ZUOLAY, Nimba – It is still one month before the peak of the rainy season, but commuting between Saclepea, Nimba and Zwedru, Grand Gedeh is getting almost impossible due to impassable roads as a result of heavy rainfall.

One unfortunate victim of the bad state of the road was Lucy Kobo, a 63-year-old woman traveling from Pleebo, Maryland to attend the funeral of her cousin last weekend in Monrovia. She was forced to miss the event after a bus she was riding on spent more than four days on the road.

The bus was among several other vehicles that were delayed for nearly two days between Graie and Zuolay, where three loaded trucks traveling towards Tappita were trapped in a pile of red mud worsened by recent rainfall.

Passengers of more than 50 vehicles traveling towards either Saclepea or Tappita were stranded for nearly two days, as no vehicle was able to cross to either side because the trucks had completely blocked the road.

Lucy Kobo. Photo: Gbatemah Senah

Kobo told a team of journalists on Friday, May 18 that she had left Pleebo on Tuesday afternoon and had also spent two nights in River Gee before being trapped for an additional two days between Graie and Zuolay.

She said she had hoped the journey would have been a one-day trip from Pleebo to Monrovia. That way, she could have reached Monrovia early Wednesday morning and had time to rest before the funeral.

She, however, said she would wait and continue her journey once the road was cleared, adding that at least she would have the opportunity to meet with the family of the bereaved.

A few cars down from Kobo, sat Regina Nimley, who was breastfeeding her one-year-old baby. She was also traveling to Monrovia.

“For the three nights we’ve been here, we are not taking baths or even getting good food to eat,” she said.

Nimley said she was traveling to Monrovia for the first time at the request of her sister in Monrovia. She was taking along their aged blind father for an eye operation that is scheduled to take place next month.

According to her, besides his blindness, her father’s heath is also deteriorating because of the long trip.

“His feet are swelling because the four days we have spent on this road, has been sleeping in the car. He can’t move around,” Nimely told The Bush Chicken.

She also explained that because she did not have food to eat, breastfeeding her baby had been challenging.

The road condition has also been impacting commerce in the region. Nimley Walker, the founder of FG Incorporated, an agribusiness company which purchases and distributes seed and agricultural inputs to food and cash crop farmers in Liberia, was also stuck along the road.

Walker told journalists that he had traveled to Ivory Coast to purchase pregerminated cocoa seeds for some private farmers in Margibi and for the Central Agriculture Research Institute in Bong. However, he said he had joined the chain of vehicles that could not go further because of the three trucks blocking the road.

He said the situation could lead to significant financial losses for him because the seeds have stayed much longer than recommended in their current state.

“I came from Ivory Coast on Monday, and the cocoa I am carrying has only two days. It [should] not spend more than three days on the way,” he said.

He said although there is a chemical he can apply that can prevent the seeds from dying, it would also cause them to start grow in the bag, a situation he said would make the seeds fragile to carry.

According to Walker, he would usually spend at most one day to reach to Kakata when driving from Ivory Coast, except for situations where his vehicle would break down.

He called on the government to consider improving the road in order to enhance smooth movement of vehicles.

The problem on the road to the southeast is part of Liberia’s age-old infrastructural problem which the current government has announced it will tackle.

The Ministry of Transport’s regional coordinator for Maryland, River Gee, Grand Gedeh, Sinoe and Grand Kru, T. Max Deah, told reporters that the current state of the road is an early warning sign that the route might be inaccessible to vehicles when the rain intensifies in the coming months.

Regional coordinator at the Ministry of Transport, T. Max Deah. Photo: Gbatemah Senah

Deah said it has become normal for the condition of the road to deteriorate every rainy season, adding that until the road is paved, the situation would continue to exist.

He said drivers of large trucks exacerbate the problem when they fail to exercise patience when one truck gets stuck. The truck drivers always try to force their way through when another is stuck, he said, thus completely blocking the road for smaller vehicles.

“They’re not organized, so they’re causing serious problems for the small vehicles to move,” he said.

He said instead of waiting and helping fellow truckers trapped in the same lane, most truck drivers would insist on driving in the opposite lane, creating more damage to the road.

Trucks trapped on the Ganta to Zwedru road. Photo: Gbatemah Senah

He called on the Traffic and Motor Vehicle Section of the Liberia National Police to ensure that truck drivers adhere to traffic regulations and stop creating blockages on the road.

Deah also called on the Ministry of Public Works to more frequently fill potholes on the roads, to provide quick fixes to ensure that the roads remain accessible.

In his first State of the Nation address, President George Weah promised to attach special priority to the construction of a coastal highway that will run from Buchanan to Harper to end the “complete isolation” of southeastern Liberia. While the Ganta to Zwedru road is not included as part of that plan, it would provide an alternative to allow travelers coming from the southeast to reach Monrovia more quickly.

Weah recently submitted a loan agreement to the legislature for ratification. That loan, if approved, is expected to fund construction of the highway.

According to Nathaniel McGill, the minister of state for presidential affairs, the coastal road project is expected to commence at the beginning of the coming fiscal year. He said the project will begin in Buchanan, Grand Bassa to Cestos City, River Cess, and pass through Greenville in Sinoe to Sass Town, and Barclayville in Grand Kru and Harper in Maryland.

Featured photo by Gbatemah Senah