for the PCC in the national budget is adequate to tackle the many problems faced by the City is another debate.

But our concern now is what is the PCC doing to ensure that the stockpiles of garbage in the Red Light area are disposed off effectively and efficiently. Has the PCC engaged the Liberia Marketing Association [LMA] whose members are producing bulk of the garbage in the Red Light area in this regard? Is the PCC sourcing other means to ensure that the City is clean?

We tend to pose these questions to the authorities of the PCC, especially the City Mayor because these stockpiles of dirt are causing pollution for the population which breeds diseases as well as the obstruction of the free flow of traffic. Red Light where passengers bore vehicles for every part of the country and the City of Monrovia, is being overtaken by stockpile of dirt that is abandoned and not attended to for several months, making it very difficult for the free movement of people and cars in that part of the City. More to that, people are seated in that filth and selling food stuff that are purchased by community dwellers to prepare their daily meals – this is hazardous.

The situation is now worse because of the rain. Once it rains and the water sets in the dirt, it produces a terrible smell, thus polluting the air and causing health hazard for all those breathing that polluted air. Also, erosion is being caused by that unattended garbage since in fact the dirt has blocked the water way. As a result of this, the running water from the down poll of rain will undermine other areas for passage which eventually leads to erosion and tearing of car paths.

The Paynesville City Corporation [PCC] has a sacred responsibility to the people and authorities at the PCC should ensure that the people of that part of the country should not come down with a disease as a result of those stockpiles of garbage; because anything in that regard, has the propensity to spread to other parts of the county and country.