By Joe Bartuah
NOTE: This article was penned on May 30, 2009 for a proposed Liberian –owned magazine. It is being reproduced here because most of the issues raised herein are still relevant.
Recent reports emanating from Liberia signal mixed accounts about motor cycles, or Okada--they are said to be the fastest growing but equally risky mode of transport in that war-torn country. The motor cycles are said to be frequency involved in accidents resulting to injuries and unnecessary deaths.
In the Monrovia area, regular taxis, as we knew them in prewar times, are said to be scarce. Even in instances where taxis are available, the traffic moves at a snail’s pace, hence the alluring appeal of Okada. The traffic squeeze in Monrovia is understandable though. The streets are very few and for over two decades, they were not regularly maintained, due to a combination of economic slump and misrule. Even Somalia Drive (Freeway), which had been originally planned as a four-lane driveway, remained in its primary two-lane mode that President Tolbert had initiated up to the onset of the senseless killing spree that began on Christmas Eve in 1989.
Moreover, there has been no sustained effort exerted towards connecting Monrovia proper and the Sinkor areas with the Gardinersville-Barnesville areas. That is, to link the two main segments of the capital by means of constructing streets through the mangrove marsh land or building bridges across the Mesurado River.
In the 1980s, a General Binyan Kesselly Boulevard and two others, which were to be financed by the Taiwanese government, were proposed, but they turned out to be sheer bogus exhibitions. Such lack of foresight, coupled with the massive demographic movement or sociological dislocation triggered by the years of upheaval, have induced the near traffic clog that is reportedly plaguing Monrovia nowadays. In such scenario, Okada’s portability ensures its suitability, which translates into its popularity with ordinary folks.
Whereas a taxi has to wait for the traffic to move before it gets to its destination, Okada meanders and makes a way in whatever narrow path and easily delivers the goods or hasten passengers to their destinations. Its operation is not limited to Monrovia. I recently spoke with a gentleman who had just returned from Liberia and he disclosed that he had been an Okada passenger from the Ivorian border town of Tolouple` to Tappita in Nimba County. Whether it is in Ganta, Nimba County; Gbarnga, Bong County; Kakata and Harbel, Margibi County; Okada is said to be all over the place.
While talking about the perennial lack of street maintenance in the Monrovia area, it’s needless to say that the feeder roads and highways in the rural areas are worst off. Many of the feeder roaders were hastily constructed by logging companies in those days. Obviously the loggers’ only aim was to access their logs from the jungle. As for the people in the countryside, their hope had been that the central government would eventually step in and standardize those roads, so as to bring much-needed relief to them.
For example, bridges on the creeks and streams along those roads were made of logs. With the advent of President Tolbert’s “Rally Time” policy in 1972, a policy which the president noted at the time, was aimed at taking Liberians “from mat to mattress”, government began reconditioning some of the “farm-to-market roads”, as the president tagged them. But again since 1980, nearly all the feeder roads have not been serviced by any Public Works Ministry personnel. The result has been a near impassible country in which travelling has become a sort of nightmare. Against such dismal backdrop, Okada is certainly an innovative means of transport because it has the capacity and potential of going to some of the remotest parts of the country.
However, Okada must not be allowed to operate in a vacuum. Government must robustly step in, formulate a concise transport policy that sanitizes the situation in order to drastically minimize the unnecessary loss of precious lives. Protecting the citizenry is one of the cardinal responsibilities of any legitimate government. The Liberian government must not shirk this sacred responsibility because both the Okada operator and his passengers need government’s protection.
We lost so many precious lives during the 14-year senselessness that the plagued the nation; we can’t afford to sit supinely, or remain indifferent to the pathetic plight of young people who are hastening their own demise in their desperate pursuits of the ever elusive dollar. The police must properly train all those desirous of operating motor cycles, or the government should enfranchise private agencies to conduct such training. Moreover, helmets must be required for all motor cyclists and they should be restricted to certain routes in the city; we can’t just allow motor cycles to erratically swarm our streets, running amok at almost supersonic speeds all over the place. Almost six years after the climax of the killing competition, we have past such chaotic scenario.
The training of motor cyclists should be followed by testing and certification before one can be allowed to operate a motor cycle. Additionally, all motor cycles should be properly identified by government-issued license plates. And most importantly, all motor cycles and vehicles operating in Liberia must be insured, so as to ensure that victims of vehicular or cyclical accidents are properly compensated. Before I left the country, the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) Brown Card protocol, which mandates that all vehicles within the sub-region be insured, was being initiated.
However, it was a false start, because only taxi cab owners were being asked to pay $US300 annually at the time; non-commercial private and state-owned vehicles were not being insured when I left Liberia in 2001. Now that we have a legitimate government rather than the scandalous cartel that was in power at the time, the government must make a quick move to standardize, stabilize and sanitize the entire transport sector, thereby ensuring that Okada safely plays its role in the socio-economic development of our dear country.
About the author: Joe Bartuah is formerly editor of The NEWS Newspaper in Monrovia. He currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts.
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