CESTOS, River Cess – For at least three hours, security personnel from a private firm securing the River Cess District Hospital held the facility hostage, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.
The personnel of the Fast Spring Private Security Firm said the government had not paid for their services for ten months. The protest occurred on July 19. The protesting security personnel said they worked for ten months without pay (from October 2023 to July 2024).
The protestors locked the two entrances to the hospital, preventing patients and staff from entering or leaving the compound.
The head of the security firm, Mark Boree, told The Bush Chicken that his firm had entered an agreement with the Health Ministry to provide security for the facility, but payments were not coming for ten months.
Boree said his firm could no longer bear the pain and had to protest to claim the attention of the relevant leaders.
“People with children can’t be working for you, and you refuse to pay them for [the] whole ten months,” Boree said.
Two former River Cess officials, Trokon Browne, and Sampson Mellish, helped calm the tension and convinced the protestors to cease their action when they called the parties to a roundtable discussion.
“We came to one understanding that they will pay us six months this coming Thursday. But if we don’t get our money on Thursday as they have promised, what happened today will be small,” Boree said.
Browne, the former River Cess county inspector, told The Bush Chicken he is optimistic that the six-month payment will come as promised. He promised to contact other stakeholders to ensure the firm is paid.
The officer-in-charge of the hospital, Magretta Lewis, said she was busy and could not speak to the press.
River Cess Superintendent Byron Zahnwea was in Monrovia at the time of the incident. He said it was concerning that a security firm protecting the hospital’s facilities would not be paid for ten months. Zahnwea, who took charge of the county on May 31, 2024, said that although he lacks the details on the contract between Fast Spring Security Firm and the Health Ministry, he will ensure that the firm is paid by the promised date.
On Thursday, July 25, Boree told The Bush Chicken that the Ministry of Health had initiated the payment. This came after the agreed-upon deadline, but security personnel did not stage another protest as promised due to cooperation from the ministry. However, because of the Independence Day holiday, Boree said the funds would likely enter his company’s account on Monday, July 29.
Featured photo by Eric Opa Doue
