Summary: Monrovia City Major Designate, John Siafa claimed during his confirmation hearing that 1,174 tons of garbage are expected to be produced in Monrovia only in 2024. Mr. Siafa cited Pöyry’s Report as his reliance. We checked the claim and found it to be correct.
On Friday, February 16, Monrovia City Mayor designate, John-Charuk S. Siafa claimed that the 2024 estimated tons of garbage to be produced daily in greater Monrovia exclusively is 1,174. In his address to the Liberian senate, he cited the World Bank-sponsored study by Poyry as his reliance.
Mr. Siafa made the claims while highlighting the extent uncollected garbage continues to swamp major streets of Monrovia and its environs and the need for support to the city cooperations.
His address was also broadcast live on several online pages including his official Facebook page. It lasted for 45:04 and the claim was made at 5:53 of his Facebook Live.
The Claim
Excerpt from Siafa’s claim: “According to WB (World Bank) funded study done by Poyry in the year 2024, 1174 tons of garbage is projected to be produced daily in the greater Monrovia area alone, yet today only about 330 tons is collected per day.”
In context, Mr. Siafa is saying that per Poyry’s study, 1174 tons of garbage are projected to be produced in 2024. Even though he did not mention the year that the survey was conducted.
Rating Justification
To fact-check this claim, we contacted Pekeleh Gbuapaye, Director of Press and Public Affairs Monrovia City Corporation via WhatsApp to acquire the specific year of the report the Mayor-designate cited.
Mr. Gbuapaye replied and referred our fact checking desk to the PÖYRY March 2010 study.
We then obtained the currently available March 2010 Environmental Management Plan (EMP), for the Solid Waste Transfer Stations (SWTS) at Fiamah and Stockton Creek prepared by PÖYRY ENVIRONMENT GmbH a global consulting and engineering company dedicated to balanced sustainability.
The EMP is to ensure that the Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation Project (EMUS) complies with the Liberian environmental laws and the World Bank Environment policies during the development and operational phase of the Fiamah SWTS facilities.
Our search did not find any projection on the amount of garbage to be collected in greater Monrovia city by 2024 in the March 2010 PÖYRY ENVIRONMENT GmbH study, instead, 2025 was mentioned on page 19, Appendix 6.2, putting the projected garbage to be collected in the Greater City of Monrovia in the year 2025 to 975 tons/day.
Abstract from the PÖYRY ENVIRONMENT GmbH study dated March 2010: “The mass of municipal solid waste collected in the Greater City of Monrovia in the year 2025 is estimated to be 975 tons/day (Concepts Development Report, Poyry Environment GmbH, March 2008), was divided into two, the number of transfer stations to be built.”
Mr. Gbuapaye then shared with our fact-check team a snapshot of the 2024 projection taken from page 15 of the PÖYRY’s concept development report.
To further verify the claim, we obtained a copy of Phase II_3 [1] of PÖYRY’s concept development report. Appendix D of the report highlights the projected waste generation from 2010-2030. In it, the “projected waste generation” for the year 2024 with a population of 1.8m is 1,174 tons concurring with the MCC Boss designate, John Siafa’s claims.
Conclusion 
Based on these findings, we, therefore, conclude that the claim made by Monrovia City Mayor-designate John Siafa during his confirmation hearing at the Liberian Senate about the projected garbage expected to be generated by 2024 attributed to a World Bank funded survey report is correct.
Phase II_3 [1], Appendix D of the PÖYRY’s concept development report which highlights garbage projection in greater Monrovia puts the projected waste generation for 2024 to 1,174 tons per day.
