By Amos HarrisSamuel Dean, the suspended Executive Director of the National Commission on Disabilities (NCD), has sharply criticized the organizers of a major infrastructure conference held in Nimba County, accusing them of deliberately excluding Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) from discussions critical to Liberia’s development future. The conference, which brought together policymakers and key stakeholders to deliberate on national infrastructure planning, reportedly proceeded without any representation from the disability community despite PWDs accounting for an estimated 20 percent of Liberia’s population. Dean further warned that infrastructure planning carried out without disability perspectives inevitably results in public facilities that are inaccessible and discriminatory. The exclusion has reignited concerns among disability rights advocates that national development forums continue to treat PWDs as an afterthought rather than as equal stakeholders. Dean concluded by questioning how genuinely inclusive Liberia’s infrastructure agenda can be when a significant segment of the population is consistently and systematically left out of critical national conversations.

Source: GNN Liberia January 20, 2026 22:08 UTC