By Sam K. Zinnah, Chairman, Gbarpolu County Project Management Committee (PMC)
Hon. Koiwood, in his FrontPage Africa publication called on central Government to conduct a financial audit of the Gbarpolu County Administration for
In the first place, I respect Hon. Koiwood and all leaders of Gbarpolu County, however, I wish to say Hon. Koiwood is entitle to his views, even if those views are wrong. In this public manner, I categorically say Hon. Koiwoods allegations are baseless, cruel, deceptive, unfair and impregnated with fallacies and mere story telling intended to please his political ambition. What Hon. Koiwood has not researched well or does not have the ability to research well is what constituted the contents of “County Council Sitting resolution” especially in the Gbarpolu Countys context, as far as the working of the PMC and County sitting are concern, even past and current Caucus members can bear me witness, the County Council Sitting resolutions are public documents. Copies are distributed to all Lawmakers upon signing. It is quite unfortunate that Hon. Koiwood will make such sweeping allegation without providing copy of the resolution in which allotment was made in favor of his driving school (Gbarpolu Computer and Driving School). Hon. Koiwood may have spoken from a well informed source or position citing the particular edition of the County Sitting resolution, date and sufficient detail to substantiate his claim, to the contrary, Hon. Koiwood is speaking from subjective guessing source rather than an authentic legal source. The unrefined or raw fact is there has never been resolution from any County sitting where 400k was awarded to Hon. Koiwoods driving school, not even listed among projects under consideration for Bopolu District, a district about which Hon. Koiwood should be very knowledgeable including its portion of the resolutions. How is it possible that Hon. Koiwood will not know the contents of resolutions passed by all the County Sitting especially as a secretary of the Gbarpolu County Legislative Caucus then and now. It beats my and any logical persons imagination fellow citizens as I wonder from where is Hon. Koiwood generating his facts or fallacies from?
I (and am quite sure the county administration does too) whole heartedly welcome the call for a comprehensive financial audit of the PMC and the County administration. Let it be clearly known that according to Law, the GAC (not Hon. Koiwoods office) is under obligation to subject the authorities of the PMC to annual audit with or without the consent of the PMC. Our (PMC) books are open and are ready at all times to account for the activities of the PMC that I Sam K. Zinnah head. There is no fear or doubt and I urge the people of Gbarpolu County to rest assure that the PMC is capable of adequately defending itself to give full account of all resources entrusted in its care for the development of Gbarpolu County. As you are aware, the PMC under my administration is rated as the best in the history of Gbarpolu County. Not even Hon. Koiwood can objectively dispute this fact. Additionally, in the spirit of accountability, the people of Gbarpolu County, I too join Hon. Koiwood to also call for an audit of Gbarpolu County Lawmakers constituency development projects since these moves and resources are intended to better the lives of the people of Gbarpolu County. If Hon. Koiwood is sincere about audit of the County administration, let him take the lead and open his books and constituency projects for audit. In this way, he will be leading by example and demonstrating “responsible and proper” leadership.
What the public need to know about Hon. Koiwood driving school.
In his February 27, 2019 publication on FPA, Hon. Koiwood claimed that the driving school is his personal school and that he personally finance the school. My investigation on the school reveals that the driving school “Gbarpolu Computer and Driving school” is receiving USD 40,000.00 (forty thousand United States Dollars) from the National budget. The Liberian Dollars account number for the “Gbarpolu Computer and Driving School” is 00040025711 at AfriLand Bank MC 2 in Gbarpolu County. On 21/02/2017, LRD2,460,000.00 (two million four hundred sixty thousand Liberian dollars) was deposited into this account. Few days into the 2017 election campaign, two million dollars was withdrawn from this account thus leaving more questions than answer. The multi million dollars question now is, did the driving school money go toward campaign?
Another interesting information discovered by my investigation is that three of the signatories (including the primary signatory or signature A) to the Gbarpolu Computer and driving school did not sign to withdraw of the two million four hundred sixty thousand Liberian dollars and the twenty thousand United States dollars from the school account thus bringing to question the involvement of the AfriLand Bank in Monrovia and MC 2 Bank in Bopolu City. Am sure LACC will be interested in finding out how the money intended for the Gbarpolu Computer and Driving School was suspiciously withdrawn without the involvement of the legitimate signatories. The question now is, was the money used for the intended purpose? I am calling on the LACC to thoroughly investigate the suspicious withdrawal of funds intended for the “Gbarpolu Computer and Driving school”. I also call on the GAC to audit the driving school to ensure that the money paid to the driving school to educate people of Gbarpolu County was used for the intended purpose and to avoid further abuse of public funds intended to better the lives of citizens.
It will interest LACC and GAC to know that students of the Gbarpolu Computer and Driving school are paying more than five thousand Liberian Dollars as fees to attend the school. Investigation further reveal that the school does not have spending plan, as such, there is no evidence that the $40k given to the school is sufficient or insufficient to run the school.
It is also interesting to know that Hon. Koiwood can regularly transfer the allotment for his driving school but he is not interested in in seeking the transfer of the County and social development funds to implement projects in his district and across the county. Up to present, Gbarpolu County has over two million four hundred thousand United States dollars in escrow account at the Ministry of Finance and Development planning (MFDP). This amount is intended to implement development projects in Gbarpolu County. It is sad to know that we have several unfinished projects in Gbarpolu County Electoral District # 1 that are not completed as a result of lack of money in the County account. Interestingly, Hon. Koiwood care less about the county or district projects but he is busy threatening to declare county authority “enemy of progress” if money allegedly belonging to his driving school is not paid. Was Hon. Koiwood elected to represent the interest of his electoral District or the interest of his driving school and his personal investment?
In part two, I will be publishing other financial documents and the picture of the person that signed for the check from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP).