PHOTO: Rep. Vincent Willie
By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
Since the grinding to death by a Rubber processing machine at the Liberia Agriculture Company (LAC) over the weekend, the management headed Vijay Maraj has shown no regret over the painful death of their maintenance employee, Grand Bassa County Representative Vincent Willie told state radio, ELBC Monday morning.
According to Representative Willie, since LAC worker, Emmanuel Joe got crushed to pieces by the rubber processing machine at the Company’s facility on August 21, 2021, not a single press release or meeting has been held by the LAC management.
Rep. Willie made the assertion on the ELBC Super Morning talk show on August 23, 2021.
The Grand Bassa County District #4 Representative said that the management of “LAC is insensitive to the plight of their employees” and shows no remorse of the tragic incident at their company.
The Liberian Lawmaker said he (Rep. Willie) called the current manager of the plantation to have a meeting with him, but the manager kept him waiting for forty-five minutes without showing up.
Rep. Willie further said currently, the area where the incident occurred at the company’s facility has been barricaded, while investigation is ongoing to ascertain who put the switch on while maintenance work was ongoing.
He added that in as much the management is showing no regret over the painful death of their employee, their factory will remain shut down until they can come to their senses.
Rep. Willie disclosed that he has provided food items and currently in discussions with the deceased family members.
Meanwhile, family members of the dead employee have threatened to sue the LAC management for their lack of remorse and for what they claim is their refusal to step in on the tragedy incident.
Since the incident last Saturday, the LAC Management has been tight-lipped, as in the case other incidents at the company.
In March 2019, Fayiah Kettor disappeared from the LAC hospital facility after he was admitted, but he was later discovered dead.
And also in 2020, a three-day-old baby went missing at the same hospital and there were no statements from the company on those incidents.
At the same time, youth groups from the Wee Statutory District, where the company is situated, have threatened mass protest against the management of LAC, if they do don’t say anything about the tragic incident that took the life of its worker, Emmanuel Joe. He is reported to have been employed with the company for some 20 years.