Journalist Dioh Writes👇👇👇
Open Letter To Senate Pro-Tempore Emeritus, Senator Albert Tugbe Chie-Grand Kru County
Dear Senator Chie;
I bring you special greetings and compliments of the season.
As a proud son of Grand Kru County, Trehn Statutory District, I like to thank you for a gift of $2-million Liberian Dollars for the people of Grand Kru County in celebration of this year’s Christmas.
The $2-million Liberian dollars to be divided on the twelve traditional communities( $100,000 each), Settlers Community-($100,000), County Administration-($100,000), Grand Kru Citizens in pleebo-($100,000), Grand Kru Citizens in Harper -($100,000) and gift for individuals/prominent citizens of the County -($400,000), worth commendation most especially during these periods where bulk of the residents of Grand Kru are on the look for a better celebration of the season.
However, I respectfully like to pinpoint what I considered priorities and paramount for the people of Grand Kru County.
Sir, the issue of better road network remains a top-most priority for development in Grand Kru.
On this front, I like to remind you that in decades, Grand Kru County remains one of Liberia’s underdeveloped counties with an extreme lack of social services and job opportunities for its inhabitants.
The county with 109,342 population size lacks roads, bridges and remains a distance away from well-equipped health facilities, life-saving medications, Standard Learning Environments, (Library and Computer Labs), Safe Drinking Water among many others.
Senator Chie, please be informed that several parts of Grand Kru County remain out of GSM network to talk about internet services which makes it very difficult to communicate across the county.
WATSAN is also absent in the county only because the Government and development partners cannot not reach the targeted populations due to deplorable roads and lack of bridges.
It is an open secret that several schools across Grand Kru County are faced with mounting challenges, including leaky roofs, lack of resources to keep students through the rainy season, lack of trained and qualified teachers, limited learning facilities etc.
Patients under emergency conditions are still being carried on motorbikes or traditional hammocks for medical treatment in towns with semi-functional health centers due to lack of ambulances.
Students are left to walk long distances including passing through mud during the rainy season, crossing rivers without bridges and passing through fearful Forest due to lack of roads just to attend school in other towns.
A report from the UN’s IRIN humanitarian information unit indicates the need for more aid for Grand Kru County.
The county’s economy is being based on subsistence farming with 93% residents from Behwan to Barclayville, Barclayville to Buah, Wedabo to Grand Cess and from Garraway to Po-River barely able to afford US$50 monthly due to huge unemployment rate and no support from either the government or NGOs to improve their farming activities to grow more crops which could enable them sell some produce to earn money.
Upland rice, cassava, and palm nuts remain the most important crops and farming method for most people to enable them feed their families.
High school dropout rate remains on the increase in Grand Kru County due to high levels of unemployment which makes it impossible for parents to afford the cost of education and other needs of their children.
Although between the period of 2008-2012, the Ministry of Health had earmarked as top priority, the upgrade of the Barclayville Health Center to a fully-equipped hospital, upgrade the Behwan and Sasstown clinics to health centers, construct, staff, and equip new clinics in Geetugbaken (Buah) and Nyankunpo (Dorbor), residents of Grand Kru County still suffer from minor illness including diarrhea and malaria due to lack of medications and equipment at few functional health centers in the county.
Teenage pregnancy and child marriage also remain high in the county.
A survey conducted in 2016 indicated that in Barclayville, the county capital there were 846 persons using one hand pump in an area with 4,745 with a total of 13 hand pumps, in Sasstown, a population of 1,150 persons, 365 people had access to one hand pump, in Trehn, a population of 9,871, some 1,150 persons had access to one hand pump.
Recent survey also indicates that after several years, the 2016 Grand Kru County access to Safe Drinking Water survey indicators still exist with several communities including Behwan fetching drinking water from scream and creeks due to lack of hand-pumps which have pose serious health hazards among residents.
Sir, I like to remind you about a few campaign promises you made in 2023 including your promise to ensure that the people of Grand Kru County would have safe drinking water and other social services.
You also promised to advocate and ensure the pavement of the road corridors from Barclayville to Behwan, Behwan to Pleebo- and from Barclayville to Sinoe.
As a chair on the Senate’s committee on public works, we are hoping that at the passing of the Draft 2025 National Budget, you(Senator Chie) would ensure pavement works on these roads corridors commence as promised in 2023.
However , as we appreciate your LRD-$2-Millon gift to the people of Grand Kru County for the Christmas celebration, I like to urge you to kindly Prioritize and direct monies toward more impactful projects that will address the major needs of our people and drive the development agenda of the county.
Sir, I think a $100,000 LRD made available for each traditional community can in no way address 0.03% exiting challenges of these communities including the provision of safe drinking, medications for health centers, roads construction, bridges, improved learning environments, financial and technical assistance for farmers, and an upgraded GSM Network among many others.
Sir, it would make greater impact if you as a Senator can join forces with other members of the Grand Kru Legislative caucus to work to improve the lives of the people through the provision of basic social services rather than only giving the people handouts during holidays.
It would also make greater impact if Grand Kru Legislative caucus can see the need to ensure that GVL implements Social Corporate Responsibility at the benefit of affected communities.
Sir, I’m fully aware that several Grand Kru youths and elderly based in Montserrado and other counties including Maryland joined your campaign in 2023 to ensure that you win the elections to implement the developmental drive of the county.
Grand Kru remains an underdeveloped county in decades because the County leaders have not pushed for the developmental agenda of the county.
Please Prioritize The Implementation Of Cardinal Projects Over Season Handout For Grand Kru.
Yours sincerely;
Sherman Dioh
Proud Son of Behwan -Grand Kru County
Editor In-Chief King’s FM+Clar TV