Liberia: Business Resumes at Red Light, Except Cold Storage

The Mayor of Monrovia, Jefferson T. Kojee, has announced the resumption of most businesses at the Red-light commercial center, in Paynesville, with the exception of cold storage businesses.

For almost two weeks, normal businesses have been halted as the result of the government of Liberia’s decision to again relocate the marketeers, mainly petty traders, back at the Omega market which is quite a distance away from the center.

The mayor made known the decision yesterday during a meeting at the Paynesville town hall, where hundreds of business people from the country’s largest commercial center had converged to protest the government’s decision for the closure of their businesses. 

At the Paynesville town hall, owners of stores and shops were seen shouting, demanding that the government must see reason at all cost for the immediate resumption of business activities to enable them support their families.

According to some business people who spoke to reporters, the government’s decision to halt businesses at the center in recent times was very abrupt, an assertion Mayor Koijee has denied.

Red-light has remained a place of contention since last year, when the government issued a mandatory relocation of marketers from the area in order to carry out the road construction works around the area. It can be recalled that the Minister of State, Nathaniel McGill, after hearing that marketers had defiantly returned to Red Light, informed the public that it would cost the government millions of U.S. dollars if nothing is done to remove marketeers who kept obstructing the road construction by remaining in the area.

Addressing the marketeers at the Paynesville town hall yesterday, Mayor Koijee said that the government has declared that stores and shops be reopened at the center, but not cold storage businesses.

Although Mayor Kojee did not clearly explain why cold storage businesses should not continue at the market, he mentioned that waste management remains a challenge and a serious concern of the Paynesville City Corporation.

“Business people are important people within our economy because of the many taxes they pay to the government,” Koijee said. 

According to him, the government is very cognizant of the plight of the business people but needs to ensure law and order.

He said that it is not the pleasure of the government to deprive her citizens from earning a decent living, but that the government is working to ensure a better business environment for all business people of the country.

Kojee noted that the government is working with stakeholders of the market to put in place measures that will encourage more business people.

According to him, some of the problems that are affecting the business people are how to control the retail market.

“Henceforth, we are not going to allow any store owners at the Red-light to engage into the retail market. This kind of business practice is affecting those who are involved in small businesses,” he said.

The mayor further stated that they are working to ensure that no street sellers are found any longer at the Red-light center.

Regarding the management of waste, which has remained a serious challenge for the Paynesville City Corporation, Mayor Kojee said they are developing a clear plan to manage waste at the market.

He used the occasion to call on the marketeers to cooperate with the government to ensure the rule of law.

Meanwhile, some business people have appealed to the Monrovia City Mayor to reconsider the decision to restrict cold storage businesses at the Red Light.

According to them, the restriction on cold storage will cause some economic hardship for those engaged in such a venture.

“We want the mayor to rethink the decision for those people because they have already established their businesses. You can’t remove their stores from Red Light and carry them to Omega,” many of them told our reporter.