56 residents of Montserrado County’s district #8, especially Saye Town, would have loved to maintain their statuses as tenants and permanent residents under one roof, vote on October 10, do everything in common, and avoid sleeping with friends in the neighborhood, but fire destroyed their plan and displaced them.
On August 12, 2023, about 11:00a.m., electric shock burned two apartments and an 11-room house in Saye Town, leaving 56 residents homeless.
“At 11:00 a.m. l was sitting at a shop drinking a cup of tea when my sister called me and asked, ‘Where are you? Fire is on the house,’” Momo B. Brown, the landlord of the burned house, said, as tears rolled on his cheeks. “I boarded a bike to get to the house but before I arrive it was late; the fire had taken over the entire building.”
Since the fire incident, which displayed 56 people occurred, the National Disaster Management, Representative Moses Acarious Gray and others are yet to identify with them. Only one individual of the district, Representative-Candidate, Sam Chuchu Dean, who in collaboration with a humanitarian group, has given ten bags of rice to them.
“On behalf of my partners, who made the donation possible, I say sorry for the incident and urge you to be courageous,” Representative-Candidate Dean said during the presentation.
He told the fire victims and others to vote wisely in order to avoid repeating the past mistake, which is electing someone who will not benefit them, as incumbent Representative Gray has done to them.
Dean, who has vowed to unseat Representative Gray in the October 10 presidential and legislative elections, is campaigning vigorously to represent district #8 and the disabled community in Liberia. He has told the electorate to reject Representative Gray and deliver the district to him, noting that he is the best choice for the people.
One of the tenants, Arkie S. Zinnah, said that they did not recover anything from the house; everything left in the house and burnt to ashes.
“We want the government to help us with mattresses, food and building materials so that we can rebuild our house,” tenant Zinnah said. “We are sleeping with our neighbors. Married people sleeping on neighbors’ porches because no sleeping place for us.”
With a grateful tone, Saye Town’s Community Chairman thanked Representative-Candidate Dean and the humanitarian group for identifying with the fire victims.
“Thanked you very much, and we prayed for that organization to do more. You spoke well when it comes to good representation. We know what to do on election day,” the Chairman said.
Apart from the Chairman, the victims and some residents of the community promised Representative-Candidate Dean a secret vote on election day, and called on the humanitarian group, through Dean, to go beyond the bags of rice gesture and buy them building materials for the reconstruction of their house.