Liberia: Residents of Gbonokalai Town In Bong County Threaten to Boycott 2023 Elections Owing to Lack of Health Facility

GBONOKALAI TOWN, Bong County – Residents in Gbonokalai Town and its surroundings in Bong County District #7 have vowed not to participate in the pending Presidential and Legislative Elections if their current representative and the government fail to make their clinic functional before Election Day on October 10, 2023.

By: Albert M. Fania, Contributing writer

The residents say their current lawmaker, Representative Joseph Papa Kolleh constructed a clinic in fulfillment of his promise to them during the campaign, but nearly five years after the building was erected, the lawmaker has failed to supply it with drugs to make it functional.

As a result, the building is now lying in ruins, while residents, mainly pregnant women and children are “dying like flies.” He warned that if nothing is done before the 2023 elections, he and his people will boycott the polls.

“We will mobilize our people not to take part in the upcoming October 10 general elections, most especially for the representative polls in order to draw the attention of our leaders to our situation,” Town Chief Singbeh said.

“Our forefathers did not have access to health facilities, we ourselves don’t have and our children also will not have if we continue to sit and just allow things to go on as usual. We are not happy because our children and pregnant women are dying like flies.”

Singbeh said the residents were so thankful for the lawmaker’s noble initiative for constructing the building. He said they expected the Ministry of Health to buttress his effort to supply and staff the clinic but that has not happened and their hope to get a health center has been dashed.

He made a renewed call on Rep. Kolleh, the Bong County Legislative Caucus, Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor and the Ministry of Health to work together to open the clinic to enable residents of Gbonokai Town and its surroundings get access to health for the first time in their entire existence.

Gbonokalai is situated between Bong and Gbarpolu Counties. Residents of the town walked about three to four hours to access the nearby health facility, while residents in Gbarpolu County walked five to six hours to seek medication in Bong which is their only alternative.

Town Chief Singbeh said they have lost several people including pregnant women and newborn babies while transporting them to the nearby health facility in hammocks due to the long distance.

He said if the clinic is functional, the residents of Gbonokalai Town and neighbors from Gbarpolu will be relieved.

Also speaking, Madam Nyamah Tonkollie, the community women leader and Trained Traditional Midwife (TTM), explained that implementing the government’s policy on delivery at home is difficult, owing to the lack of any nearby medical facility.

“Last week one woman had to deliver on the road while carrying her to the nearby clinic in Sanoyea Town. You think if this clinic was finished and delegated this was going to happen?” she asked rhetorically.

“Every time a woman is in pain, I will have to carry them to Sanoyea to deliver [her] because the government says we should not conduct delivery at home.

Sometimes, when we are going, some of them can give birth on the road, and because we are all women, and we don’t want to be disgraced, we will take off our lappa and put it around her until we finish with everything. So, we are begging Papa Kolleh, the government and other NGOs to please help open this clinic. We are tired of the pain and shame.”

Responding to the residents’ concerns and claims, Uriah G. Cooper, the administrative assistant in the office of Rep. Kolleh, acknowledged that the lawmaker completed the construction of the building in 2018, but it has not been dedicated.

Mr. Cooper attributed the delay in the dedication of the clinic to health workers’ unwillingness to work in the area.

He said all assessments by the Ministry of Health have been done and over US$2,000 worth of drugs are in safekeeping for the clinic’s opening.

Cooper did not state the main date for the opening of the clinic but expressed hope that it would be open before or after the October 10 General elections in Liberia. 

“The lawmaker hasn’t forgotten that clinic, but we are still on the job market looking for qualified workers who are willing to work in that place. As soon as that is done, we will have that place opened to the public,” he said.

In April 2016, Representative Joseph Papa-Kolleh broke ground for the construction of the Gbonokalai Clinic in Lower Dingmah Clan, Sanoyea District. The project included a five-bedroom house to be used as a maternity center.

After the completion of the building, it was inspected and approved for use by the Liberia Medical and Dental Council.