LIBERIA: Garbage crisis hits Daula Market in Monrovia
By: WASH R&E “Media” Network – The Duala Market in Monrovia is faced with a garbage crisis as the result of stoke piles of dirt. Marketers are selling in filth, a situation considered so embarrassing.
The marketers are appealing for urgent assistance to resolve the garbage crisis and to enable them get sigh of relief and transact in a healthy environment.
Marketers selling beside a stock pile of garbage at the Duala market in Monrovia
Issues surrounding poor sanitation and solid waste remain a herculean challenge for the government of Liberia and the citizenry.
Despite the interventions of donor partners, Liberia as a country still struggling in handling issues of sanitation and solid waste.
Since the end of the World Bank EMUS Project, handling of solid waste issues had become a nightmare for citizens who are living in areas affected by poor sanitation.
Another garbage scene at the Duala Market
Of recent, there were outcries of inhabitants from several communities in and around Monrovia calling on government and WASH partners for their intervention in removing of huge stock piles of garbage across Monrovia.
The Duala Market on the Bushrod Island is one of those areas hard hit by the issue of poor sanitation.
Visiting the market for the first time as an individual, one will be curious why the huge stock of garbage is at the site, and why marketers prefer to sell beside the huge pile of waste.
The waste can be seen from Kuwait to the St. Mary High School in the commercial district of Duala with a bad odor making the area so unhygienic.
Garbage deposit around the main entrance of the market
The stoke piles of garbage according to some marketers, had overstayed and overspill on the main street, creating serious problem for motorists and pedestrians.
The marketers indicated that they are baffled why the dirt cannot be removed because on a daily basis funds are collected to ensure that the market remains clean.
“The odor from the garbage is so offensive and it threatens our health”, a marketer added.
The marketers to WASH Reporters that the garbage deposit at the market has been there for the past 4 months with no sign of it been removed.
“We have engaged authority at the market concerning the garbage, but no satisfactory response from the authority”.
Majority of the marketers revealed that they are aware of the danger involved in selling in an area that is not sanitary, but said it is the only place they have to sell.
Garbage overtaking the main street in Duala
One of the marketers revealed that due to the awful sanitary condition of the market, many people are not really visiting the market to purchase .
Meanwhile, the affected marketers are calling on relevant governmenet agencies and the market authority to strategize in removing the waste .
They disclosed that if nothing is done in that direction they will embark on a protest action to create massive awareness on the waste situation at the market.
The germ infested condition created by the waste is not only affecting marketers, but pedestrains who frequently use the route for job , school and other activities.
In an interview with WASH Media, some pedestrians told reporters that the dirt is certainly creating health harzard not for only marketters, but the entire community where the market is situated.
Some of the pedestrians attributed the situation to inability of the market authority and the Monrovia City Corporation to put in place meaures for the timely removal of the dirt.
They also said community residents are dumping dirt along side the road excerbating the already poor sanitary condition at the market.
The pedestrians are calling for a holistic approach in addressing the solid waste issues in the DualaMarket to ensure that a clean and healthy environment is created for the marketers and the community at large.
