We’re not fussing”

President Ellen Johnson – Sirleafsays she has no issue with Grand Gedeans, clarifying that the absence of Sen. Alphonson Gaye during her visit in the county did not mean that they were fussing.

She told the people of slained President Samuel K. Doe home county that her long absence from the county has been as a result of different obligations that have most times prompted her travels around the region and globally.

“I want to make it clear so nobody can carry it wrong. You heard Hon. [Morias] Willie say that Sen. [Alphonson] Gaye is in the United States. That my senator, that my partisan, we’re not fussing. That why he not here, he’s in the United States”, she said Friday, 14 April at the dedication of the Grand Gedeh County Service Center.

Mrs. Sirleaf has also cited the strong rains experienced last year as another factor that caused difficulties in getting the things needed to promote development, but suggested that traveling through the road to the county is not an impediment for her.

After settling a longstanding boundary dispute between Grand Gedeh and River Gee Counties through the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Cater Center roughly three weeks back, Mrs. Sirleaf on Saturday, 15 April gave certificates to the superintendents of the two counties, specifying their border lines.

Her visit to Grand Gedeh and River Gee Counties is the fourth leg of her farewell tour to the 15 counties, which coincides with a peace message to the two counties that have differed on a boundary issue for years.

She thanked everyone for their contributions to the peace and stability of the country and promoting development. Mrs. Sirleaf says if the citizens had not done their part …, “today we will not be proud to stand here like [Sen.] ComanyWesseh says … April 14 has now transgressed from a day of destruction and confusion to a day of peace and friendship”.

At some events, Mrs. Sirleaf was gowned by young people and market women for empowering them and ruling the country peacefully. On the request of Grand Gedeh citizens and county leaders for Mrs. Sirleaf to grant another executive clemency for the remaining convicted Grand Gedeans held for mercenary activities committed in neighboring Ivory Coast, she says she will consult with the county legislative caucus and the superintendent to see how that can be handled.

While interacting with citizens in Zwedru, Mrs. Sirleaf turned on the water system in the city on Saturday, 14 April, cut ribbon to the Grand Gedeh County Service Center, a market center and a recreation center in the city square.

Mrs. Sirleaf further broke grounds at Combat Gate for the construction of a 130 kilometers road connecting River Gee and Sinoe Counties. The estimated US$1.3m project funded from tax credit with Euro Logging Company Liberia, which operates in the region, is expected to run for 18 months.

The Liberia Electricity Corporation or LEC says the president would turn on power before departing the county. Afterwards, the president held multiple town hall meetings with citizens and cut ribbons to several other projects, including the Putu Central High School, market structures and local administrative office areas, among others.
She also visited and interacted with students and administrators at the Midwifery Training Program in Grand Gedeh County.

Mrs. Sirleaf thanked all the leaders of Grand Gedeh for the development that she sees in the county, saying some of it has to with business places which create jobs for the people, enable the city to have more vibrancy and make the economy stronger.

Mrs. Sirleaf says what she sees in Zwedru tells her that Zwedru City is cleaner than Monrovia, and thanked Sup. Peter Solo and the city mayor for the work done.

She urged others to go back to their counties to undertake similar development projects, having noted that her administration will not be able to finish all the construction but has already put in place the procedure and the financing so that the next administration will be able to build upon them.

By Winston W. Parley-Edited by Othello B. Garblah