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Liberia's
mounting environmental crisis: Erosion and sanitation
tops the list
Saturday,
December 02, 2006
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
"Unbearable
poor sanitary conditions have ruined the safety of
basic human commodities such as water and the
priceless air we breathe in that have contributed
immensely to deaths and have eroded the life
expectancy rate between 48-50 years."
- Morris Koffa, Liberia Environmental Watch
Environmental activist Morris Koffa has been
educating us for years about the crisis facing our
people and country. It is an issue affecting all of us
when we go to bed and wake up the next day. It stares
at us, but we don’t want to stare back at it because
it is scary. But the environmental crisis facing
Liberia will not go away until we do something about
it.
Trash littered in present-day Monrovia - courtesy:
LEW
It is not about the civil war anymore, because
there is not one to divide us, to tear our hearts
apart and keep us from enjoying our own country, our
relatives and friends and those things that we
cherished most when we were our old or young selves.
Our new enemy now is the tons of garbage in the
midst of human beings that cannot find its way to a
landfill. It is about contaminated water finding its
way into the thirsty souls and homes of Liberians for
cooking and bathing. It is about that stubborn erosion
that is eating away miles and miles of pristine
beaches and destroying homes, with no end in sight.
Bridges all around the country are not been
maintained. For how long, only God knows. A key bridge
in the heart of the capital has already crumbled
before the watchful eyes of helpless Liberians, who
now must use the other one that hasn’t been
maintained, or hasn’t had a screw replaced in it for
close to 30 years.
Talking about catastrophe in the making? God
forbid. Because the Liberian people cannot take
anymore-mass tragedy like the one they bear during
that senseless and selfish civil war that raged for
political power for over a decade.
Just recently, President Sirleaf referred to
the capital, Monrovia an “eyesore,” and has
ordered the demolition of all sidewalk and street
stalls. She is right; Monrovia is an eyesore that
needs to be replaced.
I just wish the president would declare a day
– a proclamation day for erosion control, and find a
solution to the garbage crisis like she’s doing with
the demolition of the market stalls around Monrovia.
There is an urgent need for landfills for
garbage disposal and reclamation plants for human
feces throughout the country that will derive usable
materials from the waste.
That will ease the burden on the toilet or the
so-called “pupu factory” in Fiamah, which is over
used, often neglected and not maintained at all, and
is causing enormous odor and health problem for
residents in that part of the capital.
If possible, that outdated
and ancient “pupu factory ought to be shut down
immediately until the government can invest in a new
and modern facility, the equipment, and the manpower
for the handling and treatment of human feces.
Something must be done about the erosion crisis
also before we lose all or parts of the coastal
counties in Liberia. Beaches and Fanti Towns in
coastal Liberia are either wiped away or are being
threatened by the stubborn erosion.
Parts of Greenville, Sinoe County’s famous
Mississippi Street, together with homes in the area
are gone, thanks to the erosion problem. A major
portion of West Point in Monrovia is gone. The sea has
slowly creeped into the heart of New Kru Town
destroying homes and businesses and is threatening D-Twe
High School. Erosion also threatens the OAU Village
outside of Monrovia. I understand the coastal city of
Buchanan in Grand Bassa County is also encountering
erosion problem.
The erosion problem, like the sanitation
problem facing the country is a national crisis that
deserves national attention.
That’s why President Sirleaf and Vice
President Boikai must be inclusive and sensitive in
their public utterances when they are discussing the
environment.
Star Radio recently reported, “Vice President
Joseph Boikai has called for urgent action to rescue
the OAU Village in Virginia outside of Monrovia,”
when he met with a 5-man delegation from the
Dubai-based Landmark International Company.
This is offensive because Mr. Boikai, a citizen
of Liberia who has lived most of his adult life in
Liberia ought to know how much damage the erosion
problem has caused ordinary Liberians, whose homes
have been destroyed over the years in and around the
same area of the OAU village.
The vice president’s plea for help to rescue
the OAU village tells me one thing: It tells me how
much importance he placed on that facility then the
homes of poor Liberians that has been destroyed over
the years by erosion, with not one person in
government calling for help to rescue the homes of
those Liberians.
D-Twe High School that serves an entire
community in that part of Monrovia is slowly sinking,
with no help in sight. The vice president is not even
rallying Liberians and others to save that structure.
The vice president’s message should have been
the opposite, and should not sound like the homes of
ordinary Liberians and a major institution don’t
count, and that those Liberians don’t deserve a
public plea from a national political figure such as
Mr. Boikai to save a school or rebuild their homes.
However, in the wake of this natural tragedy,
the national leadership ought to find a solution to
help those Liberians and all national structures the
same way it is calling on others to rescue the OAU
Village.
Another crisis looming is the issue of public
and private restrooms. I am hoping the Ministry of
Health would require businesses operating in the
public domain to have toilets that will serve their
customers and the public. The Ministry of Health must
also mandate the building and maintenance of toilet
facilities in private quarters throughout the country.
That will prevent Liberians from using the
restroom under bridges, in unfinished homes and
burying feces in their own yards and on their
properties. That will also prevent Liberians and
others from emptying buckets (chumbers) full of human
feces in the sea during the early morning hours to
avoid detection.
Can you imagine walking on Broad Street, Carey
Street or walking in any of the cities in one of the
counties and you want to use the restroom, like I once
experienced during a visit to downtown Monrovia a
decade ago? That story is worth a tell-all book.
Another ubiquitous environmental crisis shaping
up in some areas of the country is the burying of the
dead in front of a family home. The Ministry of Health
should prevent Liberians from burying their loved ones
(dead bodies) in front of homes. A huge vault with a
dead body in it is not only an eyesore; it is eerie.
I wrote in the past that Monrovia should be
replaced with a new capital somewhere in the country.
I am still holding on to that position. Perhaps, this
is the time for such.
I am ready. Are you?
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