Monrovia – Liberia’s Public Works Minister, Madam Ruth Coker-Collins, in a televised interview on May 18, 2023 on Monrovia-based radio station Freedom FM 87.9MHZ claimed that photos circulating on social media about bad roads in the southeastern region of the country are “recycled photos taken at a particular location between Zwedrew and Putuken” in Grand Gedeh County.
Images of roads connecting the six counties in Liberia’s southeastern region – Maryland, Grand Kru, River Gee, Sinoe, Grand Gedeh, and River Cess Counties continue to circulate on the social media, demonstrating their deplorable condition.
When the Public Works Minister appeared on the local radio station to give update on the status of Liberia’s road infrastructure, she claimed: “I will call it recycling. The photos you’re seeing recycling on the network is a particular point which is between Zwedrew to Puteken. It is that one section they keep plying (circulating on social media) with.”
She continued: “That section of the road, which is even less than a kilometer, is the section that keeps being posted and we have drawn serious attention to that.”
To put in context, the Public Works Minister’s claim suggests that the only deplorable route in the southeast is the road between Putuken and Zwedrew.
MPW Minister Coker-Collins makes the claim on Freedom FM on its May 18, 2023 broadcast. | Video Courtesy: Freedom Fm
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Is she correct?
Local Voices Liberia Fact Checking Desk carefully followed the Minister’s interview and did a collection of some of the posts on social media. These images show the deplorable condition of parts of the Southeastern corridor.
Amongst the several posts made to Facebook about the road, we took keen interest in the ones posted on the official Facebook by the National Elections Commission and posts made by Signal Technologies Inc — an internet service provider in Liberia.
What Did We Find?
As part of the verification process, we asked our mobile fact checkers in the six southeastern counties to share with the Fact Checking Desk photos of various roads in the region.
Three of our Mobile Fact Checkers toured major roads in their respective counties and sent several photos showing the current condition of the roads.
Sarah Winnie Ellis is our mobile Fact Checker based in Sinoe County and is also a reporter for the Voice of Sinoe Community Radio. She sent images from two locations – Nimba Junction-to-Attia and Attia-to-NyenfwehTown in Sinoe County.
Photos of Nimba Junction-to-Attia (below) and Attia-to-NyenfwehTown roads (above) were taken by our mobile fact-checker based in Sinoe County on June 14, 2023 as part of the verification process.
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Meanwhile, our inquiries took us to a post done by the Technology Company, Signal Technologies Inc, where the firm had gone to provide internet connection for Hai Yang Development Limited Company in Grand Kru County. In the post (screenshot shown below), the company’s vehicle is seen stocked in the mud on a road that connects Grand Kru and Sinoe Counties.
Our mobile fact checker in Grand Kru, Christopher Sayon Kumeh, who also works for Grand Cess Radio 94.9FM, also confirmed that this is one of the critical spots on the road.
At the same time, our Grand Gedeh County mobile fact checker Eric W. Quaye confirmed on June 13, 2023 following an assessment of the major road that there are very deplorable spots on the Grand Gedeh-to-Nimba highway.
Trucks stuck on the road between Tiah and Duogee towns in Grand Gedeh County
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Conclusion
After weeks of a comprehensive tour of the six counties in the southeast by our mobile fact-checkers, LVL Fact Checking Desk concludes that the claim made by the Public Works Minister that images making round on social media indicating bad roads condition in the southeast are “recycle pictures taken at a particular location between ‘Putuken’ and Zwedrew” is misleading.
Apart from the images of the corridor between ‘Putuken’ and Zwedrew, there are also several images of bad roads from different routes in four of the six counties – Grand Gedeh, Grand Kru, River Gee and Sinoe Counties in the Southeastern region.
