Paynesville: Nearly five hundred people selling around the Pipeline Junction Road in Central Red Light market risk contracting diseases due to a huge stockpile of garbage in the area.
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By David S. Menjor
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The garbage stockpile is due to a temporary garbage station in the area run by the Paynesville City Corporation, posing a severe health risk to the marketers and surrounding communities.
The site has become overwhelmed with heaps of garbage created by marketers and nearby residents. It oozes an offensive smell daily, and the businesspeople are increasingly growing disenchanted and wary over the impending health hazard that would befall them if the Paynesville municipal government fails to act promptly.
Wilson K. Sumo is the head of the acting leadership of the disenchanted marketers. He fears that the situation would have dire health consequences in the coming days if the Paynesville municipality fails to act swiftly.
“PCC told us that this place was designated for temporary disposal; and that they were going to find somewhere else, considering how open and uncalled for this area is. But it is over one year since they began putting dirt here and is still doing it, causing us to inhale so much stench daily. We get sick here with cold and other diseases,” Sumo told our intern reporter.
He added that they (petite traders) pay nearly L$20,000 monthly to the Paynesville City government for garbage collection and onward disposal to the Wein Town landfill, but nothing seems to be going well.
Sumo wants the PCC to immediately remove the pile of garbage. In addition, Sumo is calling for the garbage-holding site to be relocated without delay.
“We are suffering. We are tired of selling in dirt! The foul smell of trash makes even sitting around here unbearable; but we have nowhere to go now”.
In 2023, the government launched a major campaign to relocate the Red-light market to the newly built 14th Goba Chop market in Omega community. It was part of strategy to decongest the Red-light market and ensure free flow of traffic.
However, sumo insists that the Omega market lacks basic infrastructures, including inadequate land space. Hence, despite the health risk, Sumo and other sellers are forced to do business in the stench, . “Omega market center cannot accommodate all of us; this is why we continue to be in Red Light,” Sumo asserted.
What says the Paynesville City Corporation?
When contacted, Jeremiah Kpadeh Diggen, Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the Paynesville City Corporation, acknowledged his office’s directive ordering the disposal of garbage at the site. Diggen noted that it is temporary; and the municipal authority does not find comfort in exposing people to health hazard, as portrayed by the marketers.
Diggen explained that contrary to what Sumo and his fellow marketers claim, the PCC removes garbage from the site routinely, depending on the available resources.
He attributed the delay in removing garbage from the site to lack of a readily accessible landfill. “The only available landfill, which is situated in Wein Town, has been shut down due to lack of space,” Diggen concluded.
Sanitation is one of six pillars of the Unity Party government’s five-year national development plan, dubbed ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID), but the country continues to experience poor sanitation. The streets of Monrovia, Paynesville and other cities across the country continue to suffer non-stop environmental degradation, especially through improper garbage disposal.
