Summary:
- A US$90,000 bridge project was abandoned after half of the contract value was paid, leaving farmers, traders and schoolchildren stranded and families divided.
- County authorities are trying to force the Kpandu Construction Company to complete the project or repay the funds but the case is stalled at the Supreme Court.
- Experts and county authorities say the case reflects broader accountability problems in county development spending causing desperate communities to lose faith in government.
By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives
BODOWHEA, River Cess County — Every time Cecelia Garseedah thinks about visiting her parents, she must first decide whether the journey is worth risking her life.
Her parents live on the opposite side of the Jo River. She must cross a dangerous bridge of two log to get there.
The makeshift crossing was put in place by townspeople after a community-built wood bridge was dismantled in 2023 to make way for a reinforced concrete bridge. More than two years later, half the $90,000 money for the new bridge has disappeared and construction has not even begun, leaving residents to risk their lives each time they cross on the slippery and unstable log.
Garseedah says she rarely sees her parents now. “I got my parents them across the water there,” Garseedah says in Liberian English. “It hard for them to come in town.”
Garseedah’s experience is echoed across Doedein District where the unfinished bridge has isolated entire communities. Children struggle to attend school. Farmers face difficulty reaching their fields and taking goods to markets. Patients requiring treatment are referred to neighboring Nimba County because access to health facilities becomes nearly impossible during parts of the rainy season. The route is effectively cut off for months each year.
Experts say the same scene is playing out across the country when corruption, lack of capacity by companies that win contracts, and poor oversight mean projects are abandoned leaving communities to live with the consequences.
The case is an example of findings by the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia and the General Auditing Commission which have repeatedly identified weak oversight, poor procurement practices and abandoned county-funded infrastructure projects across Liberia.
The case is ”a combination of structural weaknesses we have in the system — a system that is not designed to really work for the people, but for the most part benefits a few people in high positions,” according to Anderson Miamen, executive director at the Center for Transparency and Accountability.
A project, awarded with good intentions, vanishes leaving community’s worse off
Before the government got involved, residents maintained a handmade wooden bridge that allowed people, motorbikes and goods to cross the Jo River Bridge. It was the main connection between communities in Doedein District and the shortest route to Yarpah Town and Cestos, the county capital. It linked residents to schools, health facilities, markets and farms on the opposite side of the river.
Recognizing its importance, county authorities approved a project during the 2023 County sitting to replace the aging wooden structure with a reinforced concrete bridge.
“The bridge project was intended to improve service delivery, especially health and education,” said Isaac Williams, River Cess County’s information officer.
According to a turnover note from January 2024 addressed to former Internal Affairs Minister Varney A. Sirleaf, (now Ministry of Local Government) the project was among 21 development projects approved in 2023 to be funded by the River Cess County Development Funds.
According to the note, provided to FrontPage Africa/New Narratives by former River Cess County Fiscal Superintendent, C. Elijah Kayssaynee, Kpandu Construction Company, a Liberian company headed by Hamed E. Horton ll, was awarded the contract through a bidding process run by a five-man bidding committee headed by then County superintendent, J. Bismark Karbiah. Other members of the committee were: C Elijah Kassaynee, then fiscal superintendent; Mr. Amos Somah, then development superintendent; J. Fahn Dehgar, then chairman of the project management committee; and Presley E Grisby.
But what happened next violated the agreement, according to current county authorities.
Before Kpandu had done a thing, fifty five percent of the agreed costs of L$16,418,000 (about US$90,000) was paid to Kpandu by the local administration through its project management committee headed by chairperson J. Fahn Dehgar and approved by the fiscal superintendent.
The agreement actually said Kpandu was expected to pre-finance the initial phase of construction itself and complete 25 percent of the work before becoming eligible for 40 percent payment.
Residents and county authorities allege that after receiving the payment, Kpandu dismantled the existing community bridge but failed to take one step toward completing the new one. Hamed E. Horton ll and the money vanished.
County Authorities Pursue Court Action
Current River Cess officials who took over from the previous administration and have been pursuing legal action ever since taking office. Martin Tumoe, county attorney filed suit against Kpandu in February 2024. Court records show the matter later reached the Supreme Court after the contractor filed a petition for a writ of prohibition, temporarily halting proceedings in the lower court.
Dennis G. Seeboe, the current administrative officer, says the county has repeatedly raised the issue during court openings and has sought assistance from court officials in Monrovia to push the matter before the court, but they have failed to act.
“That money belongs to the people of River Cess,” says Seeboe. “Either they refund the money or continue with the contract.”
This reporter sent Hamed Horton, chief executive officer of Kpandu Construction Company, a WhatsApp message; placed direct telephone calls and sent text messages seeking comment.He replied that the firm has other projects in Grand Bassa, Montserrado and Margibi Counties though he did not provide evidence of those and FrontPage Africa/New Narratives could find no evidence of this claim. Horton initially indicated that he would respond to questions personally or through his lawyers, Nathaniel Innis, Abraham Nyonway and James B. Kaba. But no response was received before publication.
Communities across the country plagued by abandoned development projects
Experts say the Jo River Bridge reflects broader problems that have plagued development projects across Liberia.
“That project is one of many projects across River Cess and other counties that were abandoned, poorly administered,” said Miamen. “In some instances, the contractors were not recruited through the requisite processes or recruited transparently, and as a result we see all these abandoned, unconstructed or poorly constructed projects across the country. It raises the issue of oversight. It means that the requisite institutions or individuals that are supposed to oversee that process didn’t do well to oversee the project.”
According to Miamen, the consequences extend beyond unfinished infrastructure.
“It affects trust because what people want to get, they wouldn’t get them. It leads to frustration, reduced confidence in the system, and some people may even decide they wouldn’t vote,” Anderson Miamen, Center for Transparency and Accountability Liberia
Ove the year General Auditing Commission audits have documented a recurring pattern of abandoned and incomplete County Development Fund and Social Development Fund projects. The Commission’s latest audit of Nimba County, for example, identified nine abandoned or incomplete projects valued at more than US$735,000. These included administrative buildings, bridges and other development projects. The audit also found over US$44,100 in unsupported expenditures. Similar findings were reported in Bong County, where auditors questioned payments made for projects without evidence that work had been performed. A 2025 study by the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia titled “Open Expenditure: Examining CSDF Projects In Six Counties” identified weaknesses in project implementation, transparency, and accountability involving infrastructure projects across six counties.
At Jo River, life has been upended with consequences that could extend for generations. The primary school serving many communities in the area is located in Bodowhea, requiring students to cross the river each day. For Emma Kpah, the unfinished bridge has forced an impossible choice: She says she stopped allowing her children to attend school.
“We’re scared our children them going to school, and we suppose to support them. But they spoil the bridge,” Kpah said in Liberian English. “When the river gets full, there’s no way for us to pass over it. Our children can fall down in the hole, for them to die. Ourselves here, when we make mistake, we can die here.”
The bridge’s collapse has become an economic burden for farmer Joseph Suah. His farm lies across the river, where many residents grow crops and hunt to support their families. Without a bridge, transporting produce has become exhausting.
Motorbikes that once carried cassava, rice and other crops across the bridge can no longer make the crossing.
“Because the motorbike—to cross the motorbike on the bridge—is not a small thing. Two persons can be pushing it before they can cross it on this one log,” said Suah. He missed the old bridge. “It was a good bridge. Car used to pass on it.
He says residents have grown frustrated after repeatedly appealing for help, sending a worrying message to a government that say has abandoned them.
“We have talked and we are tired now. Nobody to hear us.”
Meanwhile county authorities say they are also considering temporary solutions, including securing a boat and outboard motor to help residents cross safely while the legal matter continues.
“The life of our people is our concern,” Seeboe said. “We don’t want to see our citizens losing their lives because of a common thing. That is why we are pursuing this case while also exploring temporary solutions to keep people safe.”
As dusk settles over the Jo River, residents continue making the crossing one at a time. The bridge that was supposed to improve life in Upper River Cess has instead become a symbol of how a corruption and governance failures can devastate entire communities and undermine confidence in government. And, as always say experts, it’s the poor people who are paying the price.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives. Funding was provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The funder had no say in the story’s content.
