PHOTO: Just one of the stockpiles of garbage in this area
By Edwin M. Fayia, III edwinfayia@yahoo.com
Many years of poor garbage or solid waste collection and disposal mechanism continue to haunt Liberia.
Several Liberian and foreign garbage collection and disposal experts say it is only courage that can make one , to pass through the Red-Light General Market, which is littered with stockpiles of garbage, which pollutes the atmosphere with stench in the Paynesville suburb of Monrovia..
Why? Such is the unattended and neglect to the extent that over the years, authorities of the Paynesville City Corporation (PCC) and the Liberia Marketing Association (LMA) have maintained very poor garbage collection and disposal system that has left the largest business hub unhygienic and unsanitary.
Both highly public resource generating entities (PCC) and (LMA) had only consistently argued that the two entities should work together in order to keep business hub unhygienic and unsanitary for thousands of Liberian and foreign business people.
Unarguably, both entities who are the official custodians of the Red-Light General Market, continue to collect considerable sums of money from the business people as municipal taxes and garbage collection fees since the market was established during the height of the deadly Liberian civil war.
Such funds, business people claimed are only allegedly landing into the pockets of corrupt officials of the LMA and PCC and attempts by high profile past and present Liberian Governments officials to probe into the financial malpractices are greeted with well-organized resistance and above all on many occasions politicized thus, such attempts are abandoned and swept under the table.
In addition to the menace and nightmare of the very filthy conditions of the Red-Light General Market in Paynesville outside Monrovia, sanitation facilities are so inadequate. It is to the extent that, pedestrians, petty traders and all commercial moving object users on many occasions resolved to open defecation in the mountains of uncollected garbage piles.
Now, the rainy season has arrived and the decades old drainages also clogged with hundreds of garbage piles, the Red-Light General Market has begun to turn into one of Liberia largest slums playing host to multiple air and water borne diseases. The environment is infested with mosquitos, cockroaches, scorpions and deadly snakes at the detriment of the poor Liberian traders and their foreign counterparts.
Besides, with the protracted road construction works being carried out by the China International Construction Company (CICO), the newly paved areas have also begun to depreciate fast, thus creating mini potholes that will eventually serve as hurdles to the free movement of vehicles, people and vital business transactions and services in the market areas.,
Regrettably, a few days of heavy downpour of rain have left several parts of the Red-Light General Market flooded with thousands of garbage piles most of the rotten garbage containing human, animal faeces that are potential carriers of deadly diseases of all kinds in the hundreds of homes that surround the commercial hub.
Notably, it has been observed that one of the popular and consumable fruits in Liberia the Mangos or plums have begun to be brought to the Red-Light Market for sale by traders from many parts of rural Liberia especially Nimba, Bong and Lofa Counties and sadly however, on some occasions, the fruits are not bought and are left on the grounds of the business center to get rotten thus sending offensive odors in the area.
However, for year in and year out, business people, civil servants, pedestrians and other ordinary Liberians and foreign residents that continue to use the Red-Light General Market route for business, private and public purposes have raised extensive red flags and endless voices on the unhygienic conditions of the business center.
Ironically, over the years, officials of the LMA and PCC have allegedly paid deaf ears and blind eyes to the numerous sentiments, criticisms and concerns of ordinary Liberians, urban planners, business people and environmental as well as sanitation crisis of the Red-Light General Market in Paynesville.
At the same time in corroborated comments by business people, ordinary Liberians and other concerned
groups, they underscored the urgent need for the officials of the Municipal Government of Paynesville and the leadership of the Liberia Marketing Association to muster the courage and work out concrete mechanisms that enhance the cleanliness of the Red-Light Market in Paynesville outside Monrovia.
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