Liberia: Health Minister Dr. Wilhemina Jallah Defends US$140k COVID-19 Contract Awarded to Sen. Saah Joseph’s First Responder

MONROVIA – Health Minister Dr. Wilhemina Jallah has justified that awarding the US$140,000 Ambulance service contract to First Responder, which is owned by Montserrado County Senator Saah Joseph does not amount to a conflict of interest, as the decision was taken in the best interest of Liberians during the height of the COVID-19 in 2020.

Despite First Responder Ambulances bearing the name and photo of the ruling party Senator who is also a member of the Senate Committee on Health and doubles as the Chairman of the Executive Committee in the Senate, the Health Minister stated that when the Incident Management System (IMS) awarded the contract to First Responder, its management had nothing to do with Senator Joseph.

She made these assertions in an interview with the Women Voices Newspaper in an attempt to rebut FrontPageAfrica’s publication disclosing the contract which is being viewed as a conflict of interest.

The contract worth US$140,000 and was signed by the Minister of Health, Dr. Wilhemina Jallah and the Executive Director of First Responder, Mr. Milton Nyanplu.

According to Dr. Jallah, it was Information Management System (IMS), and not the Health Ministry that agreed to work with First Responder on the basis of the group’s “unmatched experience, coming out of its Ebola response record”.

She emphasized that the IMS and not just the Ministry of Health, agreed to do business with the First Responder, with its experienced crew and ambulance to transport patients during the height of the COVID-19 onslaught on the country.

“In the interest of Liberia, in the interest of emergency, we used First Responder,” said Dr. Jallah.

She further clarified that at the time of signing the deal with First Responder, Senator Joseph was never in the picture, adding that the IMS did what it did in the interest of Liberia, as it was an emergency situation, and First Responder was the only available group with the competence and experience to execute the job.

Dr. Jallah: “So, at the time we needed a group to play the role First Responder played, when Liberia and Liberians were in danger, we should not have signed the contract with them, so that the Liberian people suffer and die? Dr. Jallah asked rhetorically.

The one-year agreement’s main objective is for First Responders to, behalf of the Ministry of Health, provide a 24/7 ambulance service in Grand Cape Mount, Bomi, Grand Bassa and Montserrado Counties for the general public in the areas of operation.

When contacted for comments, Senator Joseph confirmed that he owns the First Responder Organization and stated that the First Responder is a legally registered company that has been doing business in Liberia.

The agreement also required that First Responder, which was often portrayed as a humanitarian gesture of Senator Joseph and his own means of giving back to society, provide foot pedal hand washing station in various strategic locations including market buildings, community public places and health facilities.

First responder is also responsible under the agreement to provide training workshops for COVID-19 awareness and prevention, carry out contract tracing in the community for persons suspected to have come in contact with a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case.

First Responder will also provide primary healthcare in rural Montserrado County working in conjunction with recognized public/private community healthcare facilities, provide valuable health supplies to primary healthcare facilities such as gloves, sanitation kits, and other essential supplies in those facilities service delivery.

The agreement also calls for First Responder to provide logistics support for the operations of responder fleet of ambulances such as fuel and lubricant, provide stipends for responder through the local health teams in the locality assigned and oversee the operations of Responder through the local health teams in the locality assigned.