Monrovia – A US$82,000 Superintendent’s Compound in Bong County lies in ruins barely nine years after it was renovated by the leadership of the county.
Report by Selma Lomax, [email protected]
The building is the official residence of Bong County Superintendent. Money spent for the renovation of the compound was made available as a result of the 2008 County Development Sitting in Gbarnga, the county’s capital.
Part of the building is being used as a ghetto for hardened criminals, while neighbors use the building as restroom, according to Anthony Sheriff, Assistant Superintendent for Development, Bong County.
Our Bong County reporter, who toured the building, saw human feces and cigarette packs on the floor. Old mats were also seen on the floor suggesting that people sleep in the building during night hours.
Residents in the Civil Compound Community, where the residence is located, said bad individuals use the building as a staging point to attack them (residents) during night hours.
Beatrice Kulle, a resident of the community, said on July 26, criminals attacked and snatched her phone away while passing in front of the compound.
“I was making a call when the person came from in the Superintendent’s compound and snatched the phone from my ears,” she said. “When I told the police, they only said they have received complaints about the Superintendent’s compound and did nothing about my complaint.”
Another resident, Frances Papay, said at night she sees people in the compound smoking. “They come here every day very late at night. They usually embarrass us with the cigarette smoke all night. We are afraid of them,” she said.
Assistant Development Supt. Sheriff said the current state of the building is embarrassing for the county because tax payers’ money was used and the reward is not being reaped.
In March this year, a violent stormed de-roofed the building, prompting the County Superintendent to seek refuge at her personal house.
Sheriff further stated that the county doesn’t have money to renovate the building. “Since 2012, we have not gotten a cent from the government as Social Development Fund.”
According to him, it will take the county leadership US$65,000 to renovate the building. “We have carried out an assessment and established that we need US$65,000 to complete the renovation of the building.”
The County’s Assistant Development Supt. further said the county has been making frantic efforts to renovate the building by sending SOS calls to institutions in Bong County. “We have written the MNG-Gold and other institutions for help and still awaiting responses from them,” he said.
Bong’s Superintendent Esther Walker, told FrontPageAfrica that the status of the building has brought untold embarrassment to her leadership.
According to Supt. Walker, she has not been able to host guests of the county because of the condition of the building. “We transfer people to guest houses because the Superintendent’s compound is in ruin. This is putting expensive on the county,” she said.