Monrovia-Since the election of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2005, the government declared infrastructural development as one of its major priorities, allotting more money to the Ministry of Public Works, one of three highest recipients of the lion share of successive national budgets along with the Ministries of Health and Education.
National budgetary allotments to the Ministry of Public Works have served as a backup to huge international support to infrastructural projects.
Liberia’s international partners established a trust fund- Liberia Reconstruction Trust Fund (LRTF), managed by the World Bank to which donors continuously contributed millions of dollars to help Liberia put in place better infrastructure.
To actualize these projects, contracts were awarded to construction companies some for up to US$300 million for road construction in many locations across Liberia.
With the huge task in overseeing and supervising these projects, the Ministry of Public Works has always been at the core of controversies with reports of corruption in the awarding of contracts to construction companies.
The failed Jallah Road project where millions were spent and the project implemented more than once and the infamous Belle Yeala Road where millions of dollars were paid to a contractor with the road still deplorable and many other substandard work and unfinished road projects are amongst some of the shortcomings of the Ministry.
President Sirleaf has made changes in the leadership of the Ministry but it seems those changes are always for the worse instead of helping to improve the situation.
Since the departure of Samuel K. Woods who resigned his post, his successor, Antoinette Weeks had one of the worse performances with no major accomplishment but rather an acrimonious working relationship with fellow officials of the Ministry.
Public outcries for the removal of Weeks increased and President Sirleaf acted by replacing her with Gyude Moore and also appointed new deputy Ministers and other officials of the Ministry.
Many said Moore was a young person and could improve overall performance at the Ministry.
With few months in charge at the Ministry, Moore’s and his team have come under strong criticisms for alleged acts of corruption, administrative malpractices and other acts said to be creating problems for the smooth implementation of projects.
On Monday, a member of the Liberian Senate ranted and voiced his disappointment over the trend of events at the Ministry, promising that the Senate will conduct investigation and not allow the situation to go unpunished.
Senator Sando Johnson of Bomi County who is a member of the Senate Public Works Committee expressed that a lot of corrupt practices are taking place at the Ministry.
Said Senator Johnson “As a senator who is definitely on the Committee on Public Works, the ministry of Public Works is actually out of order, a lot of situations are taking place at the Ministry of Public Works and we at the level of the Liberian Senate are not going to allow this. We are also doing our own investigation. To be honest with you, there are a lot of corruption, a lot of malpractices that are taking place at the ministry of Public Works. We like to assure the public that we are not going to allow people to come to this country and mislead our people, misuse our resources and then they think they will go scot free”.
According to the Senator, the Ministry has become a center of discussion in the country and as such the Senate is going to get involved by conducting an investigation.
“After our investigation is completed we intend to inform the President of what is taking place over there and it will be left with her to take action. Because everyday we hearing about corruption and malpractices. It is not only in the legislature, it is not only in the judicial branches of government. I am so disappointed in these young guys that are at the ministry of public works”, Senator Johnson said.
Complete Disappointment
Senator Johnson expressed that when Minister Moore and others were appointed, he did not want them to get confirmed but disclosed that the Executive Branch of Government insisted that the guys are young and needed the opportunity to prove their worth.
The lawmaker added “Few years back when these guys came for confirmation under the former Pro Temp, I didn’t want to do it. But the Executive insisted that these guys are young people but they have become a complete disappointment. You dismissing people, bringing in your family, bringing in your in-law and bringing in your friends, complete nonsense and so we are going to join this fight”.
Senator Johnson vowed that he is preparing a letter to the Liberian Senate to inform them about happenings at the Ministry of Public Works.
“The Senate is going to get involved. We are not going to let these guys to destroy our people and this country. I am personally going to get involved in this”, he promised.
Corruption web
According to reports, amongst the many alleged malpractices taking place at the Public Works Ministry, Jackie Merchant, a dismissed teacher of the JJ Roberts School and a former classmate to Minister Moore has been employed as Procurement Consultant at the Ministry.
Also a brother to Deputy Minister Roland Giddings has also been appointed Procurement Consultant and the new employee recently travelled to China on behalf of the Ministry in complete violation of the Employees Handbook of the Ministry which provides that before an employee can be allowed to make a foreign trip such employee must have worked at the Ministry for a minimum of two years.
Deputy Minister Giddings is also accused of hiring one Paul Karmo as Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for Feeder Road Program usurping the function of Deputy Minister Jackson Paye, who is serving as Deputy Minister for Rural development.
Karmo is said to be earning more than US$4,000 monthly for monitoring roads that should be monitored by the Deputy Minister for Rural development.
Minister Moore is accused of awarding a construction contract worth US$1.4 million to one Babara Ogunti, a mother to his Special Assistant, Johnette Suah.
According to sources at the Ministry the company to which the contract was awarded is not registered with the Association of Construction Contractors and the Engineering Society of Liberia.
The company, accordingly has no equipment, office, experience to perform the work but was preferred over companies with previous history of performance.
The Senate Committee on Public Works is expected to hold public hearings in July on the mounting allegations of corruption and bad administrative practices at the Ministry, one Senate source told FrontPageAfrica.
Samwar S. Fallah, [email protected]