Liberia: Monrovia City Corporation One Year Under Review

Late Friday evening (January 4,2025), a friend of mine shared with me what is considered as the one-year achievements of the current Mayor of Monrovia. I read through it and felt so ashamed that the current Mayor was so desperate for achievements to the extent he had to claim some initiatives he got absolutely no knowledge about and listed irrelevant activities as achievements.

Shamefully , I ask myself, could this be ignorant or a calculated attempt to prove to his boss Mr. Boakai who also is grasping for achievement? I was baffled by the level of mediocrity displayed by the Mayor but also not surprised because this is how the Unity Party thrives on lies and deceptions.

While we acknowledge that government is continuity , we must also be sincere to the public on what we have done differently from our predecessors as public officials because that is why you campaigned to change and you must show in deeds the contrast from your predecessor (s) but not to ignorantly parade with things you have no idea about .

Solid waste management

Unlike the current Mayor , Mayor Koijee inherited an empty Monrovia City Corporation on February 16, 2018 as a Mayor . Mayor Koijee inherited two Skip trucks (Truck 10 &11) and a single dilapidated dump truck as the property of the entity . Skip truck #11 was already down with complicated mechanical issues and the entity was left with only one active skip truck (#10) and a garage prone dump truck . Where most of the trucks we heard about went still remains a mystery if they only existed but Mayor Koijee took over a system completely empty with Monrovia filled with garbage all over the principal streets and corners . Waste was seen everywhere with over 100s of collection points all around the city, mostly central Monrovia .

Worst of all , the landfill in Whein town was also deplorable with no access road to the final disposal and also inherited a private D8 machine that had been rented by the previous mayor with debt owed to the owner (ZBJ) of close to 126,000 USD . The Koijee leadership had to begin sourcing funding from partners and convincing the government of the need to address the emergency waste crisis . This pragmatic leadership led to the restructuring of the Chessmanburg Landfill Urban Sanitation ( CLUS) Project from 10.5 million to 17.5 million to 19.5 million as of 2021/2022 that saw a significant portion of the government counterpart funding diverted to operational activities and the bank funding to infrastructure including the purchasing of new equipment for the MCC.

The project as inherited by Mayor Koijee has three (3) main components :

Component 1 : This component focuses mainly on the construction of the Cheesemanburg Regional Landfill and partial closure of the Whein Town Landfill

Component 2: This component focuses on supporting solid waste collection and disposal in and around the City of Monrovia.

Component 3: This component focuses on institutional capacity strengthening and technical assistance.

The restructuring of the project brought a shift in the resource allotment of the project with a significant portion allotted to infrastructure including the purchasing of trucks and machines , the operational activities of collection and disposal of solid waste in the city . This farsighted leadership of Mayor Koijee brought a major boost to the MCC that laid the solid foundation for his successor today.

Throughout year one in 2018 , MCC was renting private trucks at the cost of 200 USD per day , front end loaders 350 usd per day and the Bulldozer (D8) at the landfill 750 usd per day . An arrangement ran by the Project Implementation Unit (PIU ) supervised by the World Bank through a Top Team Leader (TTL) . So all payments and transactions were approved by the World Bank and disbursement to vendors were done at the Project Financial Management Unit (PFMU) at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning .

Sadly , due to the incompetence of the current Mayor and the Unity Party government failure to adhere to the measures put in place by the World Bank , the CLUS project is no more just less than a year into their leadership. The new mayor is so ignorant that he has to include in what he called his achievements that "He secured a new landfill in Chessmanburg to serve as a second site of final waste disposal". I was told when Mayor Siaffa took over the first thing he did was to ignorantly remove the Project Coordinator and start witch hunting professionals who had run the project for years without the Bank approval. It begins one of the major reasons coupled with the new government failure to pay counterpart funding for the closure of the project in June . A man who can't manage a donor project for just a year will think he had "secured a new landfill" when he had no idea how the landfill in Chessmanburg came about . If this isn't ignorant then it might be mediocrity on a colossal scale . In short Mayor Siaffa lied that he secured a new landfill .

Today , there is stability in waste collection and disposal in Monrovia because of the farsightedness of Mayor Koijee . Mayor Siaffa inherited 14 dump trucks , two skip trucks , two front end loaders and a new bulldozer (D8) owned by the MCC . We couldn't say the same in 2018 when Mayor Koijee took over as the city mayor.

INSTITUTIONAL REFORM

Unlike Mayor Siaffa , Mayor Koijee didn't create many positions that clearly show duplication of functions and responsibilities thus , creating an uneasy and hostile working environment currently at the Monrovia City Corporation . Mayor Siaffa has created over seven Director Generals positions with almost the same TORs just in the name of accommodation of friends and cronies. This has led to the ineffectiveness of the staff and operation of the administrative management of the corporation .

As a student of Public Administration we are told , the patronage system promotes mediocrity and creates a system where the government experiences wasted tax dollars ,inefficiency in service delivery , politicization of the public bureaucracy etc.

The MCC is engulfed today with such a terrible patronage system that has led to the illegal dismissal of some of the brightest professionals as a means of creating space for chronies of the Mayor . This is one reason public sectors in Liberia are challenged and always low on productivity. We have witnessed in one year the witch hunt and illegal dismissal of over 35 professionals including world bank trained solid waste practitioners/ experts , over 200 City Police officers trained by the LNP and over 50 parking attendants . Most of these dismissals are based on political witch hunts.

In contrast , when Mayor Koijee took over in 2018 he maintained all professionals regardless of their political , religious or ethnic affiliations . He saw Liberia above all political parties or affiliation.

Additionally, when Mayor Koijee took over in 2018 the main sources of revenue which is advertisement service was outsourced to a private company and the city parking was also outsourced to private companies. Thankfully , today Mayor Siaffa is enjoying the pragmatic leadership of Mayor Koijee with all these major revenue sources that was brought back to the entity by Mayor Koijee .

Today , Mayor Siaffa is sitting in a modern office with a modern conference room but we can't say the same for Mayor Koijee in 2018 . Unlike Siaffa , Mayor Koijee took over an empty office with a dilapidated Monrovia city Hall . I thought not to mention this as an achievement because the building itself was constructed and dedicated in 1954 which is close to 70 years . So any Mayor that takes over has to do renovation after every three years because the building has lived its usefulness.

Lies of Mayor Siaffa

The Relocation process at the Chessmanburg Landfill which includes the construction of the 3 bedrooms , Mosque and the 1.9 kilometer road including the 1.2 meter chain link around the fence at the Chessmanburg Landfill all funding was secured and construction was initiated by former Mayor Jefferson T. Koijee .
Distribution of 250 mosquitos nets was purchased by the administration of Mayor Jefferson T. Koijee .
Renovation of the two transfer stations ( Fiamah and Stockton Creek) funding was secured by Mayor Jefferson Koijee through the GOL counterpart funding to the CLUS project.
He didn't secure a New Landfill in Chessmanburg but rather inherited the ongoing construction of a landfill by former Mayor Koijee
There is an existing municipal collaboration agreement with townships and the Borough of New Kru town so there is nothing new about that .
I don't know when the current Mayor develop a new national solid waste policy because there is an existing policy on solid waste developed by the former Mayor Koijee through a wide range of consultation with donors, community leaders , businesses and inter agency consultation through an emergency solid waste conference held in 2018.

The following summarizes Mayor Koijee's achievements in one year of governance of the City of Monrovia.

Increased reforms in Public Financial Management by expanding the Revenue Section for the establishment of the Revenue Department for increased revenue generation through improved service delivery.
Secured a place for the city of Monrovia on the Executive Committee at the Global Parliament of Mayor for the first time after Mayor Koijee got elected as an Executive Committee member and also currently co-chair the Health Committee of the parliament (https://globalparliamentofmayors.org/gpm-elects-new-executive-committee-chairs-members/)
Enhanced public safety(maintaining order) through the extension of the City Parking Services , covering Sinkor and its environs with a plan to also cover Old Road and Congo Town in the Southern Region of the City and Bushrod Island in the North and trained more than thirty(30) young people who are currently working in the parking services (https://www.facebook.com/share/1AybQWiEpc/?mibextid=wwXIfr)

Retrieved advertisement services which were outsourced to a private entity in order to increase revenue generation for municipal development
An appreciable and rational increment of employee's salaries and allowances in view of the economic realities and to motivate staff for increased productivity

Increment in the workforce of the City Government from the initial three hundred and sixteen (316) employees to an appreciable five hundred plus; with majority been young people.

Retained all employees in their various positions irrespective of their background, creed, as well as status. As we speak, no employee has been removed from his/her position because of political reason(s) or any one of the aforesaid reasons.
Establishment of the Youth Project and Development Unit for Youth empowerment and sustainability.

Established the annual Inter-University Debate for improved efficiency of learning and the exchange of ideas and experiences, and to ensure effective networking amongst Liberia's higher institutions of learning in pursuit of academic excellence and their common good.

Increased the manpower of the Monrovia City Police through the recruitment and training of more than fifty (50) personnel at the National Police Training Academy (NPTA) to help ensure public safety.(https://www.facebook.com/share/15ZnLXpgFr/?mibextid=wwXIfr)

The involvement of the City Police in the 2018 vehicle's inspection exercise ( first of its kind) (https://www.facebook.com/share/14xMuScZ8m/?mibextid=wwXIfr)

Expansion of the Public Relations Department's activities by the establishment of a modern Online Television (MCC-TV) that is being used to boost awareness and sensitization on municipal reforms and issues of national development.

Signing of a MoU between the City Government of Monrovia and the Federation of Petty Traders and Informal Worker's Union of Liberia( FEPTIWUL) formerly the National Petty Traders Union of Liberia( NEPTEPUL) for a safe and organized market and trade environment within the City with the goal to ensure the organization of street-selling in Monrovia.(https://www.facebook.com/share/19gr36TgPa/?mibextid=wwXIfr)

Restored the allotment of the GOL-World Bank Counterpart Funding for solid waste management operations within the City and its environment.

Ensured and facilitated the delivery of three(2) front-end loaders for the MCC Solid Waste Department and three(3) pickups from the World Bank. The pickups are for the use of regional supervisions ( North, Central, and South) in Solid Waste Management within the City.

Facilitated foreign training for two (2) managers from the Solid Waste Department in the courses, Sustainable Solid Waste Management for African Countries A and Improved Solid Waste Management Technologies in Toyko, Japan under the auspices of the Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA) in 2018

Facilitated training in Access to Energy, Mitigation and adaptation for more than fifteen (15) senior management personnel under the auspices of the European Union in support of the fight against Climate Change.

Conducted capacity building training for employees of the City Government in work ethics, and Administrative Policies and Procedures.

Established the International Affairs Office to help ensure a resilient, SMART and Bold city.

Established and officially launched the WEAH FOR CLEAN CITIES INITIATIVES in support of a Clean, Green and Safe Monrovia. (https://www.facebook.com/share/15q6oZojxK/?mibextid=wwXIfr)

Increase the Fiscal Year Budget of the City Government of Monrovia by 42%.

Established an Urban Development Specialist Desk and recruited a consultant to lead the process for the compilation of data and the drafting of a Citizen's charter for the City of Monrovia with the goal to improve upon the 1973 Act of the Liberian Legislature that transformed Monrovia from a Commonwealth to a Municipality.

Organized and hosted an Emergency Solid Waste Stakeholder Conference that involved the direct participation of residents and community leaders in Monrovia, who dialogued for two days and produced a resolution on a sustainable approach to solid waste management in Monrovia. (https://www.facebook.com/share/18N5UY4NEA/?mibextid=wwXIfr)

Deployed over 25 waste collection buckets for solid waste trucks around the city .

Rehabilitated the access road to the Whein Town Landfill .

Shutdown over 45 illegal disposal sites around the city .

Initiated Sisterly City arrangement with Accra City council , Freetown City ,Metropolitan City of Tshwane(South Africa) , Banjul city etc. (https://www.facebook.com/share/12Gyig6rSYc/?mibextid=wwXIfr)

While we wish to see our city clean , green and safe ; we can't downplay the empirical evidence that proves those critics of the past leadership of Mayor Koijee wrong . Comparatively , we all can see how the Mayor Koijee leadership left an indelible legacy at the MCC which has enabled his successor to start on a solid foundation laid by Mayor Koijee . An opportunity that Mayor Koijee didn't experience and have to start afresh with an empty and broken MCC in 2018.

Read the original article on Liberian Investigator.

Liberia: Monrovia City Corporation One Year Under Review

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