Several travellers are said to be stranded at the boundary of Margibi and Grand Bassa Counties after soldiers of the Armed Forces of Liberia stopped vehicles from moving between the two counties as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The stranded passengers according to a report by front Page Africa are mostly woman and children who were travelling from Monrovia to Buchanan city or vice versa.
The stranded passengers were quoted as saying that although the soldiers are claiming to be enforcing the travelling restrictions, they are allowing officials of Grand Bassa County to smuggle their relatives and friends across the blockade.
One woman, who is said to have slept two nights at the checkpoint, alleged that lawmakers of the county are “carrying people who they know”.
“Their family members are passing while we are here stranded,” she adds.
Superintendent of Grand Bassa County, Janjay Baikpeh denies smuggling people through the checkpoint, but added that the county administration is holding talks with the AFL to allow consumable commodities through the boundary.
The General Services Agency (GSA) has issued vehicular passes to a number of registered businesses in the counties to move essential goods exclusive of but local marketers.
But some stranded travellers told Liberia Public Radio that they are residents of Buchanan who had travelled to Monrovia to find food and other essential items for the upkeep of the families.
Another stranded person, Laurena Roberts, a resident of Buchanan, said she and her five-year-old daughter have been at the checkpoint since Friday, May 1 and are not been allowed to go in.
“The people say we should not go Buchanan because we, who are coming from Monrovia, are carrying the virus to Buchanan”, she told a local journalist in Margibi.
It can be recalled that the government of Liberia on April 8, 2020 put travel restrictions on various counties not to leave from one place to another except for Montserrado and Margibi that are quarantined as a single unit.
The restrictions are part of government imposed State of Emergency to curb the spread of COVID-19, which has infected 158 persons and caused the death of 18 so far.
