The Editor,
Lately there have been many allegations levied against the Minister of Public Works, W. Gyude Moore and his sidekick, Deputy for Administration, Roland Giddings. While they have exerted every means available to exonerate themselves and explain away a large number of accusations, as evidenced at the recent MICAT conference, the fact is, the trail of corruption is glaring. We have all watched with dismay as the Minister of Public Works has shamelessly tried to elude and deceive the public but the contents of this article cannot be disproven nor explained away, as there is a paper trail of documented evidence to support the information provided.
In a recent attempt to justify awarding two contracts valued at 1.4 million US dollars to B and N, a company owned by his personal assistant’s mother, who has no experience of ever building roads, Gyude Moore’s message fell on deaf ears as the public was not convinced that he had no idea the company belonged to his personal assistant’s mother.
B and N Company, was originally incorporated in September 2008 as a trading and catering business. In January of 2016, 5 months ago, they opened Branch number 2 to include construction works, an extension of B and N, specifically to bid on Ministry of Public Works jobs. Two months after registering the Branch, in March/April, they were awarded a culvert cleaning contract by MPW valued at close to USD$ 250,000.00. This contract value, according to reliable consultants and engineers, was overstated and the true value should have been Fifty percent of that amount (USD$ 125,000.00). The contract was awarded and signed off on by Minister W. Gyude Moore. Now two months later Mr. Gyude Moore awarded the same company two additional contracts and claims that he had no knowledge that the owner of this company is the mother of his special assistant. The person who he worked closely with at the Ministry of State for a couple of years and brought with him to the Ministry of Public Works almost two years ago. His special assistant shares his office and some sources say that her mother, the owner of B and N company and Minister Gyude Moore have interacted on numerous occasions. This is the only way to explain why a company that has no road building experience would be awarded three contracts within a four-month period valued at over USD$ 1,600,000.00 (One Million-Six Hundred Thousand United States Dollars). At the same time, several companies with many years of experience have not seen a USD$ 500,000.00 contract in the last four years.
Earlier this year Minister Gyude Moore and Minister Giddens awarded a contract to East International, a Chinese company valued at over USD$ 3,000,000. (Three Million United States Dollars) for three rigid concrete pavement roads. Taking an average of the three roads it is fair to say that each road costs approximately USD$ 1,000,00.00 (One Million United States Dollars) per road. The first road is Redemption Road where, Budget Bureau is located, which is a good selection as it relives traffic congestion on Camp Johnson Road. The second road selected is Smythe road where Minister Moore lives. The One Million US Dollar concrete road leads directly to the Minister’s house. The third road is in the Thinker’s Village Community, where Minister Giddens lives. This proposed road also leads directly to Minister Gidding’s home at the cost of one million dollars. In short, the Minister of Public Works and His Deputy have contracted Two Million USD to pave roads leading to their homes. This sizable sum of money could be used on rehabilitating miles and miles of farm to market roads in the rural areas that could bring relief to tens of thousands of citizens this raining season. The selection of these roads is self-serving and is a gross and blatant misappropriation of public funds.
Employees at the Ministry of Public Works have similarly expressed concerns regarding unfair hiring practices, employed by the New Minister and his Team. They claim that Ministers Moore and Giddens have employed close to a dozen friends and relatives who do not have the experience or qualifications to perform their duties and yet are given higher salaries. One source remarked, “look at the employment of Charles Giddens, the brother of Deputy Minister, Roland Giddens, he was put on contract to work in procurement last year and makes twice as much as I do”. “He doesn’t even know what he is doing and often other employees have to do his job, so why is he here”?
Minister Giddens also approved a three-month program to China, for his brother, Charles. The employee’s handbook documents that one must be an employee of more than two years to benefit from such a program and yet Charles Giddings, not even an employee (a contractor) and with less than one-year tenure at MPW, was granted this opportunity, bypassing employees that have faithfully served the ministry for over eight years and have never been on any program outside Liberia. Minister Giddens also sent Gyude Moore’s friend, Jackie Merchant on the same program and she has the same status as Charles Giddings, no prior experience, not an employee but a consultant and has been with the Ministry less than two years. Both Charles Giddings and Jackie Merchant make twice the monthly salary as Mr. Sylvester Farma who has worked in the Procurement department for the past seven years. There is also the case of Joseph Massallay, the brother in law of Minister Gyude Moore and Alfred Sirleaf, who is a good friend of Roland Giddings. Both were hired as accountants in 2015 and both individuals earn more money than their boss, Mr. Tony B. Johnson, the Deputy Comptroller.
What qualifies these persons to be hired as consultants if they don’t possess the expertise required to perform their assigned duties? There are many similar cases of inappropriately hiring unqualified relatives and friends at the Ministry of Public Works by Minister Gyude Moore and Minister Roland Giddings and it would be rather repetitive to go through all of them, and you get the idea, they all follow the same unscrupulous trend.
The Human Resource Department Director has been sidelined and is instructed on who to hire and who to terminate. When a vacancy for a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for the Feeder Roads Program became available the primary qualification listed was the candidate must possess an engineering degree. Minister Roland Giddings saw this as a perfect opportunity to employ his friend, Mr. Paul Karmo, even though he is an accountant, not an engineer. Minister Giddings hired his friend as the Monitoring and Evaluation officer anyway despite concerns raised by the Deputy Minister for Rural Development who has the ultimate responsibility of making such a decision. The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer is the liaison between the Ministry of Public Works and foreign donor partners who fund these projects.
These individuals glaringly place their selfish and unethical agenda ahead of the needs of the Liberian people. MPW is besieged with a Minister who is corrupt, a Deputy Minister who is even more so. The result is a duo that plans to ensure a complete breakdown of the Ministry and if unchecked, will leave in their wake a trail of chaos, donor fatigue, mistrust and flagrant misappropriation of government funds.
I guess that old saying, “it’s not what you know, it is who you know”, is true in the case of seeking employment or bidding for jobs at the Ministry of Public Works.
Mick Foster
Tubman Blvd.
Monrovia, Liberia