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“Bad Roads Blocking Progress” in Southeast Liberia

By: – Konah Rufus

August 10, 2020

A men try to pull a pick-up out of the mud on the road between Grand Bassa County and Southeastern Liberia.

-Grand Kru Superintendent Doris Ylatun

At least 20 vehicles get stuck in the mud for several days every week between Gio Town in Grand Bassa County and ITI community in Rivercess County. And though the problem presents some economic respite for the youth in communities along the road, who along with fellow drivers, help get those vehicles through the mud, the much bigger problem is that the progress of business and development, bound for Southeastern Liberia, is blocked, a commercial driver told the Daily Observer.

It has been ten years since Jordana Hochman, in a report for the NPR wrote: “The roads are a major challenge for Liberia’s recovery. They block Liberians’ access to hospitals and schools, make it difficult for farmers to transport produce before it spoils, and impede the distribution of aid.”

Very little of this narrative, especially in rural Liberia, has changed. And while President George Manneh Weah has declared himself the “medicine for bad roads”, three years into his first term, most of his efforts on bad road relief have been in suburbs of the nation’s capital, Monrovia.

Doris N. Ylatun, Superintendent of Grand Kru County, the place from whence Liberia’s current President George Manneh Weah hails, knows all too well the constraints bad roads pose on rural development. Even while carrying out her own duties, the road condition has tested her ability to be resourceful in moving around the county and getting things done.

According to Superintendent Ylatun said since the 12th edition of the County Sitting, held over five months ago, when it was agreed that a vehicle would be purchased for her. The vehicle has been purchased, she says, but is yet to be delivered to her in the county because it is still in Monrovia, due to bad roads.