Africa-Press – Liberia. Mayor John Charlie Siafa, Mamoudu Dabor and Christopher Nyenga
Monrovia City Mayor, John Charuk Siafa, has commenced a new partnership with musicians and the Liberia Crusaders for Peace (LCP) to ensure the cleanliness of the capital, with a call on Liberians to hold each other accountable in the packaging, collection and disposal of solid waste across the city.
Mayor Siafa along with Liberian Musician Christopher Nyenga ‘‘alias’’ Christoph, Mamoudu Dabor (2Switt Baba) and LCP Executive Director Juli Endee led hundreds of young Liberians to clean various streets in Monrovia over the weekend.
Dabor is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Magic Group of Companies owner of The Money Empire (TME) label which signed Christoph.
The cleaning up exercise was carried out under the Clean and Green Monrovia Act Campaign recently launched by the MCC.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with FrontPage Africa (FPA) at the Monrovia City Hall following the climax of the exercise, Mayor Siafa disclosed that the partnership was also geared towards raising awareness to encourage citizens, including business owners to stay home on the first Saturday of every month to clean their surroundings, communities and business areas.
He observed that with the growing population in the Liberian capital, new strategies and programs must be implored to tackle the efficient and effective collection of solid waste from the city.
“Stars attract people and when you are partnering with them, the results would be added values. We are very opened to partner with everybody. This is where we say ask what not your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. It is laudable that young people took up their time to support this ideology,” he stated.
Mayor Siafa, however, expressed the hope that the partnership would yield sustainable results towards the collection of solid waste in Monrovia.
Outdated City Ordinances
But Mayor Siafa stressed the need for the legal and regulatory frameworks governing Monrovia to be revisited.
He claimed that many of the city ordinances are outdated, and as such, new ones must be put into place to suit present day realities.
“We are working on that. Currently we have a MOU signed with the Montserrado Bar Association to look at these ordinances. At the time these ordinances were formed, we didn’t had the Liberia Revenue Authority(LRA), Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) and the issue of climate change was not highlighted including solid waste policy,” the MCC boss said.
Attracting Investors
He maintained that the review of these ordinances would help attract investors to the management of solid waste in Liberia.
Mayor Siafa said new landfills and recycling plants are needed, and therefore, public-private partnership must be encouraged to generate additional revenue for the Liberian government.
He called for the use of political will to combat against solid waste disposal in the city and the involvement of all citizens regardless of status.
He added that the lack of adequate logistical support makes it difficult for the MCC to execute its assigned tasks and responsibilities in an effective and efficient manner.
Pay On Time
Mayor Siafa further used this medium to call on Liberians to change their normal way of doing things.
He encouraged them to utilize the community based waste management companies in their various communities as part of efforts to keep Monrovia clean and green at all times.
Mayor Siafa pointed out that citizens should pay on time the minimum fees being charged by these companies to collect waste from their respective communities.
He cautioned against the use of disadvantaged youth or drug addicts as transporters of waste from the communities.
He observed that many of them do not dispose waste at sites designated by the MCC, but usually dump garbage at wetlands or other areas in the same communities.
Mayor Siafa emphasized that Liberians should now start to hold each other accountable on the manner and form in which they disposed their waste or garbage.
“We want the citizens to bundle their waste into a plastic bag; tie it up and awaits collection for disposal.”
Also speaking, Mamoudu Dabor ‘‘alias’’ 2Switt called on young Liberians to remain willing and committed to buttress the efforts of government whenever they are called upon.
He said Liberians, especially young people should continue to keep their communities clean and green to help prevent the spread of diseases amongst the citizenry.
He noted that citizens should promote good sanitation at all times regardless of their situations or conditions.
Dabor, however, pledged to support meaningful initiatives or ventures that would empower and improve the living conditions of Liberians.
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