-Citizens in Nimba launch Campaign to rehabilitate national road
By Jerry T. Myers Jr. in Nimba, Liberia jerrytmyers@yahoo.com
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The main highway linking Nimba County to Liberia’s southeastern region via Saclepea and Tappita are in a very deplorable state and it is on the verge of being cutoff, as well as some major access roads within Nimba itself and across the country.
Access to and from the main referral hospital in that corridor, the Jackson F. Doe Memorial Hospital located in Tappita is a nightmare.
On Wednesday September 19, 2018, a woman identified as Grace Davis traveling from Sanoyea in Bong County to seek medical attention at the Jackson F. Doe Hospital, died in the town of Graie, because the vehicle on which she was riding could not pass through a huge pile of mud to get her to the hospital in time.
Just a glimpse of one of the bad roads with a truck stuck in the mud
While investigations are underway to trace the missing nearly 16 billion Liberian dollars, a group of citizens in Lower Nimba County over the weekend launched a campaign code named, “Give Our Machines” in Tappita City.
The goal of the campaign is to petition Representatives Dorwohn Twain Gleekia and Johnson Gwaikolo of Nimba Electoral Districts #s 6&9 to release to the people of Lower Nimba their portion of the yellow machines assigned there by the County ‘s leadership several years ago for them to make intervention on the national road that is currently in a poor state.
Nimba County authority and the County’s legislative caucus in 2013, assigned six pieces of the county machines to Lower Nimba for the rehabilitation of farm-to-market roads across Tappita and Yarwin Mehnsonnoh Statutory Districts, but the citizens said since 2015 the machines were retrieved from the areas, they yet are to know their whereabouts.
The head of the campaign, Pastor B. Manledy Towah disclosed that they are currently raising two thousand signatures for their petition that will be submitted to the lawmakers within the next three weeks.
Pastor Towah observed that the people of Lower Nimba are going through what he considered as untold and life- threatening sufferings due the deplorable state of the road from Saclepea to Tappita.
Pastor B. Manledy Towah
“Our farm produce and goods cannot safely and easily be transported to and from the market without either it being damaged or the owner accruing extra cost; Passengers and pedestrians are dying or getting wounded at the mud; motorcycles and vehicles are damaging at the mud; basic commodities prices have skyrocketed and consumable products are scarce on our markets, yet the county leadership say they can’t intervene because the county twenty two pieces of yellow machines are for farm to market roads and not the national road,” Pastor Towah explained.
He said if their concern is addressed by the lawmakers and the machines are returned to Tappita, they will use them to recondition both primary and feeder roads of concern to them.
The Liberian cleric said when this is done, it will enable citizens of the region to easily transport their produce and goods to the market; something that according to him will increase citizen’s productivity, earnings, and improve their lives.
The Baptist cleric said that the lady who died as a result of the bad road did not deserve to die the way she died but because of the lack of concern from both national and county leaderships to intervene on the road.
He is meanwhile calling on all citizens of Lower Nimba to join the campaign in order to save the area from further deaths and damages.
When contacted the County D. Dorr Cooper to ascertain whether there is a possible for the machines to work on the national road, he said the county lacks funding to put its machines on the road.
Superintendent Cooper disclosed that the county has written a proposal to the public works ministry to give it funding for the rehabilitation of the Ganta-Cestos River road.
During the recent Nimba County Council Sitting, delegates approved a budget of over eight hundred thousand United States dollars for the rehabilitation of feeder roads and the layout of several cities including Tappita across Nimba County.