The Executive Director of the Liberia Refugee Repatriation and Resettlement Commission, (LRRRC) has disclosed a staggering 80 percent of the over 700 Liberian refugees, who were recently repatriated from Ghana, to be drug addicts.
Patrick Worzie made the disclosure when he spoke on Tuesday, May 28, 2024 at the Ministry of Information regular press briefing in Monrovia.
He said this is a huge challenge that warrants the attention of the Ministry of Health, the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency and other partners to help rescue the situation.
Among the returnees are 16 pregnant women, 15 mentally ill (both men and women) and several underage children calling out the Liberian Embassy in Ghana for being supportive in the process.
Worzie appreciated the Ivorian Government, the Liberian Legislature and other donors who are making it possible for the returnees to have four square meals daily.
He said now that the first step of repatriation has been done, the next stage is the counseling phase before the settlement process where the heads of every household will receive US$300, a cell phone with SIM card and a mattress.
According to Worzie, the LRRRC intends to give out agriculture equipment to encourage each of the returnees to have a backyard garden.
He indicated that the last part of the program will be linking the returnees with their families and reintegrating them into society, noting that family reunion is important.
The LRRRC boss has called on the Ministry of Education to help in working out modalities of sending the children back to school with the support from the government.
Worzie indicated that the returnees are from the 15 counties, but some of them do not have family members.
He applauded the Government of Liberia for ensuring that the repatriation process is successful. He said a team will be going back to Ghana shortly to conclude the process.
He informed journalists that a total of 770 persons returned on sixteen buses and two long trucks on May 21, 2024.
