By: Matthew Turry
After the brouhaha in the political corridors of Grand Kru County as a result of the 2017 legislative and presidential elections, the people of Grand Kru County have seemingly resolved to water down the political tensions and embrace development, as senatorial hopefuls have now embarked on identifying initiatives aimed at promoting development in the county. One of those indicators is reception given to former Representative Numene T. H. Bartekwa during his county tour recently.
During his county tour, residents of various districts he visited greeted him with warmed reception and keenly listened to his agenda for the development of the county. The former Representative of Grand Kru County Electoral District # 2 alarmed over the bad road condition in the southeast of Liberia and noticed during his tour that such poor roads in that part of the country has negatively impacted the economy of the country, especially in southeastern Liberia.
Because of bad roads condition, Mr. Bartekwa said the government is not generating more revenue from that part of Liberia, adding that if the roads in the Southeast are paved, government will generate more revenue in that part of the country.
The former lawmaker who spoke to The Analyst in an interview in Monrovia recently, indicated that while he was at Legislature, he proposed to the government to lobby to acquire 2.2 billion dollars for pavement of the roads in the South east once and for all, but added that his absence from the Legislature has caused the proposal to be swept under the carpet.
Mr. Bartekwa, who is intending to canvass for Senate, said if elected as Senator for Grand Kru in the upcoming mid-term Senatorial Election, he will join President Weah to continue the advocacy to achieve more development in the Southeast.
“If you talk about Golden Verolum, they want to extend their activities from Sinoe to Maryland, but the bad road condition is undermining the process, while at the same time the entire southeast economy is blocked because of the bad roads, Mr. Bartekwa lamented,
At the same time, the Grand Kru County former lawmaker urged the government of Liberia to be committed and sincere in addressing challenges the country is facing.
“The Government came into power at the time our country was transitioning thereby leaving for the present regime a lot of challenges; but the government needs to be committed and sincere in addressing the challenges,
He said currently, most of the companies have departed and the country don’t have many concession as it was before.
The concessions that supported previous regime with foreign exchange are currently nowhere, Mr. Bartekwa noted, and said this has substantially reduced the inflow of foreign currency, especially at a time that the global prices of the resources depended upon by the country are declining on the global market.
On the political front, Mr. Bartekwa, expressed excitement over the just ended retreat of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), saying that the turnout shows that the people of Montserrado are still committed to the party to reclaim Montserrado in the 2020 midterm senatorial process.