IPNEWS: Former Honorary Consul General of India in Liberia, Dr. Upjit Singh Sachdeva has vowed to dignify the dwelling compound of inmates of the Monrovia Central Prison (MCP), South Beach, Monrovia.
At the moment, there are more than one thousand prisoners in the compound that was built to host less than 500 inmates. So, overcrowding is something that is common, and lack of certain basic amenities can be major problems times without numbers.
It is some of these basic things that can be addressed, that former Honorary Consul General Sachdeva, who is more commonly known as “Mr. Jeety”, has vowed to help address.
One of those basic amenities is the only hand pump that provides water; it has been down for a while now and needs to be repaired.
Some Past Interventions
It won’t be the first dignity that he would be restoring. He has, in time past help fixed or restored some of the very basic needs.
On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, he had promised the prison authorities that he was going to ensure the supply of pipe borne waster to all the barracks within the facility. This was going to the first time that water was being restored to the facilities within the compound since the country’s senseless civil war ended nearly 20 years ago.
Jeety had committed to ensuring that water is supplied at the facility, before November that year.
‘I commit here today, that Jetty Trading Corporation will do its best to restore water to all the facilities that are here. I assured you that before I come for the delivery of next month’s supply of food, that water system will be restored because water is life and I will do my best,” Jetty assured them on that day.
In his goodwill gesture on that day, Wednesday, Jeety noted that his move supports religious scriptural references that call for “freely giving” to the needy.
“The scripture says, blessed are the hands that give. Again, as part of our commitment, which we have been doing for several months, we have come here again, with not only nutritional meals, but we have also brought mattresses, buckets, and beds for use by the Monrovia Central Prison,” he had also said.
The items he gave to the prison authorities on that Wednesday included 100 mattresses, 75 buckets, 75 jars, along with jerry cans for water and tubs of cooked rice buckets of hot, cooked bean soup.
His gesture also included the installation of 2,500-liter poly tanks for water storage.
Again, in December 2021, Jeety provided a 5.5kva generator to supply electricity to the compound and also to help pump water to the poly tanks.
Feeds Inmates on Friday; Urges Others to Do for the Needy
Mr. Jeety made the promise of restoring the hand pump on Friday, November 11, 2022, when he and his team from his Jeety Hot Meal Service had gone to the prison compound to serve hot meal to the inmates.
Speaking before he presented the food items over the prison compound, the former Indian Honorary Consul General challenged other businessmen and women in Liberia to be inspirations to their less fortunate brothers and sisters by helping to solve some of the basic societal problems.
Jeety, an Indian, Sikh businessman, is the owner of the Jeety Conglomerate, which includes Jeety Trading Corporation, Jeety Rubber Liberia Limited Company, under construction in Weala, Margibi County and other businesses operating in the country.
He urged both foreign and local business owners to apply efforts in providing assistance to the needy void of expecting anything in return from them or the state.
On that Friday, he presented 24 huge tubs of hot cooked rice, several cartoons’ of 1600 pieces of deliciously baked cake, 1,600 cans of soda (soft drink), 1,600 sachets of water and 24 buckets of deliciously cooked and tasty bean soup and 1,600 plates to inmates at the Monrovia Central Prison. Also, Jeety gave 500 pieces of brand-new polythene plates, 50 jerry cans for water and 50 pieces of 20-liter (four-gallon) buckets.
The presentation of the food and other items to the inmates is part of his hot cooked meal initiative launched in 2017 to combat hunger in the post-conflict Liberia.
Since its inauguration, Mr. Jeety has served nearly four million plates of hot cooked meal. These plates of meal are given to the less fortunate youths and children, visually impaired, old folks, and physically challenged, among others.
He again encouraged his fellow compatriots doing business in Liberia to look beyond their businesses by extending hands of help to others.
Mr. Sachdeva emphasized that though the essence of doing business is to make profits, local and foreign business owners should see the need to give portions of what they earned to the underprivileged, less fortunate and others who are in dire need of help in their respective areas of operations.
“Don’t give to get; give to inspire others. As a business man, you expect profits at the end of the month or year. But this petty cost that we do, the profits are waiting for you in Heaven. And so, I urge all business men and women across the globe to do these kinds of charity not only at the prisons but everywhere.”
Monrovia Central Prison Supt Responds
Receiving the items, the Superintendent of the Monrovia Central Prison, Varney G. Lake commended Jeety for the gesture.
He disclosed that Mr. Sachdeva has been a “good friend” to the inmates and others at the prison compound.
He further recounted the immense and indelible contributions the Indian businessman has made over the years to the prison facility.
“You have always been there for us. We will always be grateful to you for your assistance. On behalf of the inmate population, working staff and others, we want to thank you so much for what you have brought for us today. May God continue to bless you.”
Other Prison Facility
The Monrovia Central Prison is not the only prison facility that has benefitted from Jeety’s generosity. The Kakata Central Prison in Margibi County is another facility that immensely benefitted, too.
He has also made numerous interventions, including the provision of food and other assorted items for the wellbeing of the inmates there.
He pointed out that his decision taken to continuously provide assistance to citizens, who are beyond bars at various prison facilities, is to ensure that they too have access to sumptuous and nourished meal as some of their friends, who are outside prison walls, are having, too.
He indicated that though they are being punished for wrongs that they might have allegedly committed, they also have the right to decent lives so they must be helped.
He stressed that inmates are also human beings and therefore, their wellbeing must also be prioritized by not only the government, but others who can afford.
