Ex-Monrovia controversial Mayor Madam Mary Taryonon Broh is among a list of 15 nominees presented by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to the Liberian Senate to be confirmed for mayoral positions across the country.
President Sirleaf's letter to the Senate was read in Plenary on Tuesday, July 9, at the 45th day sitting of the upper House. Margibi County Senator Clarice Jah filed a motion, which was seconded for the letter to be sent to the Committee on Sanitation to report back to Plenary within a week.
"I write to the Honorable House of the Liberian Senate to confirm the nomination for city mayors of cities in the 15 counties of Liberia", the President's letter partially read.
The office of city mayor is an elective post here, but the Liberian Government has cited budgetary constraints for not electing mayors. Instead, President Sirleaf has resolved to appoint city mayors across the country.
Monrovia and its environs have been engulfed with heap of garbage since the resignation of the hardworking, but controversial acting City Mayor Madam Mary Broh three months ago.
Horrible smell in the capital has become an embarrassment to many residents, including members of the 52nd Liberian Legislature, who recently alarmed here on the need to summon current acting Monrovia City Mayor, Cllr. Henry Reed Cooper, to provide explanations on the situation, which portrays a negative image about the entire country.
Senator Thomas Grupee of Nimba County noted that since the departure of Madam Broh, Monrovia was rapidly sinking in dirt, which is not healthy for a capital that plays host to huge foreign guests almost daily.
Grupee called on the Senate Committee on Internal Affairs to summon acting Monrovia Mayor Cllr. Cooper, and his counterpart in the City of Paynesville to speak on the garbage situation.
Commenting also on the issue, River Gee County Senator Frederick D. Cheru, recalled that few months back when Madam Mary Broh headed the Monrovia City Corporation, the capital was much better than now.
Cheru said the present deplorable hygienic condition of Monrovia truly proves that Madam Broh actually had passion for the job hence, there was a need for her return though she sometimes comes in conflict with some residents while executing her duties.
A group of garbage collectors from the MCC told this paper recently that since Madam Broh resigned the post, the garbage trucks usually don't empty the yellow garbage buckets around the city on time.
"Let's be real to you my brother, we are now facing real though times in managing dirt around the city these days unlike before when the Mayor was with us. Every blessing day, the truck used to come here and take the dirt, but since she resigned, we only see the truck once a week, and as the result of that, you will always see huge increase of garbage on the streets or at waste collection sites," one garbage collector, who asked for anonymity, explained.
At the same time, employees of several private garbage collection companies here, including Zoom Lion, Libra Sanitation and Sanitors, among others similarly complained of the current slow pace that has characterized the city cleaning process. Stockpile of garbage are littered at major street corners in Monrovia as Liberians and foreign residents go about their normal businesses daily.
Some of the key streets in Central Monrovia, including Broad, Carey, Mecline, Water and Benson streets that were constantly cleaned under former acting Mayor Broh are now covered in filth, breeding mosquitoes in thousands of homes.
Madam Broh bowed to public pressure here four months ago, sending in her resignation to President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf after she obstructed the functions of the Legislature. President Sirleaf subsequently appointed her to head the VOA Market project outside Paynesville City.
Broh has been in the news repeatedly for her heavily detested actions, including physically assaulting residents for violating city ordinance, demolition of private homes and business centers and disrupting religious gatherings, all in the name of keeping Monrovia and its environs clean.
In the execution of her mandate, "Gen. Broh", as she has popular been called, had adapted a posture of ignoring all other state functionaries, unanswerable to anyone not even lawmakers here.
Perhaps in what was seen as the last straw that broke the camel's back occurred on Thursday, February 23, 2013 when Madam Broh led a group of women to the Monrovia Central Prison and defiantly obstructed the decision of the House of Representatives to have former Montserrado County Superintendent Madam Grace Tee Kpaan incarcerated for 72 hours for contempt.
Broh, in her usual militant move, allegedly assaulted the Sergeant-At-Arm from the House of Representatives, who had taken Superintendent Kpaan to the prison compound, and whisked her (Kpaan) away, a move that enraged members of the House and the public in general with calls for her dismissal.
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