When Will We Begin Getting It Right With Proper Garbage Collection And Disposal?
writes Frank Sainworla, Jr., fsainworla@yahoo.com
As I left the little coffee shop behind the Foreign Ministry this afternoon (Thursday, May 1, 2025) to go back to the main Boulevard on Capitol Hill, something caught my eyes–stockpile of garbage and bush that made me feel as though I was many, many miles outside Liberia’s capital, Monrovia.
So out of shock and curiosity, I walked further to the site of the garbage just behind the Foreign Ministry, which runs parallel to the Executive Mansion–the seat of the Presidency–the stench is unbearable. It smells like a mixture of feces/urine and the uncollected garbage. The stench is so strong that it could knock one to the ground, if you’re not careful.
It’s no doubt that such unsanitary environment poses serious health hazard, something that is so familiar across the country.
Then I wondered, when will we begin to get it right–proper waste collection and disposal? In the heart of the city and on Capitol Hill–the seat of the nation’s three branches of government?
I was also reminded about the cleanup campaign hype in the lead up to the January 2024 inauguration of the Unity Party “rescue mission” government, when party loyalist were seen with brooms, shovels and other materials at various street corners. It goes without saying, the site behind the country’s Foreign Ministry is a disgrace and the stench coming from there tells one clearly that that entire place is more likely a terrain where open defecation takes place daily.
It seems we are yet to develop what I called Pragmatic Ways To Clean Monrovia’s Sanitation Mess – News Public Trust in a piece I wrote back in March 2022.
As a patriotic Liberian citizen, who believes in constructive criticisms colored by advancing a pragmatic way out, this writer therefore advances ten (10) recommendations aimed at keeping the Liberian society clean and hygienic daily not occasionally or periodically:
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Robust/strict enforcement of city ordinances or laws, after a period of heightened public and civic education;
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Community residents must see city cleanliness and sanitation as a way of life, regular/daily exercise—not an event or seasonal;
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Garbage collection and disposal is not free-people must own it and be willing and ready to pay minimum fees to ensure proper and professional waste management; and community people should subscribe to existing Community Based Enterprises (CBEs);
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Enforcement of sanitation and hygiene measures must start from the homes to the neighbourhood and communities and the city;
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Institute practical and workable garbage collection and disposal system must be put in place and sustained, and violators of city ordinances must be penalized irrespective of who is involved (NO RESPECTOR OF PERSONS);
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Institute guidelines for market and businesses—cleaning and disposal schedule; stipulated penalties for violation of guidelines;
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Clearly identifying the various stakeholders and duty bearers in central Monrovia (the commercial hub) & their roles and responsibilities, as central Monrovia is like a microcosm—people who live there, people who do business there, people who reside there, and people who both reside and do business there;
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Putting into focus and clearly understanding the demographics of central Monrovia as regards producing of garbage/solid waste—the micro and macro levels