MONROVIA – Apprehension is reportedly billowing in Grand Kru County, specifically in Gbeta or Piniccess, one of the many communities or settlements of the county, where a good number of Burkinabes is reported to have extended their foothold, entering there allegedly with the help of residents of another town.
This paper could not independently verify the information that matches similar trend in other regions of the country. Some residents who confided in this paper said Burkinabe occupiers are causing terror, trying to seize and occupy farmlands to the disapproval, anger and detriment of citizens.
Immigration officials in that part of county, according to the information, have been informed of the matter and have promised to take seize of it, but to what extent remains a guess. There has been no official statement to the effect from county authorities on the matter.
The plague of foreign nationals, mainly Burkinabes spans many years and administrations, with little efforts to have it amicably and diplomatically resolved.
Grand Gedeh County in the southeast is reported to have been a major epicenter of the influx of Burkinabes who President Joseph Nyumah Boakai recently said numbered about 80,000- a good percentage of presence of foreign nationals in Liberia.
That the “foreign occupiers” as they have been referred to in some quarters are extending their presence in Grand Kru is seen as “tip of the iceberg” and a call to action.
The government seems flatfooted when it comes to what action to take owing to the sensitivity of the issue in terms of regional integration and movement as well as the entrenchment of the Burkinabes into the woods of the country.
It is being alleged that most of them have taken Liberian wives with whom they have children, thus making their deportation technical.
But the fact that they are not coming into country via the normal routine of traveling protocols, according to citizens, warrant concerns and government intervention.
About The Author
