Monrovia – As the controversy over the current 2016/2017 budget continues with reports of withdrawal of the draft budget by the President to make adjustments, a FrontPageAfrica investigation has uncovered more than US$ 3 million allotted over the last three budget years to a dormant entity.
Report by Samwar Fallah; [email protected]; Selma Lomax, [email protected] & Edwin Genoway, [email protected]
The Liberia Opportunity Industrial Center (LOIC) which has been dormant over the last years is one entity that has been allotted millions of dollars over the last three budget years with no report of performance. From 2014 to current, the LOIC has been allotted over US$3 million.
The Liberia Opportunity Industrial Center (LOIC) which has been dormant over the last years is one entity that has been allotted over US$ 3million over budget year with no report of performance by the LOIC.
The LOIC is not recorded in the detailed budget session but rather appeared in the summary with more than US$ 1 million allotted the entity every year over the last three budget years.
In 2014, the LOIC was allotted US$548,121 while during the 2015/2016 budget year the entity was again allotted an amount of US$1,055,000.
With no detail of how the LOIC expended budgetary allotments during the last two budget years like it is done with other entities, the LOIC budget has increased by over US$100,000.
In the national budget every receiving entity of budgetary allotment has a breakdown of its activities broken down into mission, achievements for the previous year, Objectives for the ensuing budget year but there is no such information available for the LOIC in the last three budgets even though the entity was allotted money.
In the current draft budget the entity is allotted US$1,100,000 with no reports of performance during previous budget year.
During the last three years the LOIC which was established to provide vocational training for Liberians has not been able to implement its statutory mandate despite receiving budgetary allotments.
FrontPageAfrica in an attempt to ascertain the activities of the LOIC for which it continues to get budgetary allotment visited the entity offices in four counties including Montserrado, Bong, Grand Bassa and Bomi Counties.
In Montserrado in the New Matadi Estate Community, Mr. Solomon King, LOIC Executive Director when quizzed to provide a detail of some of the programs undertaken by the LOIC over the last few years, virtually abandoned his office every time he was told FrontPageAfrica reporter was at his office.
All efforts to get King provide updates about the LOIC projects and the entity operations, could not materialized as he kept postponing.
On Thursday August 4, 2016 when FPA reporter went to the LOIC head office in New Matadi Estate to get Mr. King to talk, he refused as his security brought message that his boss said he could not talk until Friday August 5, 2016.
Our reporter again visited the LOIC on Friday and met the security who said his boss instructed him to inform FPA that he will be available on Monday August 8.
On Monday when our reporter visited for the third time, Mr. King said he was in long meeting and could not talk to the press and asked that the interview be done on Wednesday August 10, 2016.
On Wednesday when our reporter went to the LOIC, he (reporter) was asked to wait until he is announced to Mr. King.
After almost 45minutes of waiting a lady came out of Mr. King’s office and said “Mr. King cannot talk to you today because his schedule cannot permit him as he has a long meeting to attend so you can come back by next week or when we are ready we will call you,” as she walked away.
Gbarnga LOIC Employees Threaten Go-slow
In Gbarnga, Bong County during a FrontPageAfrica visit at the local office, about 22 workers threatened to abandon job in demand of salary arrears owed them by the Government of Liberia.
The workers told FrontPageAfrica that they have not been paid since September 2015 despite several promises by the central administration of the LOIC.
FrontPageAfrica investigation further established that the workers are due a little over US$ 25,000 for the period.
The teachers and support staff said the situation is bringing untold suffering to them, especially in the wake of the current economic crisis facing the country.
The Gbarnga LOIC staff also said, the institution currently lacks essential training materials and students’ meal has been suspended for the past four months, a situation that is badly effecting enrollment.
When contacted the manager of the Gbarnga LOIC Pastor Peter Tooman, could not deny nor confirm the issue of the workers’ salaries but said the central administration of the LOIC in Monrovia has been informed about the challenges confronting the school in Gbarnga.
As per its enabling enactment, the Liberia Opportunity and Industrialization Center is to provide vocational education for youths in the areas of carpentry, mason, plumbing, cosmetology, computer and Tailoring among others.
Also in Grand Bassa County, the local office of the LOCI looks abandoned.
One source informed FPA that the LOIC has been dormant over the last few years and has basically been implementing smaller projects for non-governmental organizations that normally sponsor students in vocational training.
In 2012, more than 50 vulnerable and war affected youths were awarded certificates following the completion of vocational skills training programs offered by the LOIC and sponsored by the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL).
Pepperbush?
A legislative source told FrontPageAfrica that LOIC has been a hidden treasury for Speaker Alex Tyler and some senior members of the Ways, Means and Finance Committee of the House of Representatives.
According to the source, every budget year the LOIC is not invited during budget hearings to defend its budget but the entity is allotted money with no performance report.
“The head of LOIC is a friend to the Speaker, they always put that money there and later they get lion share back, go and check, the LOIC is very dormant but they still get a million dollar every year that is a lot of money”, the source added.
Reports of budget manipulation have increased during the current draft budget before the National Legislature with reports that the President has recalled the budget to make some changes.
The news surfaced after the cabinet warned officials of the Executive from engaging in budget manipulations following a cabinet meeting.
In a statement following a cabinet meeting, an Executive Mansion release quoted the Cabinet “Cabinet, has carefully reviewed the status updates on key benchmarks in the areas of roads, ports, water & sanitation, education as well as Task Force performance covering agriculture and agro-processing and manufacturing and business support; threatened punitive action against any member of the executive involved in budget manipulation and mandated a vigorous and aggressive Sector Ministers-led Town Hall meeting education and information-dissemination campaigns”.
But reacting to the cabinet statement recently, Menipakei Dumoe, Secretary General of the LPDP indicated that the statement by cabinet is a confirmation that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf condones corruption.
Said Dumoe: “The cabinet statement confirms that the President condones corruption. If she knows ministers are bribing certain lawmakers then she should be prosecuting those persons involved and not simply warning them”.