The office of Montserrado County’s district #4 Representative, Rustolyn Suacco Dennis has put a hold on the plan to erect a youth center on an alley in Paynesville until the Cowfield community presents a piece of land free of error.
“The office has informed Faith C. Smith officially that the project is on hold until they can submit a parcel of land free of problem,” Edward B. Varnie, Chief of Office Staff of the Representative, said, berating the community for blundering. “They must get to PCC office to give them the go-ahead, with the requisite authorities signing the document. I believe that the zoning department will not give them the go-ahead to construct on the alley,” the Chief of Office Staff stated.
The youths of the community, through their President, Faith C. Smith, had asked Representative Dennis to construct a center for them. She accepted their request, but stated that land for construction was a challenge. She urged the community to avail a piece of land suitable for the project. The community anxiously presented an alley to the honorable office to carry out the project.
“I told the youth president that this is an alley, it will not be good for us to construct on it. If it is not used now, it will be used in the future,” Varnie said, revealing the danger the construction would cause upon completion.
The moratorium came when the Hot Pepper broke the story, with caption, “Representative Rustolyn Suacco Dennis Plans to Construct on Alley”. The community’s leadership summoned the reporter with threat, saying the publication did not mean well for the community and its citizens in terms of development. They attacked him verbally, threatening to deal with him in an unspecified manner.
However, the Paynesville City Corporation (PCC), which manages the affairs of Paynesville, is against the community’s plan of erecting the youth center on the alley. Its Zoning and City Planning Department has not given any squatter right to the community to carry out construction on the site.
“We do not encourage somebody to build on alley,” Augustine Kpakolo, Director of Zoning and City Planning of PCC, said. “This entity was enacted into law to give free access to alleys, which is one of its ordinances.”
Amidst rebuke from some youths, PCC and office staffs of the Representative’s office, the community’s leadership and youths in favor of the scheme are poised to carry out the project, referring to the alley as garbage center. Acting Chairman, Cyrus Z.T. Gweh, said the erection there would give the alley a face-lift and make it animate.
“We will use our administrative knowledge to make sure that the alley is clean. The youth center presence there will make the alley free of garbage,” Gweh said with confidence.
But there are claims and counter-claims about the construction on the site. The youth President and others support the illegal act, while others oppose it. This situation has caused heated debates and disunity among them.
“It is an opportunity for the youth of Cowfield. Let us put away our differences and embraced the project,” the youth president said, disregarding infringement on the alley.
“For young people to align with the honorable to construct on an alley is disrespect to the country and to development,” Daniel T. William, an opposition to the project, said. “Any time government can carry out development on the alley and the project will be a waste.”
Before the plan’s suspension, Representative Dennis had bought truckloads of sand, crushed rocks through the community leadership, and had been taken to the site unaware to adjacent property owners. They had accused the leadership of looking down upon them and the embarrassment the center would cause upon its erection.
“The community leaders should know better. They should have consulted us around the alley before coming with the honorable,” Roland N. George, 70, said, frowning on the leadership for disrespecting them who have property and live close to the alley.
“The youth center will disturb us with noise,” Sando H. Kimba, an adjacent property owner to the alley, said, venting her anger on the plan.
The contention of constructing on the alley is not a new tale in the Cowfield community. A youth grouping, YouBeTo, was constructing a palava hut on an alley years ago, but at the verge of completion community people incited PCC to break it down.
“We bought sticks that caused US$125, and the residents of Cowfield put a stop to us,” Philip Lab, then secretary of the organization, said, recalling the frustration the community meted against his organization’s youth project. “PCC told us not to build there because government is determined to make the alley active. Now we see that honorable Suacco wants to build there, which is not satisfactory to me as a human being.”
The project will cost US$6,000—US$10,000 and will fulfil the youths’ dream, but the crushed rocks and sand taken there will be taken by the honorable office if the community fails to provide a peaceful land.
“The cars that carried them there will also remove them—if the issue of the land cannot be resolved,” Varnie said.