By Diedre S. Tarwo/ Internews Environmental Reporting Fellow

MONROVIA, Aug. 23 (LINA) – Liberia’s waste management system is in a deplorable state and on a daily basis the poor process of garbage collection and disposal continue to pose mammoth health challenge to citizens – this is the case of the Wein Town Rubbish Landfill in the Township of Paynesville, where the hazardous condition of the site is affecting several residents.  

A landfill is a place to dispose of refuse and other waste materials by burying it and covering it over with soil especially as a method of filling in or extending usable land. Wein Town is topping the list of affected communities, as thousands of the inhabitants are exposed to environmental pollution and health hazards.

Amid the deplorable state of the site which has occasioned a grim sanitary condition for them, the residents are calling on the central government for swift emergency intervention.

Speaking to a team of Internews Environmental Reporting Fellows recently, a resident of Wein Town community, Dedee Forkpah said the health challenges are on the increase as a result of pollution and open waste at the dump site.  

Dedee Forkpah, Resident of Wein Town

Madam Forkpah who has lived in the area for over 15 years, pointed out that the current health situations are unbearable especially for those who can't afford financially to purchase the necessary medications when they or their children are ill.

Madam Forkpah, a mother of five, added that as a result of these challenges, children including parents are vulnerable to mosquitoes, cockroaches, rats and snakes, adding that this poses a major life threatening situation for their well-being.  

“I am saying to President Joseph Boakai, to please relocate this dump site to the new site around Bomi highway, we don't need it here”, Forkpah cried out. 

Archie Weanquoi, 27, another resident of the area said the dump site is affecting them daily, thereby causing an unhealthy environment for all the residents.

Weanquoi alleged that the situation has reached a point where water sources (local wells) are being contaminated, a condition he said, is not safe for those who are unable to afford the purchase of mineral water.

Weanquoi stressed the need for advocacy, calling on the government, national and international humanitarian group for swift interventions.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an international instrument that Liberia signed in 1948, called for the need of equal basic social services for all citizens. It also underscored the right to good healthcare, safe drinking water, education, security among others.

“When we are cooking our food, the flies can take over, we cannot sit in our own yard because of the mosquitoes”, Weanquoi further explained.

Flies surround food being sold

He underscored the need for the management of the Wein Town dump site to spray the community and bring in mosquito nets because many of them are not working to afford nets and other things that would stop the mosquitoes.

Also speaking, Wayne Wisdom, 28, who has lived in the community for the past 22 years said that he normally catches cold due to the foul odor of the dump especially when it is set ablaze.

He added that due to intensive heat during the dry season the dump site usually catches fire and that serves as a detriment to their health.

Due to the pollution, Wisdom disclosed that his dad gave the management a piece of land to provide a tank where they can store safe drinking water, however, the management failed to provide the water tank.

In a subsequent interview, District #4 Representative Micheal M. Thomas, disclosed that he wrote the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa on January 28, 2024, requesting for the immediate closure and relocation of the solid waste site from the Wein Town transitory site to the Cheesemanburg landfill site to curb a potential health epidemic.

He added that he recently met with the Mayor of Monrovia, and he was informed about a partnership project that they have with the World Bank to work on the landfill and there is a team from the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) and Word Bank who will go assess the land soon.

Representative Thomas added: “We wrote the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) concerning safe drinking water, according to the director of LWSC they will go and do a study and run pipes.”

According to Thomas, his office wrote a letter to the office of the National Red Cross to supply mosquito nets, and they promised to start the distribution during the dry season.

For his part, Robert Bestman, the Mayor of Paynesville City Corporation (PCC), disclosed that Wein Town is not a dump site but rather a landfill, Bestman added that after the land was purchased it was turned over to the city of Monrovia.

He noted that although Wein Town is part of PCC, it is not completely under PCC.

Wein Town has a total population of 88,303 (eighty-eight thousand, three hundred and three) out of which 45,953 (forty-five thousand nine hundred and fifty-three) are female while 42,350 (forty-two thousand three hundred and fifty) are male, according to the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) 2022 census report.

Madam Mary Byepu, who is the Officer-In-Charge of the Bengee Clinic in the Wein Town community, said that 50% of the cases that they received at the health facility are malaria, with approximately 250 patients on a monthly basis in which 120-125 are malaria positive.

She added that sometimes the situation of the patients gets complicated, and they are referred to bigger facilities like Benson Clinic, and ELWA Hospital for proper treatment.

Byepu pointed out that pregnant women and children are the ones who are highly affected by malaria, and with the high risk some pregnant women usually have premature birth, and, in some cases, they lose their children.

According to her, there are too many Government officials and international partners who have gone to the dumping site to collect some statistics but in the final analysis, nothing has been done.

At the same time, the Youth Chairman of the Whein Town Community, Samuel Kofi Jones, narrated that the current space that is now used as a dump site was a private property owned by one Mr. Bonard, who purchased the land to do animal farming and later sold it to the government.

Youth Chairman of Wein Town

He pointed out that, prior to the purchase of the land by the Government, the community was depopulated, noting that the community is now overpopulated and that too many people are affected by the garbage.

According to Jones, he also worked as a contractor with the management of the dump site but noted that when he saw the trickle-down effect of the site on the community, he withdrew as a contractor and joined the advocacy against the dumping of flits in the area.

Jones pointed out that the lifespan of the dump site has elapsed, and it has become more hazardous for the people of the community as the population has grown.

The Youth Chairman said, if the Government wants to still use the place, then measures should be instituted to ensure proper management to prevent the current hazardous circumstances being experienced by the community.

Jones also appealed to the media to elevate the story of the community so that the public will know what the people are going through.

The dirt situation is not only affecting the people of Wein Town but also a huge part of other communities within Monrovia. 

At the Old Road Carwash community in Monrovia where there are double bins of dirt packed by the road, Fatu Kromah, a business owner and a resident 

Double Garbage Bins at Car Wash Community 

indicated that she has resided in the community for one-year now and has also been selling alongside the road where the dirt is being dumped.

Kromah suggested that the government should assign the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) within the various communities to regularly monitor the garbage bins while also suggesting that the MCC ensure that it develops a plan to ensure that dirt be removed two to three times a week.

She pointed out that the dirt is being brought mainly by the disadvantaged youths who are noted for reaching out to community dwellers to transport their garbage to dump sites as a means of earning a living.

Kromah claimed that when they collect the garbage from different communities, they usually place it along the road and on the ground when the bin is filled. Said trend of garbage collection and disposal, Kromah noted, exposes the community to unhealthy serious health issues.

Ovisco Nyah Moore a renowned traditional herbalist who sells his traditional medicine along the road, mentioned that the rubbish that is being dumped can overstay at the site, sometimes, close to two weeks.

Moore complained that even if the dirt pan is full and overflows, the MCC wouldn’t remove it on time, and this has been making them sick because of the delay.

For his part, Morris B. Williams a motorcyclist who has been riding in the community for a month now, mentioned that the pungent odor of the dirt is embarrassing them as motorcyclists because they have their parking station right opposite the dump site.

“The dirt issue is bad, and the scent is not good, the dirt is embarrassing us because we don’t have anywhere to park”, Williams cried out.

He wants the government to take relevant action to bring the situation under control or decide to remove the dump site.