Members Decry Pollution And Lack Of Support
By: Jerromie S. Walters
The Newport Street compound of the Group of 77, a welfare institution that is made up of physically challenged people and primarily charged with the responsibility of seeking the well-being of people living with disabilities or multiple physical challenges, is being overshadowed by garbage.
An independent inquiry launched into the unimaginable disposal of garbage in the group’s administrative compound established that the garbage, which has escalated as high as a hill and is just a few feet away from entering the building itself, has been there for over two weeks.
Members of the group, including leaders, acknowledged that the compound has been engulfed in a messy situation for weeks, and it was created when they rallied efforts to clean the drainages, which often resulted in flooding during the wet seasons.
Jeremiah Cooper, a coordinator of the Group of 77, revealed that they decided to clean around their compound and the drainages, which had been deplorable for months, and they were advised to deposit the garbage in the compound due to their condition, and it would have been collected by the Monrovia City Corporation in time.
Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned, as it has been over two weeks and the garbage is yet to be removed, even though efforts have been made by their leadership through several calls to the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) for the dirt to be removed.
Prior to this, Cooper confirmed that in 2022, they also engaged the Ministry of Public Works, the National Disaster Management, and Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) to clean the drainage, as it had led to the death of one of their members in May of last year, but sadly, their efforts didn’t yield fruits.
He has vowed to engage the MCC constructively and administratively to ensure that the garbage is removed, as he believes it’s harmful to them.
“As a leader and as an activist for my people, I have decided to see how best tomorrow I can push myself in my wheelchair and then get to MCC and then see how best I can talk with them,” he said.
Excluding the garbage pollution, Jeremiah Cooper noted that they are also enraged by scores of other challenges, but as one of those working in government, he feels insecure and unprotected to talk about it, as he might possibly lose his job.
“Now, we who are working in government, if we say things that are maybe helpful to you, maybe those who are your bosses, it may be on the contrary to them and they will seek your removal into office, and now as a disabled person in Liberia, there’s no job; degree holders are going up and down and they are not getting jobs, so to go into details, some of us are afraid for us not to lose our job, but it is very much pathetic,” he articulated.
However, he confirmed that since the ascendency of the George W. Bush administration, their support has been minimized, unstable, and often delayed.
Cooper further disclosed that since December, they have not received a single benefit from the government, a situation that has resulted in a lot of their members going to the streets to beg, while those that can’t go out are struggling with the agony of hunger and distress.
Among other challenges, he highlighted the issue of storms that often embarrass them, the lack of electricity, and a lot more.
Similar to Jeremiah Cooper’s testimony, several other members of the group confirmed that they are confronted with a lot of challenges, including the garbage that is poised to cause a series of illnesses but has not been given attention by the government.
Morris G. Weagbah, a 40-year-old member of the Group of 77, expressed dismay over the unfortunate situation and further called on the government to act swiftly.
He believes the need for urgent attention to their plight is intrinsic, as it deals with their health, while the issue of their support deals with their well-being and survivability, as they have no other alternative.
Mr. Weagbah, who has been residing at the facility for decades, mentioned that he and some of his other colleagues are greatly affected by how they have been ignored by the government, as most of them are battling different sicknesses and it can’t permit them to go out or do anything.
“We have just been managing by the grace of God; sometimes people come and help you with small things to eat dry rice; that’s how I am surviving, and I don’t go in the street to beg because my health condition can’t even permit me,” he stated.
However, with all of the different concerns expressed by members of the Group of 77, efforts to contact the office of the Vice President through its Press Secretary, Richmond O. Neufville, didn’t yield fruit, as he was repeatedly unreachable.
The Group of 77 is a welfare institution that is primarily charged with seeking the well-being of people living with disabilities or multiple physical challenges.
It is placed under the supervision of the Office of the Vice President, and it’s one of the institutions over which she has direct mandate and supervision.
A few years ago, Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor unveiled plans by the Liberian Government to capacitate and make the Group of ’77 independent through the provision of programs that will afford the organization the opportunity to sustain itself.
“The idea that I have with the oversight responsibility is to make sure that the Group of ‘77 becomes independent. We now have people living with disabilities who have earned master’s degrees. What we were trying to do before this latest crisis was to get organizations to hire them,” Taylor noted.
She stated in an interview with a local news outlet that the vision of ensuring the independence of members of the Group of ‘77 revolves around the provision of basic education and training through scholarships for members of the institution.
Moreover, the Vice President said that the group managed to attract some computer donations from the Chinese Embassy near Monrovia to establish a computer literacy program for members in Montserrado County.
According to her, the group would have subsequently gotten involved with the planting of tree crops that are capable of providing proceeds for about 40 to 50 years as a means of providing a sustained way of taking care of its members.
