BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa – Rep. Matthew Joe of Grand Bassa’s third district has donated a 32-seater bus said to be worth US$85,000 for students’ use in commuting to school.
The donation was made on Sunday, March 11 at the Unification Pavilion in Buchanan in the presence of the county authority, members of the county’s legislative caucus, and residents of the district.
The bus will be managed by the newly established District Development Council. Joe said he established the Council as a vehicle for transparency and accountability through which developmental activities of the district will be channeled.
Speaking at the program, Joe said over the years, students in his district have been walking long distances to travel to their schools. During the rainy season, he said students’ uniforms become wet and their books are often damaged due to lack of sheltered vehicles to take them to their various campuses. He said the students do not deserve such treatment in the 21st century.
He warned that the bus should not be used for church conferences and school trips out of the district but only to be used within the district.
Joe named the establishment of the District Development Council, purchasing the bus for students, and a microloan financing program for market women as the three projects to be implemented in his first 90 days.
He said he will soon launch the microloan program.
“My coming into politics is not to enrich myself but to show to the people true representation – how representation [is] supposed to be,†he said. “If you say you are representing the people, it means you are [a] servant to your people.’’
Deputy Speaker Prince Moye, who attended the program, praised Joe for establishing the District Development Council, a mechanism that Moye himself had established in his district.
“During campaign period, there are lots of promises made and it is not sometimes possible that all those promises are achieved in six years, so members of the DDC need to select projects across the district or else, the dream of Honorable Matthew Joe to touch the lives of everyone in the district in terms of development may not be realized,†Moye said.
District residents thanked Joe for the bus donation and said it would be used for the intended purpose.
Featured photo by Sampson David