Liberian President and UN Deputy Envoy jointly commission a new Prison

Sanniquellie, Liberia – UN Deputy Envoy Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu has joined Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to commission a modern prison constructed by the United Nations in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice in Sanniquellie, the provincial capital of Nimba. The project was executed by a local contractor under the supervision of UNOPS. President Johnson Sirleaf applauded the UN for a “job well done,” and hoped that the prison would “be a model that could be replicated around the country.”

The maximum security Sanniquellie Central Prison, built at the cost of US$350,000 through the UN Peace-Building Fund, replaces an old warehouse, which had for the past three years, served as a detention centre. The Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG) for the Rule of Law, Ms. Mensa-Bonsu, handed over the facility to the Liberian leader, assuring her of the UN’s continued support for Liberia’s recovery and development.

The new prison, which has twelve cells with separate facilities for males and females, has the capacity to hold 72 inmates. It also has electricity, sanitation, kitchen, and recreational facilities, as well as a solar-powered water pump and rain-harvest water storage to guarantee a constant supply of water.

President Sirleaf was conducted around the prison facility by Ms. Mensa-Bonsu, in the company of UNOPS Country Director, Mr. Lakis Papastravou, Head of Nimba County UN Field Office, Wesley Natana and Justice Ministry officials. In a response to the President’s concerns over the maintenance of security in the new facility, Ms. Mensa-Bonsu, who is currently Officer-in-Charge of the UN Mission in Liberia, said the UN Peace-Building Fund had sponsored the training of 50 new corrections officers, twenty of whom would be deployed to the new prison. She also told the President that Bangladeshi peacekeepers in Sanniquellie would assist the inmates with farming implements and seedlings to grow vegetables and cassava for their own use.”

The DSRSG, who was in Nimba County to participate in Liberia’s 163rd Independence anniversary celebrations, also used the occasion to perform the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Bangla-Nimba Capacity Building Centre in Sanniquellie, where Bangladeshi peacekeepers will train Liberian youth in vocational skills. The programmes to be run at the centre include computer studies, tailoring, healthcare, generator repair and maintenance, carpentry, plumbing, motorbike repair and cosmetology.

Ms. Mensa-Bonsu urged the youth of the area to take advantage of the opportunities to be offered at the centre to chart a bright future for themselves. The DSRSG, as well, visited the Bangladesh-Liberia Friendship Centre in Ganta, and encouraged Liberian youth pursuing vocational courses at the centre to use the skills they will acquire to become productive citizens.