SANNIQUELLIE, Nimba – Nimba’s Council of Chiefs and Elders is appealing to the county’s legislative caucus to provide paramount chiefs with motorcycles to allow them to conduct their official duties more efficiently.

The group, through its leader Chief Franklin Toweh, told delegates following the recent County Council Sitting that they are seeking a resolution permitting each chief to have one motorcycle for transportation.

Toweh suggested that his appeal was connected to the Dec. 2014 purchase of US$72,000 worth of motorcycles for 17 district commissioners in Nimba.

“We want the paramount chiefs to be dignified like we did to our commissioners,” he said. “We want to be dignified by the same type of motorbikes, the [Yamaha AG-100s] that were purchased for the commissioners. The paramount chiefs need them also.”

In addition to the request for the motorcycles, the chiefs also called on the caucus to look into the issue of their clerks and counselors not being on the government’s payroll.

Additionally, Toweh pleaded with the caucus to provide official residences for the chiefs. He said unlike the chiefs of the past who were provided with housing, they currently do not have compounds. Instead, they conduct official business from their individual homes.

Chiefs in Liberia hold largely ceremonial posts and lack much power or responsibilities besides dealing with disputes outside the legal system.

Featured photo by Arrington Ballah