MONROVIA – The Minister of National Defense, Geraldine George, has requested the General Auditing Commission (GAC) to conduct an audit on the National Bureau of Veteran Affairs (NBVA), amid reports of alleged corruption, administration of former President George Manneh Weah.
The National Bureau of Veterans Affairs (NBVA) is an institution of the Government of Liberia institution responsible for matters relating to military veterans, especially former members of the Armed Forces of Liberia.
It was established in 2008 by an Act passed by the National Legislature to identify and register veterans of the AFL, address welfare and benefit issues of retired and disabled soldiers, advocate for improved living conditions for veterans and their families and coordinate with government and partners on veterans’ support programs.
Minister George is the current Chairperson of the Board of the National Bureau of Veteran Affairs.
According to her, the GAC audit must cover the immediate past acting and former national leaderships of the Bureau, prior to the inception of the current administration.
She made the disclosure when she paid her first official visit at the offices of the National Bureau of Veteran Affairs in Congo Town, outside Monrovia over the weekend.
She pointed out that her decision to request the GAC to conduct a probe is due to numerous complaints of alleged disappearance of employees salaries and logistics at the Bureau.
“The Ministry of National Defense received complaints about salaries and other logistics missing at the bureau. There are too much complaints coming against the human resource director, who headed the interim leadership, during the transitional period,” she stated.
Minister George noted that she has also received numerous complaints about the mysterious disappearance of several logistics, including a tractor belonging to the Bureau.
She,however, mandated the new leadership of the National Bureau of Veteran Affairs to ensure that it conduct a “complete muster” of the veteran population throughout the country.
She assured that the Ministry of National Defense would underwrite the cost of the exercise which is intended to ascertain the total number of veterans across Liberia.
Minister George further called for a review of the Act that created the National Bureau of Veteran Affairs.
She stressed that the organizational chart of the Bureau must be re-established to clearly spell out the functions of every position.
According to her, the Bureau needs to be expanded to include the Department of the Reserve Officer Training Course, the Agricultural Department and functionaries in order to meet modern day realities.
Minister George pledged to hold a meeting with Retired Colonel Augustine Nagbe, commonly known as “General Power,” who is currently operating the National Rehabilitation for War and Drug Affected Persons to vacate the offices that have been given to the Bureau at the Star Base on the Bushrod Island, outside Monrovia.
For his part, the Director General of the National Bureau of Veteran Affairs Jackson Morlu welcomed the call for an audit of the institution.
He used the occasion to appeal to the Board of Directors and the Ministry of National Defense for assistance in order to make the entity more functional and operational.
He disclosed that the entity is only allotted 15,000 United States Dollars for goods and services and 100 United States Dollars for lubrication in the current national budget.
Mr. Morlu pointed out that his administration intends to conduct a survey of the number of veterans in the country, but the lacks of funding remains a challenge.
According to him, the Bureau also wants to renovate its offices at the Star Base on the Bushrod Island in order to relocate.
Morlu also claimed that since he took over the institution, he has not been receiving the cooperation of his predecessors.
He stressed that for the past years the former interim leadership of the Bureau failed to release the institution’s payroll to his administration , but chose to do so a day prior to the visit of the Defense Minister at the Bureau.
The visit of the Minister of National Defense to the National Bureau of Veteran Affairs was the first of its kind since the establishment of the institution about 20 years ago.
