BARCLAY TRAINING CENTER, MONROVIA: The Deputy Chief of Staff of the AFL, Col. Theophilus Dana, over the weekend, led a high-power delegation of MoD/AFL personnel to Bomi County to assess the military facility, which hosted the Six Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of Liberia prior to the civil war.
During the visit of the delegation, Col. Dana informed the Authority of the County that he and his team were in the County to ascertain the condition of the barracks for the possible commencement of renovation works. He informed the county authority that the Armed Forces of Liberia is ready to reclaim all of its properties in the County. According to him, this will allow the Armed Forces of Liberia to construct more housing units that will help alleviate the accommodation problem being faced by the AFL. Col. Dana has therefore, called on the County authority to work with their citizens to ensure that those living on the military facility leave to allow the army commence the renovation work soon.
Speaking on behalf of the County Authority, the County Administrative Officer and Acting Superintendent, Hon. Alphanso M. Sherman, welcomed the Deputy Chief of Staff and his team to Tubmanburg and thanked them for the visit. He said the prewar presence of the Six Infantry Battalion was a big boost to the security of the northwestern region of the Country in general. He pledged the support of the County Administration to the AFL and expressed the authority’s desire to work with the AFL in reclaiming all of its properties in the County. He assured the Deputy Chief of Staff that they as county authority, will work with all illegal occupants to leave the properties of the Armed Forces of Liberia.
Also speaking at the site where some residents of Tubmanburg are currently working to clear the land that was previously occupied by the Six Infantry Battalion, Col. Dana told the workers that moving forward, they should keep the land clean at all times until the renovation work can start. He further informed them that the AFL does not have the resources to pay them for the kind of work that they are doing. However, the Deputy Chief of Staff presented a cash of One hundred Thousand Liberian Dollars ($100,000.00LD) with Twenty Five bags of 25kg rice for feeding.
The Commander of the 23rd Infantry Brigade, Col. Roland T. Murphy and the Defense Assistant Minister for Civil Works, Honorable Kesselly K. Zinnah were some members of the Deputy Chief of Staff delegation.
Bomi County, as part of the 15 sub-political divisions of Liberia, is located in the northwestern region of the Country. Bomi, which covers an area of 746 square miles is bordered on the northwest by Grand Cape Mount County, on the northeast by Gbarpolu and Bong Counties respectively, on the southeast by Montserrado County, and finally, on the southwest by the Alantic Ocean.
The Lofa River forms the boundary between Bomi and Grand Cape Mount Counties. Additionally, a tributary of rivers forms part of the boundary between Bomi and Gbarpolu Counties. The Saint Paul River bounds Bomi and Montserrado Counties. All of these strategic features, in the mind of the leadership of the prewar AFL, made Bomi unparalleled as the Home of the Six Infantry Battalion.
