Another #14 Project Targeted

-While Gogba-chop Marketers’ Days Are Numbered; Weah Breaks Ground For 14 Gogba-chop Market

By Esau J. Farr

It is said that ‘every long journey begins with a single step’; ‘every long road has an end and that ‘no matter how strong an iron is, there is another iron that can cut it’. If these sayings are something for people to believe and are proven to be facts, then one can safely say that the days of ‘Gogba-chop’ marketers along with marketers in the streets of Red Light General Market are now being numbered.

The clock to number how many days they have to sell at their present spots or tables began to be numbered Friday, March 29, 2019 when President George M. Weah along with others broke grounds for the construction of what will be known as the “14 Gogba-chop Market” in the Old Omega Field Community in Paynesville, near the nation’s capital, Monrovia.

The construction of the market is being jointly sponsored and funded by the government of Liberia and the Japanese Counterpart Fund and is expected to be completed in the period of one year according to T. FlahnPaye, Coordinator of the Japanese Fund Project.

Making remarks shortly before he officially broke grounds for the project, President Weah stated that it was promised fulfilled and a dream come through for marketers both in Red-Light and the Gogba-chop community.

According to him, during the heat of the 2017 political campaign, he visited Red-Light and promised to transform the commercial district into what he calls ‘The Multi-Callow’ of Liberia.

The Liberian leader said it was from that background that he was present at the site of the proposed ’14 Gogba-chop Market’ to break ground for the project to pave the way for its construction expected to last for one year.

President Weah boasted that his government is the first to begin the implementation of its development agenda within three to four months before the finalization of its political manifesto in the history of Liberia.

However, critics wondered while under Dr. George M. Weah that most of the public structures must be named 14 this and 14 that as though the country is practically low on names of great adventurers that would please the pages of the nation’s history.

Though there was no visible and or written platform from the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) presented to the people of Liberia throughout the 2017 Presidential and Representative Elections as the Standard Bearer of the CDC then repeatedly and consistently boycotted all organized Presidential political debates at the time.

The CDC Standard Bearer, now President, failed to honor any of the series of debates organized by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and election partners to the government in 2017.

At the same time, President Weah urged marketers and residents of Paynesville not to allow themselves to be casualties upon the completion of the market and the Coca-Factory-ELWA Junction Road currently ongoing in Paynesville.

According to the Liberian leader, the road connecting Coca Cola Factory Community to the ELWA Junction will have a bridge that will prevent commuters from directly interacting with vehicles plying the main road.

“We do not want you to allow yourselves to be casualties when the road is finished that’s why we will have a bridge so that you will not interact with cars,”   President Weah pointed out.

The cost of the project is put at three point eight million (US$3.8m) United States Dollars.

Giving the overview of the project at the ceremony, the Coordinator of the Japanese Fund Project, T. FlangPaye disclosed that when completed the market will accommodate 18 thousand marketers out of the estimated 26 thousand marketers in the Red-Light and current Gogba-chop Market in Paynesville.

According to Mr. Paye, the market will be partitioned into two separate components comprising shopping mall and wood workshop according to type of goods sold by the people.  TNR