When Radio Kergheamahn reporter Chester Dolo decided to tackle the taboo subject of female genital cutting (FGC) – also known as circumcision or mutilation (FGM) – he became the first reporter at his radio station in northcentral Liberia to talk on-air about FGC. Other reporters warned him against it. He was nervous, and even a bit scared. Most women refused to speak with him. It took courage and determination because this traditional practice is deeply-entrenched in the ‘secret societies’ of this West African country.

Chester Dolo receives first place at jhr’s Liberia Human Rights Reporters Awards

To report on this sensitive and secretive practice, Chester had to grapple with his own beliefs in witchcraft.

Chester describes the challenges in this audio feature:

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

For more, read a Q & A by jhr trainer and journalist Bonnie Allen with Chester Dolo.

Q: First, introduce yourself and explain why you decided to do this documentary.

A: I’m Chester Dolo. I’m 22 years of age. I presently work at Radio Kergheamahn. Ganta, Nimba County, Liberia. I work as a journalist and I’m doing a story on FGM. FGM is simply Female Genital Mutilation or circumcision. I decided to do this story because this is one of the traditional practices that is taking place in this part of the country. Liberia has signed an agreement with the international community to ban FGM totally, but yet Liberia has not yet signed that law [nationally] to reenforce [abolishing] the practice.

Q: Why don’t journalists in Liberia report on female genital circumcision?

A: For me, at this age, I feel very scared because this issue of FGM is a very sensitive topic or issue in Liberia. This issue is never spoken about. People say that it is a taboo. People who go through that process, it is an agreement amongst those people, before they could come outside [leave the bush school], an agreement that if they go out, there should be no one to talk about it. And even if you are not part of it, you are not allowed to talk. Sometimes, if you talk about it, we have witnessed so many instances where people who talk about this female genital mutilation, they have been witched.

Q: Witched?

A: Yeah, witched – witchcraft. for example, they use juju as we call it in our setting.

Even presently as I speak, I feel very much threatened, I can say. One of the persons I interviewed, she later phoned me, telling me that I shouldn’t disclose her name because she feels very afraid. So even for me, as I speak, doing a story on this I feel my life is not even secure.

Q: So why take the risk?

A: I care about it because it is one of the violations of rights of women. Some people’s children are taken – from the age 5 and upwards – to be circumcised. I feel it against the rights of the children.

Q: Do you think you are brave for reporting on this story?

A: [laughs] I’m not too brave. Yes. Practically, I’m not too brave. But it would be very much difficult to go in the deep rural areas where these practices are well practiced. If you go in the rural areas to actually interview, it would be difficult. If you are not careful, you will even lose your life. Because the real people who go through this process, the real people who are doing this thing, have lots of demonic attitudes. They have lots of things in their hand [powers], that if you are not careful they will witch you.

Q: Do you actually believe someone could harm you with witchcraft?

A: For our setting, for our African setting, there are so many things that people do. People transform themselves into so many things to hurt other people. So witchcraft as a whole, most people believe it in Liberia, and even myself, I believe it.

Q: What reaction have you received from other journalists, or women?

A: Some are saying you don’t have to talk about this. Some are saying you don’t have to talk about this because it is the tradition of the people. Some are also saying people, the western world, wants to impose, or wants to get rid of the culture of the people in Africa so they are using so many reasons, so many strategies to get the culture of people out. And which they are saying FGM is one of the cultures of the people in Africa. So doing a story on this is is denying people of their culture.

Q: How do you feel about that?

A: For me, my thought is, as a journalist, we are to do, is to report on fact. To report on issues not because it is an African issue or an American issue.

——–

Author: Bonnie Allen
Source: jhr
Original Publication Date: Jan. 22, 2010

Children watch as blind carpenter Robert Kpadoe saws through a board at his outdoor workshop in Buchanan, Liberia.

Blind carpenter Robert Kpadoe laughs as he shaves the rough side of a board with his plane tool.

jhr trained journalist Emmanuel Wheinyue is a winner of the “Good News for Africa” competition. The International Federation of Red Cross awarded Emmanuel for covering positive developments in Africa and is providing him with a free trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to cover humanitarian issues. Emmanuel’s story focuses on a blind carpenter in Buchanan, Liberia. He was assisted by jhr overseas trainer Grant Fuller. Click on the link below to listen to the award winning broadcast.

Click here to listen!

The prolonged civil war in Liberia over the years has disrupted the process for a generation of youth, and caused a low net enrollment of students in Liberian school.

Since the launch of UNICEF, back to school programs some years back and the pronouncement of free and compulsory education by the UP government, there has been some level of improvement in the enrollment process.

The MDGs report 2008 has enshrined that the gross enrolment of primary education stands at 86.3 % for the year 2007 which is much encouraging as compare to 200 to 2002 school year raging to 56.2%. Nevertheless, the report also indicates that there has been considerable improvement in the enrolment process since the launch of free and compulsory education.

The free and compulsory education however has its own side effect which needs to be concentrated upon by the government: too many children in the classrooms. The over-crowdedness of public schools and even the University of Liberia  are all drowning in the sea of denseness.

“The over-crowdedness of public schools is an age-old phenomena and the inheritance of the Madame Sirleaf’s Government,” Mr. Abraham Nyounway, Secretary General of the Teachers’ Association of Monrovia consolidated School System and registrar of Newport Jr. High School revealed.

Despite the compactness of schools, many students are seen every day roaming the streets selling for their parents as bread winners, while some said that they are selling to complete the payment of their school fees before returning to school.

However, Mr. Nyounway blamed the denseness on the unavailability of structures to contain the number of students.

To date, students opting to attend private schools can be turned down by many public schools due to space problem. This causes some parents to have to choose to send their kids to private school – which is too exorbitant – or leave them alone without school. This is also contributing to the roaming of school aged children on the streets.

Some years ago, some 64 countries converged to Dakar, Senegal in an effort to improve learning standards in their respective countries. At the conference, a specific target was reached in a consensus that each country’s representative should encourage a free and compulsory education back home; that by 2015 every citizen in that country must at least complete primary school. This same target has been set by the MDG 2008 report, “ensuring that by 2015 children everywhere boys and girls alike, will be able  to  complete a full course of primary education.”

Even so, the 2008 MDGs report indicates that Liberia is far from achieving the goal of providing the level of school enrolment agreed on: this is not an encouraging sign. According to the report the level of enrolment to meet the target is actually deteriorating. “Based on current trends, the net primary enrolment ratio will be approximately 40% by 2015. Hence, it is likely that Liberia will achieve the MDGs of 100% net primary enrolment by 2015. Similarly, while the gross enrolment rate is impressive, it must be placed in the proper context,”  MDG’s report states.

The realities of these statistics are being felt by the people of Liberia.

“I hardly find food for my children to eat; sending them to school is a problem. I can’t even get money to give them for recess so it is better for them to be with me and help me sell to met our daily supply of food,” Rebecca Garley, Chicken Soup Factory.

Many parents and teachers agreed that school feeding would be necessary to encourage some poor parents to enroll their kids to school where they will not bother them enough for breakfast.

The executive Director of LETCOM, an educational advocacy organization that was organized following the end of the Dakar conference to make education a priority or a human right issue said the monitoring, evaluation and compulsory aspect of educational performance to promote and sustain the quality of educational system is very poor.

Photography by Myles Estey.

With a little less than two years before the conduct of a general and presidential election, voters have begun boycotting the polls – a situation that sends out wide signals and has sparked debates in all sectors of society.

Why is it so, what were the expectation of the voters? Have they lost confidence in their leaders due to apathy? These are some of the questions posed to voters at several polling places around the city on Election Day.

Empty polling station

At the Joseph B. Tate Jr. Memorial Institute in Congo Town, polling started on time but the first voter did not cast their ballot until thirty minutes later. The center was very quiet and there were little sign of voters.

Similar situations were observed at the Seventh Day Adventist High School at the ELWA Junction and the Paynesville Community Jr. High School in Paynesville Joebar Community, up to the Paynesville Central Academy High School along the Somalia Drive.

Even though a holiday was pronounced by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to afford eligible voters to exercise their franchise, many did not turn out to vote.  People were instead seen at entertainment centers and others market places around the city, while many were busy at vaccination centers to be immunized against the Yellow Fever disease.

Yellow Fever vaccinations

At the Paynesville City Hall, which played host to seven polling centers, many were seen queuing-up for the Vaccine, leaving the voting precinct absolutely empty. Satta Siafa, is one of those administering the vaccine. “The Vaccination process is very fast. Many people are polling in to be vaccinated, as you can see, the queue is very long and we are expected to serve up to five hundred person just today.”

Beatrice Cooper, a health worker who seems very hard working, said she is doing everything possible to reduce the long queue of people who have turn out for the vaccine. “I don’t want to talk, as you can see, the people are very plenty and I am working to reduce the load on me. They are really turning out for the vaccine. I don’t know if they are doing the same at the voting centers, but I am hopeful that I will serve up to 450 persons before the day ends.”

Some of those at Vaccination centers around the city expressed more interest for the vaccine, and said they ‘care about their health and not politics.’ “The Politicians have failed us, why should we vote someone who has no interest in the country?,” asked Justine Doe, a resident of Barnesville Estate.

At the E. Jonathan Goodrich High School in Barnesville Estate and other voting centers covered, polling staff and election observers expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the election, describing it as peaceful. However, many expressed frustration over the low turnout.

Political analysts believed the inability of those elected to political office’s failure to deliver on the promises made to voters contributed to the poor turnout, while other believed the lack of sensitization led to the poor turnout.

What ever the case may be, election is a constitutional right of every citizen of the nation, and it is also the responsibilities of those elected to public offices, to work in the best interest of their electorates.  With this poor turnout, many are of the belief that the 2011 general and presidential election will turn a new page in Liberia, a nation coming out of 14 years of civil conflict.

For now, the National Election Commission (NEC) has received   praises from many sectors of the country including political leaders, voters, as well as civil society grouping for the successful conduct of the By-Election Run-off on November 24, 2009.

The NEC, which was criticized in the first round by-election, realized it mistakes, and put its house in order. A few weeks before the election, the NEC conducted civic and voter’s education trainings, coupled with a rehearsal workshop for polling staff.

These efforts will surely need to be accelerated to ensure a robust turnout for the 2011 elections.

Photography by Myles Estey.

Water is one of the most wasted resources in the world as a whole. Liberia has six major rivers, two lakes, and a heavy rainfall running from April to October each year.  Yet, people all over the country struggle to find clean drinking water.

A recent study put out by Afrobarometer, a non-partisan research institute measuring social indicators across Africa, reveals that across the country, only 50 per cent of people report that they never have enough water.  Equally worrisome is Afrobarometer’s report that only 8 per cent always have enough. For a country so abundant in water, that so many people reporting that they lack the right to clean water should be of grave concern.

Water, this gift of God, is very important to all human around the world, with many governments and non governmental organizations spending millions of dollars annually to provide safe drinking water. Some of these funds are said to be spent in Africa – with Liberia being no exception – to provide safe drinking water for people who cannot find it.

Lack of safe drinking water in some places causes illnesses, that sometimes leads to death among poor people who can not access clean water, even though it is in abundant in Liberia.

The lack of safe drinking water is not only a problem in the hinterland of Liberia, but it is also a problem that needs to be address in the nation’s capital, Monrovia and its suburbs. The gravity of this problem is real:  steps needs to be taken to address the situation.

This is exactly the issue in Flahn Town,  along Somalia Drive, where over five thousand people probably are affected every day in Liberia by lack of access to safe water. Like many places elsewhere in Liberia, most have limited knowledge of prevention of illness, and there does not seem to be a possible solution to the problem.

The people of Flahn Town lack safe drinking water. Community members buy up 25 gallons of water a day from water sellers in the community – a strain on the low amounts of money in the community.

Water buying is not the only problem in the community; residents developed methods just to have safe drinking water to keep up their family.

“We wash the beach sand and placed it into a rice bag, hang it on a stick,” Jestina Kromah a resident of the community explained. “We then fetch the dirty water from the open well and dump it into the bag of sand for about 10-15 minutes to have it filtered.”

“We do this every day of the week, without this process, we can not have clean water to wash, take bath and cook our foods, our children sometimes drink the water only because they can not fine a saver one,”

Kromah said that her family spends a combined 6 – 7 hours collecting the water that they need for their daily living.

She added that to access water for drinking, they send their children access the street 15-20 minutes walk away from the community. Our children are being risked and no one in the country cares to address this issue, Jestina continues.

“The problem of water in this community is a very big, the water from the wells around here is not clean, it is not good for human consumption,” explained Lucky Adogbo, standing in the doorway of the small store he runs. “We filter the dirty water and use it to wash, take bath and cook. We purchase drinking water from water sellers on a daily basis. Water from hand pump is also the same as the wells, no one has come to test the water to find a solution.”

“We have the right to clean water, since our right can not be given, we just have to accept what is being given,” he added.

Entering deeper into Flahn Town, the hanging bags of sand kept appearing in nearly every yard and the people kept expressing the same problem about water: they complained of running stomach and itches whenever they the drink or use the water for shower.

“We put water in the bag to filter it, because it is very dirty, we use it to take bath and wash clothes. The water sometime itch my skin and cause running stomach in this community,” Beatrice Togba, an elderly woman explained.

What makes matter worse for the people of Flahn Town, the newly constructed hand pump can not even be use for drinking. The water is brown and appeared rusty, but it is sometime consumed by little children only due to the lack of a clean and a safe water, and a lack of education about water purity.

- -

The interesting part of this investigation came minutes after the interview with Beatrice Togba, when two men came in with a giant size wheel barrel full with gallons of water for sale. They explained exactly why they were during such business in Flahn Town.

“We are water seller; we do this every day to support our families, said Ballah Gayflor of the work done by he and his business partner. I bring in 42 of these five-gallon containers into this community and we do this two to three times daily for almost a year plus now.”

We get this water from the Liberia Water Sewage line around the Jamaica Road Bridge and roll it to this community in wheel barrel for about 45 minutes to an hour. Each gallon is sold for ten dollars and everyone buys from us,” Gayflor, noted, adding that he can earn up to one thousand dollars every day.

The presence of outsides in Flahn Town attracted lot of attention with many people asking questions whether we were from some NGO  that is going build hand pump in the area; we told them they we are journalists.

Kids on their way home from school stop to tell us what they knew about water problem in the community.

‘Water business is very hard in this community; the water is dirty and can   run our stomach when we drink it. Our parents told us not to drink the water from the hand pump but when no water we can drink it.’

Madam Victory Jlopleh is the Chairlady for the women in Flahn Town and lives next to the only hand pump in the town, she had these words to say.

“Since 1991 we came in this community there has been serious problems of water here. We walk long distances in search for clean drinking water; we go across the water to Darque Town to get clean water and we have being doing this for a long period of time. The people build us a hand pump but the water is brown, sometime we boiled it before we use it. We are calling on the government to come to our aid,” she pleaded

‘Under pillar IV of the government Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), the government intends to increase access to safe drinking water (from 25 to 50 percent by 2011 including 45 percent of the rural people population and ensure the sustainability of 90 percent of water and sanitation facilities in the country.)

As reflected in the PRS, clean and safe water is a resource that needs to be accessible to everyone.  Looking at the situation in Flahn Town brings into question whether or not this right is being addressed for Liberians.

It is a sunny day in West Point, one of the many slum communities in central Monrovia. This community is not only noted for crimes and violent acts by some former ex-combattants who have now turned into drug addicts, but is also noted for it’s filthiness. Many residents here are living in a deplorable state, something they say will create a health disaster if urgent measures are not taken to combat the growing wave of illness and disease in the area.

The Star of the Sea medical clinic is the only referal health center in West Point. A woman only identified as Mrs Bryant is one of the chief medical officers at this clinic. She says that the cases most commonly reported are malaria and diarrhea, which are caused by mosquitoe bites and contaminated drinking water.

“The huge pile of garbage and the pollution of the air as a result of some detroyed latrines are the major factors contributing to the increase.”

Mrs Bryant also noted that access to clean drinking water, which is important for every living being, is one of the problems facing the residents here. As a result of lack of safe drinking water, both children and adults are constantly diagnosed with diarrhea.

“Some of these illnesses are sometimes referred to bigger hospitals because of the lack of proper drugs to treat patients here,” she explained.

Mamie Gbarto is a patient at the clinic, who recently gave birth prematurely. She has been here for nearly three days. She says the health conditions in West Point are deplorable, and she is calling on government and humanitarian organizations to come to their aid.

David Mulbah works at a nearby drug store.

“Since the inception of the government of President Johnson-Sirleaf,” he says, “no concrete steps have been taken to address the many health issues confronting this community.”

Mulbah believes that the health conditions in the area will not improve if Government continues to abandon the plight of the people.

Most of the housing facilities in West Point are make-shift – something the residents say is further contributing to the health disaster looming over the community.

“My daughter is always sick because our house is leaking very badly,” says Monica Lee, a marketeer. She says mosquitoes, cockroaches, and flies have infested the area, spreading germs which contribute to high fevers in residents.

“The unfortunate thing is children are always the victims.”

Photo credit: David Vaucher (http://www.panoramio.com/user/166000?with_photo_id=3869193)

As Global Economic Meltdown Continues

“For two months I have not been receiving money from my mother and sister in the States. Every month they used to send something whenever I called them; but this time no way,” 54-year-old Nathaniel Vaker, told The Journal at a commercial bank in Monrovia recently. He is one example of a direct victim of the global economic meltdown.

Nathaniel, a student of the teacher college at the University of Liberia, is part of a household of 11 family members, excluding extended relatives, who prior to the acute drop in remittances from abroad, used to benefit from overseas’ support. Since his sister became one of the many who recently lost jobs in the US, however, Nathaniel, like many other Liberians, has been directly – and negatively – impacted by the worldwide economic backwardness.

There is no more telling scenario that the 54-year-old teacher college student could highlight than when he took sick and only had L$300 to afford medication. He had to pay L$150 for lab test and other fees, and because the balance L$150 could not buy him the required drugs, he was compelled to credit from friends to meet his health needs at the time.

At the same token, banking institutions in Liberia, with whom customers both within the country and abroad transact businesses, are experiencing a drop in remittances – personal transfers of money from abroad, sent through businesses such as Western Union. This equally affects the banks’ operations as commercial financial entities longing to maximize profits.

In an exclusive July 23 interview with the Comptroller of Liberia Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI), John B. S. Davies, at his Ashmun Street office, the seasoned accountant confirmed that there is a drop in remittances coming into the country as a result of the global recession.

Though he could not give the exact percentage of the drop, the Comptroller said financial institutions also feel the impact, because once their clients are affected there is a trigger down effect on the commercial banks.

Mr. Davies attributed the global financial crisis to what he called “bad business practices accumulated over the years”. He said when the financial crisis first hit the world, it immediately affected developed countries because they have giant industries that manufacture raw materials into finished products shifted back on the world market.

According to him, it is now that the second wave of the economic marauding has begun to affect poor countries, including those in Africa, because, unlike the countries manufacturing finished products, developing countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda, among others, depend their revenue generation on the resources exported abroad by investors. 

Photo credit: Nikki Whaites

A resident of the St Paul Bridge community, Anthony, says the use of dynamite as a way of fishing is unsafe.

A fisherman himself, Anthony explained that dynamite pollutes the water and weakens the fish, making them unsafe for human consumption.

He admitted the use of the banned explosives by some fishermen in the St Paul Bridge, Jamaica Road, Popo Beach, and West Point areas. The dynamite, he explained, is brought into the country from Sierra Leone and Guinea – and costs less than buying nets.

Speaking to this situation, two elderly ladies who also live in the area confirmed the use of the explosives by fishermen in the St Paul River. Although it is not a common occurrence right now, they were quick to point out that it is done regularly during the dry season.

The acting Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Jerome Nyekan, says it is illegal to use dynamite as a means of catching fish.

The EPA boss said those in the habit of throwing poisonous substances into rivers and harming marine creatures should stop the bad practice. If caught, he explained, violators will pay a fine of up to 50 thousand US dollars, and spend as many as 25 years in jail.

He said the EPA, over the years, has trained 28 customs officers nation-wide to enable them to combat the illegal entry of dynamite and other substances into the country.

The EPA is also planning a nation-wide awareness jamboree during the dry season, to explain the dangers of dynamite and other substances unfriendly to the environment.

Photo credit: http://naghinuktok.blog.friendster.com/files/dynamited-fish1.jpg

Radio Kergheamahn Joseph Kerkulah explores why pregnant women in northern Liberia are dying at such a high rate. Liberia has one of the worst records in the world for pregnant women dying due to complications arising during pregnancy or childbirth. Kerkulah and jhr trainer Bonnie Allen travel to a rural village that does not have a medical clinic to interview midwives, pregnant women, and the families of women who died. The team discovers access to healthcare is particularly difficult during rainy season.

AIRED: First aired July 28, 2009. It was featured on a program called “Healthy Body.” It has since re-aired three times. Furthermore, an extended interview with Maternity Ward Supervisor Comfort Neufville also aired twice.

Click here to listen

jhr trainer remarks:
There are several successes in this piece. The reporter Joseph Kerkulah interviewed ordinary women who have never had the chance to speak out before. Normally, he avoids interviewing Liberians who speak a local dialect, such as Kpelle, because his program is in English. I showed him that we cannot discriminate against people due to language, and demonstrated how to translate interviews and edit clips with English voice-over. He also, for the first time, used natural sound in a radio item.

In late spring Liberian journalist Charles Yates got a tip that that runoff from a rubber plantation was creating severe toxic pollution in North East Liberia. As a result of the training he received from jhr (Journalists for Human Rights) he realized that many people’s rights were being violated, particularly their right to a clean and healthy environment, and that a story might be able to apply pressure on the right authorities.

While researching his story Charles discovered that pollution from the Firestone Rubber Plantation had caused outbreaks of skin disease, had polluted drinking water, had made fish unsafe for consumption and that there were at least two reports of death directly linked to the pollution.

Yates had his story published in The Inquirer, one of Liberia’s primary newspapers. Soon after, Radio UNMIL, the United Nations Monrovia based radio station, picked up and broadcasted the story. The story then reached Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who consequently ordered audits to be conducted throughout the plantation.

Read the full original article below.

Firestone Pollutes Six Villages In Margibi District

EPA Tights Lipped On The Issue While Advocacy Group Warns of Danger

Water severely polutted from a rubber plantation in North East Liberia.

Six villages within district # 3 in lower Margibi County are experiencing severe toxic pollution as the result of wastes flowing from the Firestone Liberia plantation. They have lost their rights to a clean and healthy environment, and describe the great health hazard this has brought to their community.

The villages are now experiencing an outbreak of skin diseases, polluted drinking water and a lack of fish safe for human consumption. One baby was recently born with a missing arm, and there are at least two reports of death directly linked to the pollution. The affected areas are not in the range of Firestone Concession Agreement area, the village elders disclosed, but instead just downstream.

One town directly hit by this unfriendly environmental practice is the Kparyah Town. It sits just downstream from the source of the pollution – several cracks in a large pipe belonging to Firestone. The pipe pours constantly into a marsh that is now black from the pollution. A smell rising off the wetland makes it barely possible to stand in the terrain for five minutes.

Wilfred B. David, head elder of Kparyah Town explained they do not eat any fish from the creek anymore and their crops also do not grow anymore because of the hazardous pollution leeching from Firestone. Villagers discovered and reported the pollution in 2002. Since then nothing had been done to correct the problem by government or Firestone.

“We have informed our county authorities about the situation and some of them have also come on the scene and have experienced this pollution for themselves but they have not taken any steps against the Management of Firestone,” David lamented. Other villagers alleged that the wastes that are being dumped in the creek are taken from septic tanks, the factory as well as somehuman, and hospital wastes.

The villagers further disclosed that as the result of the constant toxic pollution into the creek fishes and marines are dying on a daily basis and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Liberia is not doing anything to prevent the situation.

Villagers also described Firestone management regularly showing up to mock them by asking – with chide laughs – if the village has any fish for sale, before driving off. This has incensed residents.

Local youths have threatened to stage a demonstration if the government of Liberia does not take quick measures to curtail the ongoing situation. Youth leader, Sam S. Gaye promised that his youth group will set up road blocks and the protest will be violent if nothing is done to arrest the looming environmental crisis. “We can not continue to live in this kind of atmosphere anymore. Our children are dying and our food production is reducing greatly,” he stated.

Public Relations officer of Firestone Liberia , Mr. Rufus Karmoh, refused to comment on the related issue besides presenting a statement on Firestone Liberia’s Environmental Practices. In the statement, Firestone Liberia did not specifically reference the pollution allegation, but boasted that the company is practicing sound environmental stewardship that is positively impacting the lives of Liberians.

The statement explains that Firestone Liberia continuously communicates with its neighbors and with those in surrounding communities. “By gathering information and constantly reviewing its operations, the company is able to identify any environmental issues and address them in timely manner,” the release stated.

The release added that the company recently constructed a new state-of-the-art, multimillion-dollar water treatment facility that processes water from its factory through equalization and clarification tanks and into its constructed wetlands on the company’s property for natural, biological treatment. On site investigations could not establish where this ’state-of-the-art’ facility was, or how it applies to the pollution affecting Kparyah Town .

Other than acknowledging that receipt of information the pollution issue, EPA head Jerome Nyakan refused to comment on the matter but promised to respond to the issue in later date.

A different source at the EPA explained that the EPA received information on the issue as early as 2008, and dispatched a team of investigators on the scene. The source, who wished to remain unnamed due to restrictions in speaking to the press, said the investigators discovered that indeed the pollution was taking place and recommendation was made to the Firestone management. The source did not state what actually came out of said recommendation.

Liberia Environmental Watch’s Director, Morris T. Koffa has warned that if the government of Liberia does nothing to hold Firestone to the book, future consequences will be great and to the detriment of Liberians.

The environmental advocacy group boss, who is based in the United States of America, said that information emanating from Firestone must claim the attention of the national government and the lawmakers. Mr. Koffa said these wastes from the factory contain hazardous chemicals that can cause long time effect on the lives of the victims and the surrounding environment on which they depend.

He used the occasion to call on the Liberia Environmental Lawyers Association to join the victims in the fight to address the issue. Mr. Koffa said it is true that the victims are financially incapacitated to drag the Management of Firestone to court but with the help and support of the environmental lawyers their dream can come to reality. “This is a serious concern and the EPA must get involved,” Mr. Koffa angrily told this paper from his US-based residence via mobile phone.

The environmental expert warned that if the government of Liberia does not rush in to rescue its citizens from the degradation of the environment they depend on for a safe and healthy environment, the future consequences will be severe and the government will be held responsible for the damage.