Published: September 16, 2026
MONROVIA – Montserrado County’s District 17 has not benefited from the District Development Fund or the Social Development Fund since fiscal 2024, despite budget appropriations for 2025 and 2026, the district’s lawmaker told President Joseph Nyuma Boakai in an open letter.
Rep. Bernard Blue Benson Jr. used the letter, dated Tuesday, to ask Boakai to include Arthington, Clay-Ashland, Millsburg, Royesville and Cheesmanburg in the fiscal 2027 draft budget the administration is preparing for submission to the Legislature.
“For example, since fiscal year 2024, my district has not benefited as far as DDF or SDF is concerned, despite budgetary appropriations made for 2025 and 2026,” Benson wrote.
He described the two funds as “an intelligent approach in part to address gaps like these,” but said “bureaucratic bottlenecks and political maneuvering surrounding its allotment and utility” had undermined them. “Its essence has not been fulfilled,” he wrote.
The letter does not say how much was appropriated for the district in either year, whether the money was never released or was spent elsewhere, who was responsible for the delays or what Benson meant by political maneuvering.
Benson asked that the five communities be written into the new budget.
“I respectfully and passionately appeal that these key rural communities in Montserrado County be given serious consideration through direct or budgetary allocations,” he wrote. “It is therefore my respectful plea that Arthington, Clay-Ashland, Millsburg, Royesville, and Cheesmanburg be intentionally included in national budgetary planning and development priorities.”
He said the communities “have gone for decades without meaningful budgetary attention, and the daily living conditions of their citizens clearly reflect this prolonged neglect.”
“Your Excellency, for far too long these communities have been left without adequate budgetary support for essential services and developmental initiatives,” Rep. Benson wrote.
He cited deteriorating roads, limited access to quality education and health care, poor sanitation, weak local administrative capacity and insufficient investment in community development.
“These conditions continue to place unnecessary hardship on citizens who deserve the same opportunities and public support as other parts of the country,” he wrote.
Benson built much of his case on the area’s history. He described the settlements as among Liberia’s earliest, “playing vital roles in the formation and expansion of the nation,” and said they have strong agro-tourism potential and hold some of the country’s cultural landmarks.
“These historic communities occupy a unique and important place in the social, cultural, and political foundation of Liberia,” he wrote.
He said the area has produced four of Liberia’s 26 presidents. The letter does not name them.
Rep. Benson closed on a conciliatory note toward the president.
“We remain confident that under your leadership, greater attention will be given to areas that have been overlooked for too long,” he wrote. “We remain hopeful that your intervention will bring meaningful relief, equitable development, and renewed opportunity to these deserving communities.”
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