By Frank Sainworla, Jr. in Minnesota, USA
Brooklyn Center- The Mayor of Brooklyn Center in the US state of Minnesota, Tim Wilson has said efforts are being made to strengthen the Sister City relations with Liberia’s northwestern city of Voinjama in Lofa County.
In an interview with www.newspublictrust.com here on Friday, Mr. Wilson said a joint commission is being set up to implement programs that would consolidate the relationship that was formally established in 2014.
The interview was conducted on the sidelines of a Journalist Breakfast hosted by the City of Brooklyn Center, to kick off the 2018 convention of the Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas (ALJA).
Mr. Wilson, who has been Mayor of the City of Brooklyn Center for 12 years now, said the Ebola outbreak hampered the consolidation of the sister city relations between the two cities.
He said emphasis would be placed on harnessing socio-cultural and educational exchange programs between Voinjama and Brooklyn Center going forward.
“I have two constituencies—Brooklyn Center and Voinjama,” Mayor Willson said.
When he first visited Voinjama in 2014, Liberia was battling the deadly Ebola virus and the Brooklyn Center Mayor said this has caused him to have close affinity to the northwestern Liberian city, which has “rich culture and a lot to offer.”
Mayor Wilson said in addition to a fire truck donated to Voinjama few years ago, there are plans by the city of Brooklyn Center to assist the Lofa County capital with tractors and educational materials and that assistance will grow from strength.
The US state of Minnesota is home to thousands of Liberians who migrated to the US during the course of the West African countries 14 years civil war and thereafter.
The Brooklyn Center City Mayor said there have been improvement in the deportment of Liberian refugees and immigrants in this Minnesota city, a far cry from what things were in the immediate aftermath of the Liberian civil war.
There were times when thousands showed up at Liberian parties that ended up rowdy, leaving Minnesota police to move in to restore order, Mayor Wilson told this news outlet.
The 2018 ALJA Convention in Minnesota, which runs from October 5-7, 2018, is being held under the theme: “Improved Media and Government Relationship- Recipe for a peaceful and stable Liberia.”
Mr. Moses Sandy, President of ALJA said the group was established 20 years ago to provide a critical voice for Liberia in the diaspora regarding issues affecting the land of their nativity.
But he said the operations its operations were paralyzed for some time back in 2004 due to a leadership rift.