Monrovia – Members of a breakaway fraction of the suspended Reclaiming Liberia’s Beaches and Waterways Program have been made to swallow bitter pills following a proposal from the Government of Liberia (GOL), through the Ministry of Youth and Sports asking them to waive 17 out of the 21 months’ salary arrears.
The breakaway aggrieved workers boycotted a planned protest staged by their colleagues in Monrovia on Monday, June 15, and attended a meeting with Youth and Sports Minister Zoegar Wilson, Representative Dixon Seeboe and others in the Borough of New Kru Town.
During the morning hours of Monday, another fraction of the aggrieved workers, led by the suspended coordinator of region one of the project, George Young, staged a peaceful protest under a heavy downpour of rain in Monrovia, calling on government to pay their salary arrears, and ensure the thorough restructuring of the program.
According to the protesters, the program which was established during the regime of ex-Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to put bread on the tables of slum dwellers, and the underprivileged is being allegedly politicize by Minister Wilson.
In a petition statement, the protesters maintained that the program has not been able to accomplish its full objectives since the inception of the Weah-led government.
The protesting workers claimed that they have been subjected to severe hardship and are unable to pay their house rents and adequately cater to their families because of the delay in the payment of their salaries.
They added that residents of the coastal communities have been divided because of the program.
They called for the payment of their salaries through commercial banks, instead of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the transfer of the program from MYS to another relevant government ministry or agency.
They further urged the government to ensure that the program remains suspended until their arrears are settled.
Meanwhile, Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee promised the protesters that he will intervened.
“I know the difficult situation you are going through; but thank you for giving me this responsibility,” said Mayor Koijee after receiving the petition on behalf of the government.
“I want to assure you that the relevant stakeholder that is responsible in solving your issues-we will not hesitate -we will do everything possible to ensure that you petition is taken to the President.”
Four months’ commitment
Meanwhile, speaking at a meeting with aggrieved members of the Beaches and Waterways Program who boycotted the protest, Minister Wilson disclosed that the government remains committed to paying their arrears.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning can only pay four months of the 21months salary arrears owed the workers.
He attributed government’s decision to the need to ensure that those who were criminally included on the program are paid along with the other legitimate workers.
Minister Wilson claimed that thousands of persons were clandestinely included on the program by the two suspended Coordinators, Edwin Kanneh and George Young respectively.
He noted that the situation has increased government’s wage bill with additional US$5 Million.
Preliminary Findings
At the meeting, a committee was setup by Minister Wilson to investigate complaints of payroll padding, deception about current and arrears payroll, extortion of workers, politicizing and cracks of the program, amongst others.
Minister Wilson disclosed that preliminary findings have revealed that there were duplication of names and identifications numbers of some of those placed on the payroll.
He stated that communities that do not exist were also created, while timesheets were only produced during payroll and not daily as required.
He added that though the program started with an initial workforce of about 2,088 workers, the number astronomically increased up to over 5,000 without his authorization.
Minister Wilson disclosed that about 2,982 names were added on the payroll by the suspended coordinators.
But speaking to FrontPageAfrica, Mr. Young, the suspended Coordinator of Region One, denied the allegation, while accusing MYS of providing the names of additional communities to benefit from the program.
For his part, Edwin Kanneh, the suspended Coordinator of Region Two admitted to the allegation, and begged for forgiveness, noting that “to err is human”.
Meanwhile, Minister Wilson has vowed to ensure that the Program is not used as a conduit by those supervising the project to enrich themselves at the detriment of the underprivileged.
He warned that upon the restructuring and subsequent relaunch of the program, punitive actions would be taken against anyone caught exploiting the program to satisfy their personal aggrandizement against the struggling workers.