Liberia to Host Global Mayors Parliament Confab

The Mayor of the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC), Jefferson T. Koijee, says Liberia has been named to host the Global Parliament of Mayors next year after a unanimous vote taken at the recent conference of mayors held in Washington DC, USA.

He said the next conference is expected to see the convergence of almost 1,000 mayors from around the world, which he said is going to be an opportunity to showcase the city of Monrovia and other cities in the country.

Mayor Koijee made the disclosure on Thursday, August 25, at a news conference in Monrovia, after representing the country at the recent mayors conference. 

He said the conference will have a profound effect on Monrovia's diplomatic relations with cities across the globe, and even result in the exchange of Waste Management models would help make Monrovia a green, and clean city.

“The City of Monrovia is committed to making this a successful event and will collaborate with both state and non-state actors from inside and outside of Monrovia to do so,” Koijee said.

Koijee said the selection of Monrovia for the conference was based on his efforts to promote the City as one of the safest environments for the hosting of global events.

Koijee said the conference will provide an opportunity to the city of Monrovia for a new beginning in terms of cleanness and center-of-attraction.

“We thought it was fair enough and important for Africa to be given the opportunity to host such a great conference. We are grateful to Nigeria in particular for the support given to Liberia and the rest including Kenya, South Africa and Egypt. These countries helped to elevate the conversations knowing that Monrovia was one of the first cities in Africa,” Koijee said.

Koijee said Africa usually struggles to get such events organized on the continent and as such he will ensure that the young people interact with world leaders and leaders of cities that are leading the change globally.

The Global Parliament of Mayors is a governance body of and for mayors from all continents with a vision to the world in which mayors, their cities and networks are equal partners in building global governance for an inclusive and sustainable world.

According to him, many of the African mayors were denied the opportunity to represent their various countries and cities in particular, due to the process of getting selected.

Koijee said mayors have been selected through a committee who will help the city of Monrovia in hosting the conference of mayors.  

The Mayors of many cities from across the globe convene annually as part of an Intergovernmental organization called the Global Parliament of Mayors.

Major transnational and human security challenges are impacting cities all around the globe and the mayors meet frequently to create shared multilateral activities to address these issues, including good governance, illegal immigration, terrorism, money laundering, drug and human trafficking, and cybercrime.

Meanwhile, Koijee said the Monrovia City has been admitted to the world council of mayors and it provides an opportunity to sell Liberia.  

Koijee Not a ‘Person of Interest’

Meanwhile, Mayor Kojee has denied the report of the U.S State Department invitation is about the Jestina Taylors’s saga. He said the report was a misrepresentation of the facts.

“We are grateful for the invitation extended to us by the State Department of African Affairs, particularly West Africa. The Department was interested in understanding how things are working in Liberia and the progress being made by the CDC-led government,” Koijee said.

Koijee said the Department was interested in understanding some of the issues of the rule of law and governance in Liberia.

“It sounds extremely comical when people begin to misrepresent the facts. How can I be a person of interest to a place that is considered a world superpower? Is it that I am powerful enough and they do not disclose it,” he said.

“There’s nowhere in the world that the U.S will extend an invitation to an individual and not make it clear,” Koijee said.

The Mayor said, “some of the issues we said out there are beginning to manifest which includes some Liberians who have different opinions about the country and were given an opportunity to protest.”

“We fought for democracy in Liberia and went to jail. So it saddens our hearts to see the wrong things. We will protect the rights to disagree and we will ensure that your rights are protected,” he said.