Africa-Press – Liberia. The Bong County office of the National Transit Authority (NTA) seems to have been gifted to insects, reptiles, and rodents as a forest of grass engulfs the facility, and those in charge of the running of the place have not been seen for months.
This has led to local security officers tasked with the responsibility to man the facility, constructed in Gbarnga, expressing grave concern over the abandonment of the bus terminal.
The head of security, Gwee M. Garbe, in a disappointed mood, told the Daily Observer on Tuesday, June 13, that the property has been completely abandoned by the transit authority.
The Gbarnga NTA terminal was constructed under the leadership of former NTA Managing Director, Karmo Ville, during the regime of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. But according to Garbe, the facility has yet to be used.
“The doors and ceiling are all being brought down by termites due to the deplorable condition of the building,” he said.
The NTA’s assigned security described the abandoned terminal as a waste of public funds, blaming the situation on what he termed “poor planning.”
“The government used a lot of public resources to build this terminal, and for it to be abandoned by the NTA itself and the citizen— it is a complete waste of public funds.
“The government cannot be spending a lot of money on something that is not conducive for the people. Now you see the people sitting under the rain, in the sun, and on the road awaiting car – it is wrong,” he said.
Garbe and his colleagues were recently attacked by some thugs at the abandoned NTA office, an attack that led to one of his colleagues sustaining a head wound.
Previously known as the Monrovia Transit Authority, the NTA was elevated to a nationwide transportation system by an act of the legislature in 2009. The NTA was enacted by the National Legislature on September 11, 2008 and approved by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on March 24, 2009.
The Gbarnga terminal is located on the Lofa Road on the outskirts of Gbarnga.
Garbe believes that the abandonment of the terminal is as a result of the unilateral decision of the government agency in choosing the location and specifics of the project without involving the locals. “If the citizens were involved, they couldn’t have allowed the terminal to be built in this area. If you want to carry out development for a group of people, involve them. Anything that is not done properly is not done at all,” Garbe noted.
However, Garbe said the NTA has not paid him for 59 months, though he makes a mere US$100 as take home pay.
“The NTA has not been able to pay me for 59 months, and things have been very difficult for me. I have a family to cater to,” he said. “They owe me a total of US$5,900. I’m feeling bad because my family and I don’t have anything to eat, so I’m appealing to the transit Management through the National government for me and my friends’ salaries,” Mr. Garbe stressed.
He said his children have been put out of school, due to the failure of the NTA authority to pay him.
“My wife has to sell potato greens before we can eat. I’m also sick as we speak, but I have no money to seek medication.”
Garbe disclosed that he and his colleagues got employed on September 1, 2014, “and we used to receive our pay every month end, but the narrative has changed since 2018 up to present. We have not been paid for fifty-nine months now,” he reiterated.
He revealed that due to the delay in their salaries paid by the NTA authority some of their colleagues have abandoned their job as security.
“We were four securities assigned here but two of our colleagues left the job due to the delay in paying our salaries. So we are only two here now and my friend is making little over US $ 89 and he too has not taken pay for over two years,” he noted.
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