Believe it or not but it is true: one heavily populated ethnic Kpelle clan named
Bonkumu in Bong County’s Sanoyea Dist. has seen no development in over eight
years despite a ferryboat given to citizens of the region by current Liberia’s
President Joseph Boakai’s charity generated US.1.6m from the ferry operation.

Addressing more than a hundred people Wednesday (Feb. 19,) at Kelebei Town
hall, a makeshift structure, Hon. Jackson K. George, chief executive for the JNB
Foundation revealed the “Kelebei ferry,” the most active (among all six ferries
donated the JNB-F), has raised around US 1.6m since its deployment from 2017
till now.
He hastened however to add that despite this reality, per his recollection, the
region, he regrettably maintained, is yet to show a single viable development
linked to the ferry boat business there-one of the biggest businesses in the area-
since it began operation.
“No school, no clinic, no market, no pump, nothing! [US] 1.6m [is gone] since it
started [operation] but nothing! These children need a better life. If this [ferry] is
making money, these children will go to school; they need cloths, and shoes on
their feet. They need to go to hospital,” he told the town’s elders, young men and
women.

“This is not about us,” he continued, and added that it was about the welfare of the
children of Liberia. This trip had come at the behest of current President Joseph
Nyuma Boakai Sr., a man he stated is quite concerned about the welfare of the
people of this region and wants to see peace and development there.
It was also discovered that the township still lacks a functioning hand-pump which
leaves locals with no option but to fetch their drinking water from a nearby creek.
The town hall where this meeting took place is a makeshift structure, showing the
level of neglect that on the part of both citizens and officials of this region in terms
of development.

Hon. George and his entourage were highly welcomed in Kpelle Traditional styles
and given a plate containing white rice and kola nuts, a gesture that symbolizes
purity of heart. The bowl then went from hand to hand, amid the recitation of
traditional norms before it finally reached Mr. George, whose mother and wife also
hail from Sanoyea.
The meeting had come days after the township led a delegation to Monrovia and
met with Hon. George, regarding the ferryboat matter with respect to have it
resume full-scale operation in the area.
The boat went missing September 2024, after it reportedly capsized at David &
Gunta St. Paul River crossing point, leaving one middle-aged man drowning to
death. The man’s death further escalated existing animosity within Bonkumu and
Lorla clans, setting one family against the other.
The body of the missing man remains at large as of the time of this publication. He
was said to be the son of one elderly man who’s accused of single-handily running
the ferry and allegedly diverting funds to his personal use. We couldn’t reach him
for comment.

The ferryboat is reported to have drifted far away from the scene of the boat
accident after the mishap. Local authorities in the area commenced investigation
into the boat accident and the mysterious circumstance under which he died,
leading to the grounding of the ferry temporarily.
Kelebei itself (also spelled as “Kelebi”), has an estimated 3000 people which tells
why the ferry business here is booming, along this dirt road that leads to Gbarpolu
and the Belle Forest or Belle Yellah, a key trade center for gold, diamond and
timber.
When the ferry is running operators charged a single car LD $5,000.00 and US
$100.00 for a gold-diamond digging machine. A motorbike crosses for LD $
500.00 while a single person pays LD $100. So, on average the Kelebei ferry
reported between LD $50,000 to $55,000.00 weekly, with multiple signatures
attached to its bank account, they said.
Yet, conflict has never stayed away from the region and it is often centered on the
ferry operation and who collects the proceeds. And it is something, says Hon.
George, pushed him closer to removing the ferry and re-deploying it elsewhere
where it may be needed most but said he changed his decision because life was at
stake.