Monrovia – The management of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) has clarified that there is “no corruption at the entity” as it was widely reported by the media.
The LWSC also denies the existence of ghost names on the entity’s payroll as it has been alleged.
A FrontPageAfrica’s report on Tuesday, August 27, 2019 quoted sources at the agency about “the payroll of the institution being padded with ghost names with relatives and friends of the Managing Director of the LWSC”.
But reacting to the story Wednesday, August 28, John Henri, the Director of Human Resource of LWSC, said the Corporation has done its overhead count on the personnel payroll along with management internal control and the Internal Audit Agency (IAA).
“It’s not possible to have ghost names on our payroll – who are employees or contractors on the personal payroll, the payroll is not flooded with ghost names as it was reported,” Henri said.
He claimed that positions in the Corporation are not created in the absence of said employees or contractors coming to work.
“How can people say the MD created position at the entity when the MD does not have the authority to do that? Even when it comes to signing checks there is not one person that can do that, why should people run to the press and explain lies about people because of envy or sinister reasons,” he noted.
The LWSC Managing Director of the LWSC Duannah Kamara faces allegations of illegally creating “Debt Collector for Non-revenue water” post.
Sources alleged that the post was to accommodate his spouse’s best friend identified as Jamesetta Gaye.
But Mr. Henri clarified that Jamesetta is a debt collector and not a debt collector for non-revenue water as it was reported.
He, however, called on those “feeding the media with information that will bring down the entity” to stop and express their grievances in a professional manner.
“They need to bring those good ideas they have onboard so we can do the people of Liberia work; we need to all work together and stop undermining each other. I urge the media also to be patient and wait for proper clarification before coming up stories of such,” he said.
He noted that Ms. Gaye was hired as a contractor on October 1, 2018, and was later employed on March 1, 2019.
“You can check our employees’ attendance, Ms. Gaye have been regular on duty, people shouldn’t lie that she doesn’t come to work,” he said.
For her part, Ms. Gaye expressed concern about the allegations against her.
“I will be glad when FrontPageAfrica will show that friend of mine that is going out with the MD, I want to challenge the writer of this story and the person who told him the lies,” she said.
“I was vetted through the Corporation recruitment policy and I got my job the right way, I didn’t come here through as a best friend girlfriend as stated.”
Meanwhile, the HR Manager has disclosed that “some of Liberia’s best engineers in the employ of the Corporation” are currently working around the clock to restore the ruptured 36 inches transmission line, which he said is “only a couple of days away”.