Bong School Project Halted

The Chairman of the Payeta Self-help School Project in Zota District, Bong County has appealed to good-will citizens, organizations and institutions operating in and outside the county to buttress efforts of the people of the town, through assistance, in the construction of their school.

Mr. Joseph Nahn, speaking to reporters in Payeta, Zota District last weekend, said the school project has come to a momentary halt amid the increased need for education in the town and adjacent villages. Mr. Nahn said their only source of income as a community is to undertake contracts on farm lands to support the project.

He told reporters that as the result of the suspension of the project, students were using structures temporarily erected out of sticks and palm thash as classrooms-something he described as a risk to their lives.

Payeta, centrally located in Zota District a few kilometers from Belefanai the District Headquarters, has an estimated number of two-hundred school-going children. The town lacks an up-to-date school, reading room and other educational facilities, thus making school-going children there to travel over an hour for school in Belefanai and Kollieta.

Chairman Nahn, then, thanked former Electoral District #4 Representative Edwin Juah for the provision of a thousand United State Dollars, as well as Representative Lester Paye for the provision of L$50, 000 that has significantly contributed to the project. He also reminded Bong County Superintendent Selena Polson-Mappy of the promise made for the completion of the Project.

Motorcyclists Abandon Stay-Home Action

Members of the Liberia Motorcyclist Transport Union of Liberia, Bong Chapter have abandoned their planned week-long ‘sit home’ action. According to the President of the union, Samuel Eliott, their one-week ‘sit home’ action was called-off because of the intervention of religious groupings and some authorities of Bong County, including Caucus Chairman George Mulbah.

He also attributed their decision to the cries of citizens in and out of the county. He said by such interventions, it necessary to back-off, but warned that they would renew their decision if agreement reached was not taken seriously.

The LMTU President said their recent stay home action was due to alleged harassments, and threats by some citizens and police officers in the County, suggesting that their action was meant to claim government’s attention in the wake of the alleged intimidations and threats. Mr. Eliott added that their action has also made people to understand the important role motorcyclists play in society.

On last Friday, motorcyclists in the county announced a week-long go-slow action for threats against them, especially after police arrested four of them in connection with the September 21st riot in Gbarnga which left one person dead after allegedly being beaten by the motorcyclists.

Gbarnga Hosts Disability Confab

A one-day disability coordination meeting among stakeholders and persons with disabilities will shortly get underway in Gbarnga. The one-day forum, expected to take place at the Gbarnga Regional Justice and Security Hub on the Lofa road in Gbarnga, will bring together more than forty participants to include heads of disabled people organizations, line  ministry officials, civil society organizations and media institutions, to network and champion the cause of inclusive development.

The forum is aimed at discussing and planning an inclusive local development, decentralization policies, and development funds, dissemination of positive and appropriate messages on people with disabilities, as well as human diversity.

Bong County Superintendent Selena Polson-Mappy is quoted in a statement issued in Gbarnga as saying that the Director of the National Commission on Disabilities, Mrs. Ricardia Dennis, as well as the President of the National Union of the organizations of the Disabled, the Rev. Fallah Boima-Cymbianon, among others are expected to form part of the one-day disability coordination meeting.

The forum is an initiative of the Making It Work Project, currently being implemented by AIFO Liberia, Handicap International and the National Union of Organizations for the Disabled, which overall objective is to increase the participation of civil society organizations in the policy-making process of Liberia, thus ensuring that people with disabilities formed part of the process.

The program, under the theme: “Promoting the Value of Human Diversity”, will also be punctuated by the official launch of the on-going community based rehabilitation national program being implemented along with the National Commission on Disabilities in the central and southeastern regions.