The head of the European Union mission in Liberia says he is appalled by how “dirty” and “disgusting” the capital, Monrovia is, despite donors pouring in aid to clean it up and improve living conditions.
Laurent Delahousse told a forum organised by the Monrovia City Council that he was ”a bit surprised” by what he saw when he arrived a year ago.
“Monrovia is a disgusting city, it is a dirty city,” he said.
“Of all the capitals I have seen in my previous posts in Africa, I have not seen one that is as dirty as yours,” he added.
He went on to urge city officials to address the crisis, and to account for the money received from donors and the taxes collected from businesses.
“A clean city is an asset; it create jobs and probably that is what Liberia needs most,” he said.
The straight-talking envoy joined other speakers in telling the city council that decorating Monrovia every now and again was not enough when the issue of sanitation remained a serious problem.
The mayor of Monrovia, Jefferson Koijee, who is also the chairman of the youth wing of the governing CDC party, told the forum that waste management in the over-crowded city was a major challenge.
But with more support from donor partners like the European Union they would continue to tackle the problem, he said.
There has been huge support from the donor community for the upkeep of Monrovia over the years, but the city has remained filthy with heaps of rubbish seen all over the place and some remaining on the streets for weeks.
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