{"id":3165,"date":"2023-01-21T19:49:49","date_gmt":"2023-01-21T19:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=3165"},"modified":"2023-01-27T12:55:12","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T12:55:12","slug":"us165k-clinic-project-stalls-as-villagers-struggle-to-access-healthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2023\/01\/21\/us165k-clinic-project-stalls-as-villagers-struggle-to-access-healthcare\/","title":{"rendered":"US165K Clinic Funded By Community Logging Benefits Stalls Over Furniture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Top: The Tiah Town Clinic was funded by benefits affected communities received from a logging concession between the Liberian government and International Capital Consultant (ICC). Construction works have been completed but the lack of furniture supplies means the clinic cannot serve its people. The DayLight\/Eric Opa Doue<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
By Eric Opa Doue<\/strong> for The DayLight<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
TIAH TOWN, Nimba County \u2013 Fifty-two-year-old Elizabeth Zialue traveled 55 kilometers from Tiah Town in Nimba to Boegeezay Town in River Cess County to seek treatment for her two-year-old grandson. Medical services in the Boegeezay community are free but Zialue has to pay LD3,500 for a motorcycle taxi to get there, and the same amount to get back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zialue had lost her daughter, the boy\u2019s mother, two years ago. “My daughter was sick when she delivered. There was no money to go to the hospital in Boegeezay or Tappita so she died,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Zialue\u2019s daughter could have survived if a clinic in Tiah Town was operational. \u00a0In 2017, communities around here received US$125,000 to construct a clinic here in Tiah Town. The money was a portion of their benefits from a logging concession between the Liberian government and a logging company called International Capital\u00a0\u00a0 Consultant (ICC). The concession, known in the forestry sector as Forest Management Contract Area K, covers 266,910 hectares in both River Cess and Nimba. The community\u2019s leadership added another US30,000 for other utilities such as water towers and an insinuator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The clinic\u2019s construction started in April 2017 and was expected to be completed, dedicated for full operation in March 2018. The Nimba County Health Team was supposed to provide the workforce and medical and non-medical supplies for the running of the facility. Due to its strategic location, it was supposed to serve both River Cess and Nimba Counties when completed. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHealthcare workers\u2019 resident at the proposed Tiah Town Clinic. The DayLight\/Eric Opa Doue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Tiah Town Clinic project was funded by logging funds. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Five years after its completion, nothing has happened according to plan. The National Benefit Sharing Trust Board, a watchdog that manages communities\u2019 funds from forest concessions disbursed US$10,225.25 plus L$5.3 million to purchase furniture and drugs for the clinic. The fees come from logging-affected communities\u2019 share of land rental fees companies pay to the Liberian government. However, the community\u2019s forest leadership used the fund to build a guesthouse instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jerry Gbaye, the head of the leadership at the time, told The DayLight his decision to divert the fund was backed by all affected towns and villages in Gbi, Gbiagloh and Doru chiefdom, where the clinic is located. The clinic is meant to provide thousands of people access to healthcare in one of the remotest places in Liberia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was not the CFDC\u2019s decision to use the money for a guesthouse,\u201d Gbaye said. CFDC means community forest development committee, a body of villagers that co-manages a certain logging concession alongside the Forestry Development Authority (FDA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe people of Gbiagloh and Gbi said the people of Doru already had the clinic in their area so that money should be used to construct a guesthouse for them to benefit, too,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alfred Zelee, an elder responsible for Tiah Town\u2019s development matters, refutes that claim. \u201cIf a decision was reached to use the money on the guesthouse, I don\u2019t know,\u201d said Zelee.\u201d \u201cAll I know is that Gbaye took the money and used it on the guesthouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are suffering here because few people decided to use the money from the land rental fees that they were supposed to use to put medicine in the clinic,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The National Union of Community Forest Development Committee (NUCFDC), a group that advocates for the benefits for villagers affected by logging concessions, is investigating the matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\nGbi-Doru District is one of Nimba\u2019s remotest communities, with no access to healthcare. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are now investigating whether the project was identified by the citizens and, and the project was awarded to a competent company,\u201d said Andrew Zelemen, the national facilitator for the group in an interview with The DayLight. \u201cSince it is established that the money was diverted, the NUCFDC is now contemplating what punishment awaits the [community\u2019s leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Clinic-.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Logs-2.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Village-.png\")