PHOTO: Mr. Paye-Layleh
OPINION By Jonathan Paye-Layleh, jpayelayleh@gmail.com
I want to believe the police and people at the ministry responsible for social protection have seen, and are aware of this. But as media people we have to play our part for public safety. This is social responsibility.
There is a young mentally-challenged lady roaming the stretch of road between Vai Town and Freeport; but she’s more often in the Freeport/TOTAL area.
She has a way of dangerously intimidating motorists to pay her money. She carries a large block of stone in one hand and uses the other hand to demand money from drivers.
What she does is, brandishing the stone, she forces a moving vehicle to come to a halt. Once the vehicle is in a parking position, she raises the stone as if she’s about the smash the windows and the front windshields. At the same time she’s demanding money.
She’s eventually given money by those she holds hostage before allowing them to pass through.
I have seen this young lady hold people hostage for up to thirty minutes, threating to stone their vehicles if they don’t pay her money. One of her latest victims is a lady who was alone in her car and the girl intimidated her terribly in front Ecobank in Vai Town for up to twenty minutes. She was freed to move on only after dipping in her purse to give the girl some money. And as she does these things, onlookers don’t intervene to rescue her victims. This is unacceptable.
Now, I know she’s doing all these out of her current mental health situation, but there should be a way to arrest the situation so that she does not cause more serious harms to people.
This lady could someday destroy properties or lives before state actors start to act.
We live with mentally-sick persons here unfortunately. We see them all over the place. However, their peaceful postures give us reason to cope with their presence. But if there is one whose action poses physical dangers to the public, something has to be done.
My Suggestion:
I suggest that the police and the Ministry of Social Protection collaborate, take this young lady from the streets, restrain her at a police station and then make a public service announcement about her being in the hands of the police.
Certainly, some family members of hers will come forward. They can now be assisted to take the lady to a mental health clinic like the one on Duport Road where she will be taken care free of charge.
If no family members come forward, the state can take the responsibility to get her some mental health attention.
I hope authorities of the Liberia National Police and the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection will take this suggestion in good faith.