‘Liberia deserves no prayer to keep city clean’
…US-based Liberian immigrant pastor
“It is purely wrong for people (adults) to stand on the sidewalk and pee-pee! It is also wrong for people to eat bananas and throw peelings on the streets”
By James Kokulo Fasuekoi|Editor-Publisher
A fortnight ago, a US-based Liberian immigrant Gospel minister indicated that her homeland, Liberia, had been prayed for over and over in every area, and therefore needed no additional prayers, especially in maintaining a cleaned city.
Rev. Shirley Bettaforyen, an assistant pastor of Faith Chapel Evangelistic Ministry in Robbinsdale, MN, out-rightly rejected a plea by a member of her prayer team to offer prayer for the nation so local authorities could consider cleaning up massive garbage piled up in the capital, Monrovia.
“Some things are just common sense and don’t really need a prayer…but they just need practical action” said Pastor Bettaforyen, who also leads her church’s nightly call-in prayer band that has prayer warriors spread across the United States.
“It is purely wrong for people (adults) to stand on the sidewalk and pee-pee! It is also wrong for people to eat bananas and throw peelings on the streets” she pointed out.
Bettaforyen’s remarks had come after one of her online prayer sisters made a prayer request regarding Monrovia’s chronic garbage problem during a call for members to give “prayer points’ ‘ that their group could pray about, a normal routine.
The garbage issue with Monrovia-named after US President James Monroe-made headlines in the mass media during recent weeks when the current U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, Michael McCarthy criticized authorities over corrupt acts plus their garing inability to keep their main city, Monrovia clean.
In a two and half page article titled “What would J.J. Roberts have to say about this?” published by the embassy’s website March 15, 2022, the day Liberia celebrated President Joseph Jenkins Roberts natal day, the diplomat-in addition to other things-did not hide his dislike regarding the city’s unsanitary conditions.
Joseph Jenkins Roberts, a descendent of former black American slaves born in Norfolk, Viginia, USA, is the first president of the Republic of Liberia. He migrated to the African country with his parents at age 20.
The foreign diplomat found it unfathomable that the city’s authorities would still be asking for more ‘foreign aid’ in order to clean up one city in spite of an annual total of about $110 million that the United States gives Liberia in foreign aid.
“Is there [not] a more basic local government responsibility than the collection and proper disposal of garbage?” he boldly asked the city’s and national authorities, now in their fifth consecutive year of rule.
In his conclusion the diplomat wondered “What would J.J. Roberts have to say about this?”
Like corruption and the ongoing reckless and ritual-related murders, particularly in Monrovia, filthiness in the state’s capital isn’t something new, although settlers-Liberians earlier declared the country a “Christian nation.” It dates back to Sirleaf’s administration.
However, unlike Weah’s predecessor that reasonably managed the city’s garbage collection and disposal exercises through ex-mayor Mary Broh, the situation now seems out of control with foul smells due to open sewages, emanating from every corner of the city.
Read related articles here:
*West Africa: Witty U.S. diplomat uncovers Liberia’s shame!
*How Liberia’s ex-presidents, most of them, U.S. citizens, neglected Africa’s oldest nation
Note: Banner photo of a man urinating along the sidewalk in Bushrod Island’s Clara Town from where current President George Weah previously lived and started his footballing career. Photo by writer