Liberia: Former Beach Workers Threaten to Vote Against Weah, If…

Over 3,000 former aggrieved Beaches and Waterways project workers have threatened to cause chaos within the CDC-led government of President George M. Weah come October 10, if he fails to pay back their waived 11-month arrears. 

According to them, President Weah has to choose between two options: either pay back their arrears or retain them on the coastal sanitation project.

Presenting their plights to President Weah's office representative over the weekend in New Kru Town, the workers recounted that their local leadership and the Liberian government, through Youth and Sports Minister D. Zeogar Wilson, signed a memorandum of understanding a few years ago.

The workers claimed that the government at the time owed them 21 months' arrears but settled for 10 months' arrears and waived the remaining 11 months through the MoU based on the economic constraints faced by the government.

According to them, the national government agreed through the document signed between the two parties to retain them on the new project while they (the workers) waived their 11-month contract in support of the Coalition for Democratic Change government.

The aggrieved workers explained that Minister Zeogar Wilson refused to follow the agreement in the MoU signed that they should waive their 11 months due to the challenges faced by the government so all of them can be retained on the Coastal Sanitation Project, for which US$2.5 million was allotted in the Fiscal Year 2023 national budget by the Liberian government.

The over 3,000 workers vowed to surprise President George Weah in the ensuing October 10, 2023, presidential and legislative elections with a vote that he will never want to believe from the people of New Kru Town.

According to them, the Liberian leader has heard their cries for their job, or if they cannot be given back the job, the government must pay their waived 11 months’ arrears, but he remained tightlipped on the matter.

The former workers of the BWWP noted that since their own son (President Weah) would choose to treat them with neglect, in revenge, they are prepared to express their feelings to him through the ballot box in October this year.

They promised, with anger expressed on their faces, to unapologetically and intentionally torment the Liberian leader, who is also the political leader of the governing Coalition for Democratic Change, if he continues to give their plights deaf ears.

It can be recalled that in a letter dated June 8, 2020 and addressed to Justice Minister Counselor Frank Musa Dean and signed by the Head Monitors and Secretary General of the program respectively, the aggrieved workers stated that they are currently living in frustration and hardship due to the delay in the payment of their arrears.

They recalled that on March 1 this year, Youth and Sports Minister Zoegar Wilson pronounced the immediate closure of the project through “without any written acknowledgement to the workforce”.

According to them, Minister Wilson then invited the head monitor of the New Kru Town belt, Dekontee Woto, the Project Region Two-II Coordinator Edwin G. V. Kanneh, and Region-I Coordinator, George Young to a meeting to find a way forward for the project.

They maintained that additional three persons from the ministry, including the Assistant Youth and Sports Minister, Famatta Bracewell; Director for Monitoring and Evaluation Mr. Samuel Jallah, and Mr. John N. Sunday, Special Assistant to the Minister, were appointed March 28 to spearhead the committee.

The workers claimed that a six-man committee was tasked with the responsibility to determine the actual financial obligations of the government to the employees of the program, and to advance measures for the program restructuring.

But it seems that the committee has not been able to find a way forward to pay the arrears of workers, who are now demanding answers.

However, the workers, many of whom are single parents with huge economic burdens daily, told the media that since the closure of the old project, they had willingly volunteered their services by cleaning the beaches for about five months only to prove their loyalty to the government.

They maintained that until President Weah can amicably resolve their longstanding issues, they are resolved to massively campaign against his re-election bid for the Liberian presidency.

Meanwhile, receiving the documents from the aggrieved workers on behalf of the President, a prominent son of Kru Town, Henry Collins disclosed that their messages have not been reaching the Liberian people by those they had engaged, stressing that President Weah is a leader who is always willing to hear the voices of his people and resolve their issues.

He also assured the workers that their plights would be delivered to the Liberian leader, but he could not determine the subsequent decision to be taken by the president.

Collins then encouraged the citizens to remain respectful and peaceful in their quest, adding that the President has always identified dialogue as the best way to solve problems.