On October 25, Patrick Honnah, who is a Senior Media Coordinator of the Unity Party Campaign team, appeared on a radio station in Bomi County and made claims about the construction of roads in the southeast under the administration of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Joseph N. Boakai.
Patrick Honnah is campaigning for former Vice President Joseph Boakai who is facing incumbent President George Weah in the run-off elections scheduled for November 14, 2023.
The Claim
Mr. Honnah exact words were: “The only pave road in the southeast outside of what President William VS Tubman did for 27 years, he only paved Harper streets with cement, Samuel Doe came he paved the Grand Gedeh street with cement which is not bad but the only paved in the entire southeast connecting county to county was done by Joseph Boakai and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and that from Maryland to River Gee”.
Rating Justification
To fact check this claim we asked our mobile fact checker based in Maryland County to give us a statistics of all paved roads in southeast Liberia including roads paved roads connecting counties in the Southeast.
Our mobile fact check reported that only the major road connecting Maryland and River Gee Counties is paved. All other major roads connecting counties are unpaved including the major road connecting Maryland and Grand Kru Counties. Also, the major road connecting Grand Kru and Sinoe Counties is not paved as well as the major road connecting Sineo and Grand Gedeh Counties and the major road connecting Grand Gedehh and River Gee Counties.
This means the only paved road connecting two counties in the southeast is the road from Maryland to River Gee.
We then conducted further research to determine when and which government paved the River Gee – Maryland Counties road.
To verify this, we conducted further research on roads pavement in the southeast and found a February 26, 2021 FrontPage Africa article published on the completion of the road from Fish Town, River Gee to Harper in Maryland.
The article quotes Public Works Minister Ruth Cooker-Collins as saying that on September 5, 2013, the Government of Liberia signed the Protocol and Loan Agreement with the African Development Bank Group to prioritize the Fish Town Harper Road Project.
We found the Fish Town to Harper Road project detail report on the African Development Bank website. The project summary information confirms that the agreement was approved on September 4, 2013, and signed on September 5, 2023, and is expected to be completed on June 30, 2025.
Also, we found a September 2, 2010 New Dawn article on the African Development Bank approval to fund the pavement of roads in the southeast.
The article quotes then Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan as saying that the African Development Bank has agreed to fully paved the Fish Town to Harper High way under its next round of projects on the continent.
Our search found that the contract for the pavement of the road from Fish Town to Harper, according to a news article by the Liberia News Agency re-published by All Africa on December 19, 2014, shows that the Government and China Railway had signed a US $42.7 million contract for the construction of asphalt concrete 50-kilometer road from Harper to Karloken and recondition the 80-kilometer road from Karloken to Fish Town. The publication also noted that construction works on the road started in 2015.
Also, a found a New Public Trust article published on October 4, 2021 which states that the road work was completed in November 2019.
Conclusion
Based on these facts we therefore conclude that claim made by the Unity Party campaign official that the only paved road connecting county to county in the southeast was done by Joseph Boakai and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is mostly correct.
Our assessment and research of roads in the southeast shows that the contract for the only paved roads connecting two counties in the Southeast Liberia was approved in 2013, works on the road stated in 2015 under Unity Party administration but was completed in 2021 under the administration of President George Weah.
This report was developed with the support of Internews through the USAID Media Activity project. The funder has no say in the editorial decision leading to the production of this content