KEY POINTS
- LEC completed a technical electricity assessment in Gedehtarbo covering approximately 508 households.
- President Boakai directed LEC to complete Gedehtarbo electrification works within three months.
- Senator James Biney’s formal communication to President Boakai triggered the electricity assessment.
Liberia Electricity Corporation has completed a day-long technical assessment in Gedehtarbo, bringing the southeastern community one step closer to electricity access it has long been denied.
LEC officials, local leaders and residents from several towns across the Gedehtarbo clan gathered for the exercise. The community sits on the outskirts of Pleebo in Maryland County. It has an estimated 508 households and a population of about 2,525 people. Most of them have never had reliable electricity.
LEC Rural Electrification Manager Murphy M. Gibson said the visit came directly on presidential orders.
“We are here based on a directive from the President, following communication from Senator Biney, to assess and ensure the completion of electrification in Gedehtarbo,” Gibson said.
A senator’s push, a president’s directive
The chain of events that brought LEC to Gedehtarbo started with Maryland County Senator James P. Biney. He formally wrote to President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, flagging the community’s exclusion from previous electrification projects. Boakai responded with a directive to LEC to move.
Senator Biney had also recently led a 19-member delegation of local leaders from Gedehtarbo and Barrobo to meet with the president. Preparatory meetings ran from April 11 to 14, covering road connectivity, electrification and the renovation of Harper City Hall. The Gedehtarbo electricity push was among the outcomes of those sessions.
Gibson confirmed that LEC is expected to complete electrification in the area within three months, pending the technical report. The next phase covers infrastructure deployment, including poles and transmission lines across towns such as Yelakaken, Hlodieken, Saywonken, Tobga Town and Rubber Bed.
What residents say they need
Residents were direct about what the absence of electricity has cost them. They cited limited business opportunities, poor communication networks and daily reliance on firewood and charcoal for energy.
General Clan Chief Alexander Williams welcomed the assessment and framed it as a turning point. He said electricity would lift small businesses, improve education and healthcare delivery, and cut dependence on unsafe fuel sources.
The Gedehtarbo exercise fits inside a wider government agenda to address electricity gaps across Maryland County and extend rural development to communities that have historically sat outside the national grid. LEC’s presence in Gedehtarbo signals that the exclusion may finally be ending.
