Motorcycles Vs Road Safety

May 21, 2024

Top: A man on a motorcycle and the police in Sinkor. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By Elchico M. Fawundu

I took a detour from Oldroad (Kailondo Junction) and hit Tubman Boulevard in full view heading to Congo town. While the road stretched out its receiving arms, I received a phone call from a pal. I took the phone and held it on a loudspeaker so that I could at the same, embrace the road. Almost immediately that affection seemed uncomfortable as I witnessed two motorcycles collision which instantaneously left one rider motionless at Catholic Junction.

I hastened to cut off my phone as this was almost like a motion picture in foreplay. The disoriented motorcyclist struggled to collect his counterpart who had passed out as though he was in an enchanted sleep and the passengers tried to recollect their possessions or at least what they could find. Then and there, I realized the magnitude of motorcycle accidents.

In all fairness, I must admit I have witnessed my fair share of motorcyclists always tumbling in front of my vehicle and the riders politely gathering themselves up but this was the first of its kind.

Seemingly, The Liberia National Police (LNP) in its new regulation to uphold public safety with emphasis on Road safety has caused quite a stir for bike riders, especially the regulation that deals with riders wearing protective gear (reflectors, helmets, driver’s licenses and insurance).

Basically, the ruckus has largely been due to poor or little public assumptions on the unceremonious request rather than the conventional usage of those gears.

The public mixed reactions are attributed to a lack of education and the unaccustomed use of those gears. However, some tangential and hygienic concerns have been raised.

Statistically, research conducted by Front Page Africa in its article: Liberia: 139 Die in Road accidents from January to September 2022, states that motorcycle-to-motorcycle deaths stand at 169, motorcycle car is 399, motorcycle-to-pedestrian is 116 and tricycle to motorcycle is 39, respectively.

It can also be emphasized that the supra stats notably recognize just three-quarters of a particular year and at the same time, leave out all fatal and minor associated injuries.

The need to address this public safety hazard cannot be overemphasized.

Interestingly, the new regulation has triggered the tease in most quarters, too much to some bemusement and too little to some annoyance. This may have stemmed from the unhabitual practice and its adverse effects.

Besides, the fact that Monrovia, if not Liberia has few traffic indicators which help in mitigating road hazards and helping in regulating traffic flow, many find the regulation meaningless.

Many equally find the regulation handy and timely as the impact of motorcycle accidents has large and lasting effects on its victims (both the driver and rider).

The center of commotion has up to this point been the hygienic and limited transportation aspects.

Transportation in our country has been a challenge in comparison. There is no statistical evidence available to point out the amount of vehicle to a person(s) and the last unofficial report from NTA placed public transportation at 2 poorly refurbished buses taken over from the past government. (OK FM, Morning Rush)

Thus, leading to a hike in Commercial motorcycles; there isn’t any at hand stat on the amount of motorcycles in circulation but it has proven convenient for students and commuters, especially in the early hours of the day and late hours of the night.

Conversely, riding motorcycles is more dangerous in general than other vehicles and this is because they don’t have safety features like airbags, or seatbelts, and riders are more vulnerable to a collision.

Many riders are keen on the final destination especially if the vehicle is unconventional order rather than the process of arriving safely. Comments on social media and radio reactions since the introduction have skyrocketed against the practice.

Hygienically, the risks of sharing a helmet can be identified as traction to the hair if it isn’t properly worn, exacerbates bacteria accumulation on the scalp surface and causes scalp infection if the inner lining (helmet) is unhygienic some of which are long-term effects. Furthermore, helmets if not the rightful size and/or model may result in discomfort, heat, restriction of vision hearing and hair damage; However, Helmets reduce the risk of serious brain injuries and death in the worst case during a fall and/or collision. It also absorbed shocks from impacts up to 250 pounds.

Realistically, there is far more work to be done by all parties involved, the Public, the hygiene and limited public transport while the LNP is concerned about public safety which in its essence is the overall protection of all parties (Motorcyclists and Riders) and some extent pedestrians, respectively.

Some mitigations would be to educate motorcyclists and riders on the safety of wearing protective gear and the reintroduction of street indicators with inclusive motorcycle indicators and also encourage the motorcyclists to buy some specific rider helmets (full face, open face and modular helmet) all of which result into different effects on riders( passengers).

This will help save the lives of many riders and at the same time, reach riders to final destinations in one piece.

Elchico M. Fawundu is an environmental science lecturer at Stella Maris Polytechnic University.

Korean Illegal Logging Web Not Yet Indicted

June 15, 2023

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The Supreme Court of Liberia — Police officers at the Supreme Court of Liberia

Top: Police officers at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By O’Neill Philips

Two Korean nationals suspected of illegal logging activities and their Liberian partners are yet to be indicted

Prosecutors drafted an indictment for the men but have not signed it.

A related case against an ex-police commander was dismissed because prosecutors failed to appear in court.

The men will walk away free if the Liberian government does not indict them in the next term of court

MONROVIA – Prosecutors are yet to indict members of a syndicate of the Liberian National Police charged with various crimes over an illegal logging operation in Gbarpolu County, nearly six months after they were arrested.

Korean duo Beomjin Lee and Jun Jeon Sik, and their Liberian partners were charged with economic sabotage, theft, criminal conspiracy, and criminal facilitation to forgery and bribery.

Their partners include Varney Marshall, Dawoda Sesay, Isaac Richmond Anderson, Jr., Edward Jallah, Isaac Railey, Peter Kpadeh, David Tawah and Prince Kwesi Wallace. The men deny any wrongdoing.

The Monrovia City Court jailed and then released the men back in January after the police forwarded the suspects there, following five months of investigation, court documents show.

Since their writ of arrest was issued by the court on November 10 last year, the matter has long lingered on.

Prosecutors have drafted an indictment but did not sign the document, seen by The DayLight.

Sources familiar with the matter told The DayLight Acting Montserrado County Attorney Boakai Harvey did not sign it because he is related to at least one of the suspects.

When contacted at his Temple of Justice office, Harvey admitted that he recused himself from the matter but did not provide any reason. It was not clear why another prosecutor did not sign the draft indictment, as is the procedure in such instances.

The government has the next term of court to indict the men, as the current term is about to close. If not, the court will dismiss the charges entirely in line with the Criminal Procedure Law of Liberia.

Case with Ex-policeman Dismissed

The Monrovia City Court, however, heard a case between the government and one of the accused men, Dawoda Sesay. That case was dismissed last month because the FDA did not appear in court. Legally, magisterial courts can hear a case without an indictment and dismiss it after a particular timeframe.

One of the trucks of illegal logs in Sawmill, Gbarpolu County. The truck has been allowed to leave, with the logs kept in at the FDA sub-office. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

Before the court dismissed the case, Sesay’s lawyer argued that the state was reluctant to prosecute him in violation of his right to a fair and speedy trial, according to court filings.

Prosecutors said they did not appear because they did not have the means to get witnesses from Gbarpolu and Bomi to Monrovia to testify in court.

They could still try Sesay during the next term of court in August, even in a circuit court, our judicial correspondent said.

Beomjin Lee and Jun Sik are accused of working with Isaac Richmond Anderson and Sesay and building a syndicate to smuggle logs to South Korea.

They went to Gbarpolu County and allegedly harvested an expensive species of woods over a month to be shipped to Busan, South Korea. The timber was valued at over US$60,000, according to court records.

Beomjin, Sesay and Anderson contacted Peter Kpadeh, an employee of the Ministry of Commerce, Kpadeh allegedly contacted Isaac Railey, the head of the FDA law enforcement department. They are suspected of conniving with Prince Kwesi Wallace and David Taweh, two custom brokers, according to court documents.

Sesay and Anderson then made arrangements for four trucks to transport the log from Gbarpolu to the Freeport of Monrovia. But two of the trucks were arrested at Klay in Bomi and impounded at the FDA sub-offices in Tubmanburg and Sawmill.

Rangers Edward Jallah and Varney Marshall had taken a US$600 bribe from Anderson and Sesay and allowed one of the trucks to pass the checkpoint, according to court documents.

The DayLight broke the story in a two-part series in August last year. The online environmental newspaper provided the police with evidence.

This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).

Impact: Arrest Warrant for Members of Illegal Logging Network Exposed by The DayLight

January 12, 2023

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Top: The Temple of Justice in Monrovia. Picture credit: Reuters/James Harding Giahyue

By Gabriel M. Dixon

MONROVIA – The Monrovia City Court has issued an arrest warrant for 10 people for their alleged involvement in unlawful logging activities, first revealed to the public in an investigation by The DayLight.

They include Dawoda Sesay, a former police commander, Varney Marshall, a former ranger with the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), and Beomjin Lee, a Korean national.

They have been charged with property theft, forgery, economic sabotage, criminal conspiracy, criminal facilitation and bribery. A police inquest found the men felled a number of first-class logs in Gbarpolu County and attempted to ship them through the Freeport of Monrovia.

“These people will go in the bushes fell the trees, cut the logs, and use bogus documents in order to evade taxes, and will use those documents to ship the containers of logs out of Liberia,” Police Inspector General Patrick Sudue told a news conference last week.

The DayLight had broken the story and went on to assist the police in their investigation, providing them with important pieces of information that would lead to the charges.

The newspaper, which focuses on environmental investigations, first published on 14^th August last year that the FDA had arrested three container trucks loaded with illegally harvested timber nearly a month earlier.

The paper would go on to publish a detailed account of the illicit activity that same month, naming members of the syndicate and the role they played in the illegal harvest. Not long after that, the FDA petitioned the circuit courts in Bomi and Gbarpolu to auction the logs, orders it is yet to be granted.

The DayLight also published a leaked video, revealing Marshall’s own illegal logging operations. Marshall can be held in the video complaining over his accomplice’s attempt to cheat him while filming huge piles of boxlike wood, commonly called “Kpokolo.” Pictures apparently taken by another accomplice show the depth of Marshall’s criminal operations, including loads of containers of kpokolo.

On Monday, the FDA announced it has dismissed Marshall, citing the report and charges against him at the Monrovia City Court. “A video circulated on social media and reported by The DayLight online media captured Mr. Marshal’s open engagement in illegal logging activities, a vice he was hired to prevent and combat,” the FDA said in a statement. It added that Marshall had admitted in an inhouse probe.

FDA also said it has suspended Edward Jallah without pay, another FDA ranger captured in The DayLight’s initial report that eventually led to the city court’s charges.

Tag: Liberian National Police

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