Disadvantaged and vulnerable youths are commonly known as “zogos” in Liberia. Most of them were child soldiers and ex-combatants.
Normally dressed in rags, these vulnerable Liberians between the ages of 18 to 35 years are seen during the day hours scavenging dump sites for fairly used electronics and other materials to sell, boarding commercial vehicles with passengers, washing cars of unknown persons that have been parked on the streets for handouts, among others.
Others normally take their nap during the day hours and engaged in their regular habit of hijacking, armed robbing, or terrorizing peaceful Liberians and foreign nationals of their valuables including money, cell phones, jewelry, and computers, among others. They normally sell stolen items far below the original prices to satisfy their bad habit of taking narcotics and other dangerous substances.
Their homes are market tables, cemeteries, and abandoned shacks and buildings.
Intake of narcotics
The growing wave of “zogos” in Liberia is immensely contributing to the proliferation of ghettoes and the influx of narcotics and other dangerous substances in the country.
Marijuana, Italian white, cocaine, and other dangerous substances are being smuggled into the country regularly.
The porosity of Liberia’s border points, including the ones with neighboring countries, makes it easier for narcotics and illicit drugs to be brought into the country without any hindrance.
Weak drugs law occasioned by a lack of logistical and financial support to the Liberia National Police (LNP) and the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) are also contributing factors.
The West African nation continues to struggle to make the trading of narcotics and other dangerous substances a non-bailable offense.
These vulnerable and disadvantaged youths jammed packed ghettoes during the day taking in dangerous illegal drugs or gambling.
In some communities, they hung old sneakers or shoes atop electrical wires to portray the existence of a notorious gang or ghetto in a particular community.
Government’s failure
For several decades, past and current administrations of Liberia have miserably failed to tackle the influx of disadvantaged youths on the streets of Monrovia and other parts of the country.
There has been no rehabilitation center to transform these disgruntled youths into productive citizens in Liberian society.
A rehabilitation center recently established by Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darius Dillon is yet to become fully functional in Monrovia.
Despite the failure of the Liberian government to initiate sustainable programs to reintegrate these vulnerable citizens, some local institutions and individuals have been making frantic efforts to arrest the situation.
Madam Sando Massaley, previously spearheaded the Socio-Economic Empowerment of Disadvantaged Youths (SEED) project in the Gobachop Market in Paynesville, outside Monrovia.
The project which commenced in 2019 and ended a year ago, was funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), through the YWCA under the Ministry of Health.
Under the project, scores of disadvantaged youths or “logos” went through psycho-social counseling and acquired skills training in mechanics, carpentry, pastry, and catering, among others.
Gone back to the ghettoes
Speaking in an interview with FrontPageAfrica over the weekend via telephone, Madam Massaley disclosed that many of the “logos” who went through the psychosocial counseling and rehabilitation under the SEED project have returned to the ghettoes.
She blamed the situation on the failure of the government to continue the project after donor partners pulled out following its expiration.
She observed that the detoxification component of the project did not come to fruition until the end of the project.
Madam Massaley observed that the government lacks a real sustainable plan to continue life-changing and other projects that have been initiated but discontinued by non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) operating in the country.
She added that most of these projects are donor-driven and as such, the government should have a plan put in place to continue these initiatives for the betterment of their citizens and the country at large
“The SEED project has ended and the donors said they will come back, but they have not come back yet. These disadvantaged youths are a big threat to Liberia because they were not taken to rehabilitation centers to be worked on or detoxified. The only thing we give them were handouts and they acquired practical skills in vocational training. They were given about US100 plus dollars for petty business. But now, they have gone back to when we went and found them in the ghettoes. One of them came to my house with this money and if you see him, you will cry. Only a few of the females have been reunified”.
“The government should take the responsibility for the return of these disadvantaged youths to the ghettoes because the NGOs are helping us; where they stopped, the government is supposed to continue. The government should know that the disadvantaged youths are their citizens and they are under obligation to take care of their citizens”.
Madam Massaley recalled that most of these “logos”, who got into the unwholesome practices as a result of peer pressure, expressed their willingness to be rehabilitated, but the avenues were not created to actualize their desire.
Fear for reprisal
She pointed out that the bulk of them allegedly committed crimes against their relatives and neighbors, and as such, they remain afraid to return to their respective communities for fear of reprisal.
“They are willing to leave the streets or ghettoes, but how will they be supported? The SEED project helped them in the process but we thought that the government was going to take responsibility. Some of them committed atrocities; they can’t just go back home”.
Madam Massaley maintained that the lack of a proper detoxification and rehabilitation program to ensure that “logos” become productive citizens in the future will continue to harm and hurt peaceful Liberians and other foreign residents in the future.
She predicted the loss of more lives and properties worth thousands of United States dollars if the situation is not seen and treated as a security threat by the government.
Feeling the weight
The unbecoming and wayward attitude of disadvantaged youths has led to the deaths of several persons, including a pregnant women, children, worshippers, and others in recent times.
On Tuesday, November 23, 2021, at least three persons were killed when officers of the Police Support Unit (PSU) of the Liberia National Police and the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) fired live bullets during a crackdown on suspected armed robbers and drug dealers in the commercial area of Duala on the Bushrod Island, outside Monrovia.
Two of those who were shot dead were believed to be commuters, while the other was considered a “zoo”.
The joint security attempted to raid a notorious ghetto in the area when the “logos” retaliated by throwing blunt objects and other deadly weapons, terrorizing business owners and passers-by
The shooting incident occurred when the joint security officers attempted to arrest and raid a major ghetto in Kuwait, one of the commercial areas in Duala.
At least 29 worshippers, including a pregnant woman, died in a stampede which occurred at the D. The Football field in the Borough of New Kru Town, outside Monrovia after a criminal gang comprising of scores of disadvantaged youths reportedly staged a hijacking and robbing attack from the main entrance of the field following the climax of the first day of an open-air crusade on January 20, 2022.
“Looking at the economic status in our country-where people home cannot even find it to eat, what more about people that are in the streets? What do you expect? Those people that are in that bad habit, will harm or frustrate people to continue their habit. The peaceful people will suffer if they (zogos) cannot get the means to satisfy their habits”, Madam Massey added.
President’s L$5000 criticized
Some time ago, President George Manneh Weah provided the amount of L$5000 each to hundreds of disadvantaged youths who gathered at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium (ATS) during the festive season.
But Madam Massaley condemned the Liberian leader’s action.
She claimed that the money provided to each of the disadvantaged youth was “not used on food, but dangerous substances.
“It’s always good to teach the man how to fish; don’t always fish for the man. The day he (Weah) gave that money, there were lots and lots of trouble. By giving money to the people, he tried to even help them with their (bad) habits. They went back to the ghettoes and they were taking their regular drugs because they had enough money. Immediately after the money finished, they went bad to status quo ante by terrorizing people”.
She, however, named rehabilitation, detoxification, reintegration, and provision of scholarship opportunities, especially vocational skills training as some of the best ways to guarantee the future of disadvantaged youths in Liberia.
Conniving with criminals
Speaking further, Madam Massaley expressed frustration over the failure of the justice system to ensure the full prosecution of “logos” apprehended for committing crimes.
She noted that citizens will continue to engage in mob justice if the laws are not scrupulously implemented.
“It beats my imagination to see a disadvantaged youth who committed a crime back in the community two to three days after he or she was arrested. Those people, after they committed crimes, should be made to pay the penalty for that crime or they should be taken somewhere to stay a year or two and learn how to do something.”
She indicated that these vulnerable Liberians will continue to return to the communities to frustrate the efforts of peaceful Liberian citizens and sometimes take away lives if they are pitiful because of their conditions.
The growing wave of “logos” across Liberia appears to be a societal problem that needs to be tackled in a bid to guarantee the future of a whole generation and safeguard the country’s fragile peace and stability.
Weak police force
Following the D. The field crusade stampede, the Liberia National Police (LNP) headed by Patrick Sudue, has vowed to go after these disadvantaged youths. But many see the pronouncement as ‘wasting water on duck’s back’ because it is noted for making declarations and pronouncements to ease down tension or allay fears.
A case in point is the pronouncement banning and declaring no-go zones for commercial motorcycles across Monrovia and its environs.
The use of commercial motorcycles by criminals to rob or hijack pedestrians, and passengers onboard tricycles or taxis are a new and frequent style in Liberia.
Commercial motorcyclists continue to ply major streets in the capital, making it appear that there exists no ban placed on their movement due to the ‘sugar-coating’ of law enforcement in Liberia by the Sudue-led LNP.
