Motorcyclists Revolutionize Land-Transport

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By Bishop Nimely JarboKly Donyen

When Liberia’s decision-makers are thinking about the motorcyclists, I wish they join us the common Liberian People in regarding the motorcyclists as some of the redeemers of Liberia’s image. When Liberia’s image in the international community was not encouraging, when Liberia was perceived as a nation where corruption and dishonesty were the way of life, in the recent past, wasn’t it a motorcyclist that diluted the bad image Liberia gained for herself in the international community after the Liberian Civil War? Have we forgotten how a motorcyclist found 50 thousand United States dollars and went in search of its owner, and when the motorcyclist found the owner, he returned the 50 thousand United States dollars to its owner? Did this story not help redeem Liberia’s bad reputation? Do we still want to say that all motorcyclists are not good?

The Holy Bible contains stories of people who were regarded by others as people who could not do good. These people who others thought could not do anything good were the Samaritans. Other people regarded the Samaritans as a religiously unworthy people. But one who judged not by appearances, but what is in a person’s heart, told a story about the Samaritans which is a model of caring for the helpless. 

In Luke 10:29-37, the Lord Jesus Christ tells a story of a man who fell victim to bandits’ brutality. This victim was mercilessly beaten by bandits and left helpless. Those who were considered religiously worthy refused to help the helpless victim. It was a Samaritan man, the man from the group of people who were considered unworthy of doing good, who helped the helpless victim. Let us be careful in judging the motorcyclists.

Luke 17:11-19, contains a story of ten lepers, who had asked the Lord Jesus Christ for healing. The Lord Jesus Christ told the ten lepers to go to show themselves to the priest. This was in view of the Jewish custom of priests declaring those who had been healed worthy to be in the community (Leviticus 13). On their way to the priest, the ten lepers discovered that they were healed of their leprosy. One of them returned to express his gratitude to the Healer, Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ was amazed that only one of the ten former lepers came to express gratitude. The one who came to say “Thank you!” was a Samaritan. May Liberian decision-makers be careful how they deal with these group of self-employed Liberians called motorcyclists or tricyclists.

Why Do I Call Them Revolutionaries

I call the motorcyclists revolutionaries because of the experience I had. 

It was in 2020 that I conceived the concept “New-Land-Transportation-Revolution.” The place where I conceived this concept was Harper, (President Tubman’s city), Maryland County. 

I came from Betu to Harper. It took me less than four hours to travel from Betu to Harper City. The next day, I got a motorbike to take me out of Harper City. My host made a telephone call to a motorbike rider. The rider brought the motorbike to the house where I lodged. We talked about the cost of using the motorbike for the whole day, and places where I wanted to go. We “talked well!” With this agreement, the motorbike rider was ready to drive me around. But he asked me for some money to buy gasoline for the motorbike. I did, and did what he wanted to do.

Pleebo And Firestone

First, we went to Pleebo, where I attended high school. Thank God the road was paved. At Pleebo, I visited some old-heads first. Then I visited my long-time-friends. After visiting my old friends, I went to Firestone to see the house where I served as domestic servant. The bungalow where I was domestic servant was no more. The decline of the entire area was massive. Colonies that were called, “European, Lawrenceville, Centralside, Evansville were like places that had never seen the light of development, modernization and civilization. These are places where inhabitants once enjoyed basic fundamental needs like water and electricity twenty-four hours daily, seven days a week and twelve months a year. All of these basic human necessities were no more in this place. The great Firestone Store (supermarket), where people from the Ivory Coast used to come to buy their foodstuffs, was no more.

Karloken, Wortehkeh, Dorrobo

From Cavalla Firestone, the motorbike rider took me to Karloken where I was born and grew up. Karloken was a very large town this time. Most of the people I met in Karloken didn’t know me and I didn’t know them. I left Karloken in 1977. 

When I was growing up, Karloken was a township. Now Karloken was a city. Karloken was not only a city, it was the Headquarters of Karluway Statutory District in Maryland County. I spent some time in Karloken with my sister, my younger brothers and maternal uncle and cousins. I have a lot of nephews and nieces and grandnephews and grandnieces at Karloken. It was the first time some of them saw me.  

From Karloken, I went to Gedehbo Wortehkeh. I stayed here for less than an hour. The old friend that I went to visit was not in town. He had gone to his farm. I came back to Karloken where some food was being prepared. I stopped briefly and went to Dorrobo to greet my grandmother’s nephews and nieces and other relatives. I stayed here for about an hour and a half.

I came back to Karloken, ate the palm butter rice, and the motorbike rider took off for Harper, President Tubman’s City. I got to my lodge at about 6:00 p.m.

Would I have made this kind of trip if the motorbike did not revolutionize land transportation in Liberia? No!

In the past, I would have to go to the packing station and wait for a commercial vehicle to get full before the car would start its journey to Pleebo. If I wanted to go to the defunct Firestone, I would have to walk from Pleebo to Firestone.  There was no transportation between Pleebo and Firestone. So I would walk back to the packing station in Pleebo to wait for a car that would go to Karloken. By this time it would be about 4:00 p.m. or after.  Of course, I would not do this because of the lack of means of transportation.

If I wanted to come back from Karloken that same day, it would be a matter of luck – maybe a car would come. It would be in the night. Maybe a car would come, and if there was space on the car, I would get on the car and come to Pleebo. 

But that kind of gamble was not common. The way it was done was to spend the night at Karloken and come to the street in the morning to get on a car that came from Webbo, or River Gbeh or Karweaken or Zwedru, or even Monrovia. Nothing was certain. 

If a person was sick, the family brought the patient on the road and waited indefinitely for a car to come from the Webbo end with passengers. The patient would be put in the commercial vehicle full of passengers. The discomfort was no problem. The passenger could not revolt and came down from the car. The passengers had to bear it, and also with one another.

Because of the land-transportation-revolutionaries, the motorcyclists, if I am in any part of Liberia, once a land-transportation-revolutionary agrees to take me where I want to go, I can set my time of departure, my time of arrival, and my time of return. This is a revolution. This is what was born in my mind at Harper City, Maryland County in 2020. 

Lets begin to look keenly at this land-transportation-revolution brought about by the motorcyclists. How can we make it more serviceable? Can the Government provide them security?  

In 1998, I came from Sharon Hill and went to visit a family in Philadelphia. I couldn’t spend the night there, because I had a prayer meeting at 6:30 a.m. the next morning. After 10:00 p.m., I decided to come back to Sharon Hill. A taxi cab was called. The cab came. As the cab was driving me to where I was going, a police car followed us. At a certain junction, when the driver stopped, I heard a voice from the speaker in the taxi, “Are you Ok?” The driver answered, “Ok.” We got to where I was coming and the taxi driver stopped. I paid him and got down. The taxi driver pulled off and the police car followed.

I didn’t know that the police car that followed was guarding the taxi driver. The Liberian lady whose house I lodged in was married to a former Marine. He saw the police car. When I entered and we went to take a cup of hot water, I told him that a police car followed the taxi. He made me know that the police car that followed the taxi was guarding the taxi driver. Can some kind of security be given to motorcyclists who are taking passengers to isolated places?

No-Go-Zone-Ban

The Government of Liberia would have been cruel if the “No-Go-Zone-Ban” was enforced. What proof can anyone give that the enforcement of a “No-Go-Zone-Ban” would have ended motorbikes accidents? There was no need for this “No-Go-Zone-Ban.”

The motorcyclists are the New-Land-Transportation-Revolutionaries. They are all over this Glorious Land of Liberty, the Republic of Liberia. Their vehicles go where other land transportation vehicles cannot go. When it is impossible to get somewhere, these New-Land-Transportation-Revolutionaries make it possible for us to get there. We are obliged to befriend the motorcyclists, the New-Land-Transportation-Revolutionaries. They are not only revolutionaries, they are adventurers. They risk their lives to serve us.

It was good the Government of Liberia canceled the “No-Go-Zone-Ban” on Thursday May 9, 2024. That ban would have caused some disaster. It was good the Government realized that she was on the path of clashing with people whose livelihood depended on the motorbike. If there was a clash, the Government would have been on her own. The people would have been on the side of the motorcyclists, the New-Land-Transportation-Revolutionaries.

Is the Government defeated? No! The Government is not defeated. Did the motorcyclists win? No! The motorcyclists did not win. The “No-Go-Zone-Ban” was not tested so there is no winner or loser. The “game” was canceled. The game was not played.  The “No-Go-Zone-Ban” was canceled by the Government. There was no need for a “No-Go-Zone-Ban.”

There is a saying, “Running water purifies itself.” As soon as the Government made known the “No-Go-Zone-Ban,” the Leaders of the Motorcyclists told the Government that there was no need for such a ban. The Government listened to the motorcyclists and the Liberian People and did not enforce the “No-Go-Zone-Ban.” At least this time no one went to the international community for help. Liberians solved a Liberian problem by themselves. The “running water purified itself.”

From this episode the Government of Liberia should see a precedent or take note of a precedent. The Government proved that she respects the views of her citizens. That should continue. Should I praise the Government for this? No! The Government has done what a good Government should do – listen to the governed. 

A government that is sensitive makes a good government. A government that is insensitive hurts itself. A government that is sensitive listens to the citizens. A government that is insensitive does not bother about what the governed think, or whether the governed is in tears. 

Is the “No-Go-Zone-Ban” behind us? It looks like it is behind us. But there is an alarm that will be raised in the shortest possible time. The “No-Go-Zone-Ban” did not leave the stage without leaving something else for consideration. What did the “No-Go-Zone-Ban” leave behind? Let’s table it for now, and do a summary of what is pursuing the People of Liberia.

The month of April 2024 ended and the month of May 2024 began with a bad news that the government would not allow motorbikes to ply the streets of Central Monrovia. The area was given the pseudo name “No-Go-Zone.” The exercise was called “No-Go-Zone-Ban.” Will the government actually enforce this “No-Go-Zone-Ban?”

While wondering whether the government meant this, it was heard that beginning May 15, 2024 the police would begin enforcing the “No-Go-Zone Ban;” that the police would not like to see motorbikes plying the streets of Central Monrovia. It was turning into a challenge – one side saying “We dare you,”  and the other side saying “We dare you.”

There was apprehension in the corners of Monrovia, Paynesville, Congo Town, Johnsonville, Bushrod Island, Brewerville, etc. Were Monrovians in Central Monrovia worried about the “No-Go-Zone-Ban?” On the surface, one would think that there was no need for Monrovians living in Central Monrovia to worry. They are in Central Monrovia. They could just walk to this part of Central Monrovia and to the other part of Central Monrovia.

But common sense and experience do not support this naive belief that living in Central Monrovia would be no problem for Central Monrovians if the “No-Go-Zone-Ban” were enforced, if motorbikes were not allowed to ply the streets of Central Monrovia. Common sense and experience tell everyone that the time it would take to trek from one part of Central Monrovia to the other part would be a reminder that Liberia has passed that time, that it does not make sense to allow a ban that would bring us back to the time when motor vehicles were not in Liberia. That time is gone. Its rebirth would be tantamount to enslaving Liberians in Liberia. The “No-Go-Zone-Ban” would have embarrassed the Government.

Dress Well, One Passenger

On Thursday May 9, 2024, the Government of Liberia canceled the “No-Go-Zone-Ban.” As I mentioned earlier, the “No-Go-Zone-Ban” did not go without leaving some problems behind. “Motorbike-Riders-Dress-Code-Regulation” is one of the new rules that is substituting the “No-Go-Zone-Ban.” There is no more a “No-Go-Zone-Ban” in the Republic of Liberia. But a “Motorbike-Dress-Code-Regulation” is on the ground.

The “Motorbike-Riders-Dress-Code-Regulation” reminds me of 1978 when taxi drivers in Pleebo wore Higher High Suits whenever they were driving their taxis. Dressing like this was said to be according to a regulation from the Government. I have no proof that the Government ordered taxi drivers to dress in Higher Heights Suits. But I saw taxi drivers in Pleebo who wore Higher Heights Suits.

However, the “Motorbike-Riders-Dress-Code-Regulation” is not specific. What should a motorbike riders wear to meet up with the “Motorbike-Riders-Dress-Code-Regulation?” Maybe it is presumed that this is optional. Whatever decent wearing an individual motorbike rider can afford to put on may suffice. But supposed the police are not satisfied with the dress code of a motorbike rider? So some clarity is needed.

President Joseph Nyumah Boakai sometimes dresses in the Higher Heights Suit. Former President George Weah sometimes dresses in the Pro Poor Suit. Should each motorcyclist make the choice? So the question has to be asked, What does “dress well” mean?

Will the dress code regulation extend to  haircuts? If the “Motorbike-Riders-Dress-Code-Regulation” extends to haircuts, which style will the Government prefer? Will it be optional, leaving each motorcyclist to make the choice? Suppose the police are not satisfied with the haircut?

Whatever may be the case, the temperature seems to have reduced. Two weeks ago, it was “where motorcyclists should ride their bikes” and “where they should not ride their bikes.” Today, motorbike riders should dress well. After this we may hear that motorbike riders should eat well. What is this that is going on?

Temperature Dropped To Rise

Once I was at a clinic in a village. A patient (child) who was suffering from malaria was brought. The nurse who was doing the registration said that the temperature of the patient was high. I saw the nurse pouring cold water on the patient. The belief was that the pouring of the cold water would cool the body and reduce the high temperature of the patient. 

The “Motorbike-Riders-Dress-Code-Regulation” has cooled off the tension that was rising as a result of the “No-Go-Zone Ban.”  Motorcyclists are our friends. Befriending motorcyclists is always necessary. We always need them. They are always ready to render the services that individual Liberians or a group of Liberians need.

How will the temperature that was reduced rise again? Besides the “Motorbike-Riders-Dress-Code-Regulation,” there is also the “One-Passenger-On-Motorbike-Regulation.” The temperature was reduced by the cancellation of the “No-Go-Zone-Ban.” As soon as the “One-Passenger-On-Motorbike-Regulation” begins to be enforced, the temperature will rise. I am not an alarmist or a pessimist. The “One-Passenger-On-Motorbike-Regulation” sounds good, but its repercussions are going to cause temperatures to rise. When the passenger who used to pay L$500.00 from a certain place to get to Monrovia is charged L$1,000.00, then the message that the temperature that was reduced will soon rise will reach the home of everybody.

The cost of transporting this one passenger will not be the same. The cost of transporting this one passenger will be higher or at least double. Temperatures will rise when commuters begin to pay more money than they used to pay.

Vice President

If the temperature begins to rise, should the Vice President come in to intervene, to spend hours “intervening” with the police and the motorcyclists? 

I heard that the Vice President of Liberia was instrumental in throwing the “No-Go-Zone-Ban” into the trash can. I heard that it took him two days to do this. I also heard that the Vice President of Liberia is aware of the “Motorbike-Riders-Dress-Code-Regulation,” and the “One-Passenger-On-Motorbike-Regulation.” 

Should the Vice President of Liberia do this? He can if the President tells him. The Vice President does what the President wants him to do. The gossip will be, if the Vice President of Liberia is doing this, talking with the motorcyclists and the police, then what will the Minister of Transport do? Even the Minister of Transport is not expected to personally do this unless it becomes extraordinary. If the Minister of Transport starts doing this, what should the Assistant Minister of Transport in charge of this section of transportation be doing. I believe there is a job description and division of labor in the Government. Why not follow the job description ethics?

The Vice President of Liberia is the President of the Liberian Senate. People look up to the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia and President of the Liberian Senate to do his work, and not the work of other Government functionaries. In a Liberia that is infested with :

a. joblessness

b. nocturnal insecurity

c. lack of trust in the judiciary

d. companies signing concession 

    agreements and setting them aside and 

    doing what they feel like doing, 

e. unwholesome functioning public 

    institutions or bureaus 

f. etc., etc., etc. 

the Hon Vice President of Liberia and President of the Liberian Senate should be doing more than spending days finding a solution to “No-Go-Zone-Ban,” which should not have come up at all. National decision-makers like the Vice President should receive reports. 

The Vice President should be thinking about Bush Devils playing the role of the judiciary. Lack of confidence in the judiciary is manifesting itself in what we once regarded as primitive. Liberians in some parts of Liberia are asking Bush Devils to give them redress. When companies are disregarding concession agreements, rather than a people going to court to complain, they go to Bush Devils to complain. Bush Devils are now giving ultimatums to companies to adhere to concession agreements. It is our courts that were supposed to be doing what the Bush Devils are doing. 

The Hon Vice President of the Republic of Liberia and President of the Liberian Senate needs to go beyond the issue of motorcyclists. There are state functionaries in charge of this. The motorcyclists are so organized that it is very easy to deal with them. If the President of Liberia asked the Vice President of Liberia to do this, then the President is not allowing those state functionaries who should have direct responsibilities in this area to do their work. Let the Ministry Of Transportation be in charge of this issue. Unless motorcyclists demand it, I don’t expect the Minister of Transport to personally deal with this issue. There is an assistant minister in charge of this. This state functionary should make the report to the deputy minister, and the deputy minister makes the report to the minister. From the Desk Of The Minister of Transport, it can get to the President. 

One Rider

The “Two-riders-regulation” should not also be enforced strictly. It has economic repercussions. The kind of motorbikes that are used by the motorcyclists in Monrovia and parts adjacent are equipped to carry three riders. If a motorbike rider has to carry only one passenger, the Government already foresees the economic problems she has invented and created. The cost of riding a motorbike to and from Monrovia will double. It will not affect the motorbike riders immediately. It is the commuters that will be alarmed. When there are no passengers to bring to Monrovia because of high fares charged, the motorbike transportation will be affected by the “Two-Riders-Regulation.” Another little noise will be made. This is why I said that saying that another set of tension was ahead was not alarmism or pessimism.

If “Motorbike Dress-Code-Regulation” and “Motorbike Two-Riders-Regulation” cannot be observed, I want the Government to just “let the sleeping dog lie.” The Government should leave it. There should be no meeting of motorcyclists and Government Officials. Government Officials should not call press conferences because of this. If the Government continues going after the motorcyclists, Freudianism may accuse the Liberian Government of “Governmental-Narrow-mindedness.

Questions that may be asked are, 

1. Is there nothing else for the Government to do besides going after motorcyclists?

2. Is it only the motorbike transport that the 

    Government wants to fix? 

3. Why is the Government focusing only on  the motorbike transportation? 

Monrovia is a dirty and stink city. Some streets of Central Monrovia are being taken over by criminals and dirt. Young men and young women are living in the cemetery in Central Monrovia where motorbikes were not supposed to go. Can’t the Government see this? 

Basic fundamental needs like water and electricity are scarce in Central Monrovia. Doesn’t the Government know this too? 

The courts are unreliable. Can’t the Government sense this if she can’t see it? 

A Bad Orange A Palm Nut

Like every group of individuals, there may be a few bad motorcyclists. There may always be a bad orange in the bag. There may always be a rotten banana in the bag. There may always be a bad palm nut in the bag. That does not lead people to throw away the entire bag of oranges, or bananas, or palm nuts. 

An ancient Roman advice was, “Abusus non tallit usum.” Meaning, “The abuse of a thing, does not take away its use.” Or “An abuse of a thing does not make it unuseful.” Liberians say, “You don’t throw the baby away with the dirty water.” Take out the bad ones. Identify the bad ones and put in place measures to transform the bad motorcyclists into good motorcyclists.

Are motorcyclists abusing this “new-land-transportation-revolution?” The abusers should be identified and booked. The whole bag of palm nuts cannot be thrown away. “The abuse of a thing does not make it unuseful.” The fact that there are corrupt people does not mean that we should not use money. Catch the corrupt people and deal with them. 

The Government should be more careful from now on when dealing with motorcyclists. They are helping Liberians. The fact that there may be some motorcyclists who are not making this new-land-transportation-revolution proud does not mean that this new-land-transportation-revolution is bad. If a survey were done a discovery that there may be more good motorcyclists than bad ones may become a reality.

What Causes Accidents?

An accident is something unintentional. I don’t think a motorcyclist will intentionally cause an accident. If motorcyclists are involved in accidents, records of such  motorcyclists should be taken. The number of times a motorbike rider made accidents should be recorded. It is these kinds of information that must be cataloged. With these kinds of records on hand, the Government will be able deal with specific cases. Human beings do not throw all the oranges away because one or a few oranges are rotten. Take out the bad ones. Transform them into good motorcyclists.

Again, it also has to be established whether a motorcyclist who is having accidents is responsible for each of the accidents. If others are responsible for the accidents that a particular motorcyclist gets involved in, the motorcyclist cannot be blamed. He only needs to be advised to be more watchful, maybe others have the so-called “different intention.”

An accident is something unintentional. But other reasons for accidents could be

(1) inattention (2) recklessness. If such records are assembled of individual motorcyclists, it will help the Government in making decisions that affect motorcyclists.

Humanity Of Motorcyclists

The motorcyclists are human beings like every other human being. Are there objective criteria to help access whether a motorcyclist is troublesome or not troublesome? There may not be any such  criteria to help the Government objectively identify and distinguish the bad and the good motorcyclists. For now, it is personal judgment of individual state functionaries that may be the criterion.

The contribution the motorcyclists are making to our country should be identified and amplified. 

In the area of joblessness, they are doing their best by being self-employed. Some motorcyclists have their mini-transportation companies. They have several motorbikes. They employed other youth to ride these bikes.

I know a motorcyclist who is a carpenter. When he has no carpentry job to do he comes in the traffic. 

A motorcyclist whose parents took him to Guinea during the Liberian Civil War used his motorbike to pay his tuition in high school and the University of Liberia. He attended the refugee school in Guinea and graduated. He came to Monrovia to attend the University of Liberia. The University of Liberia said that he didn’t have the WAEC Certificate. He enrolled at a night school. He rode his bike during the day and went to school at night. He graduated from high school. He took the Entrance Examination of the University of Liberia and passed. He enrolled at the University of Liberia and obtained his bachelor’s degree. It was motorbike riding that helped him with the money he needed to go to university.

Come right on Pipeline Road. There is a block factory whose proprietor is a motorcyclist. He has been a motorcyclist since 2007. He is still a motorcyclist. But he has a block factory that is employing other jobless youth.

For some, the motorbike is a means to an end. The motorbike is a stepping stone. It is a starting point. They have visions but they have no other means to realize their dream except by being motorcyclists.

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