Monrovia – Spokespersons of aggrieved General Services Agency (GSA) employees were ordered by armed Police officers of the Liberia National Police to vacate the compound of the GSA on Friday, February 23.

Report by Edwin G. Genoway, Jr – genowayedwin@front[ageafricaonline.com

The aggrieved workers said the Police gave them no “genuine reason” while they were being forced out of the premises.

Moses Doely, spokesperson for the workers, said he and four other colleagues had gone to the human resources manager office where they normally sit when officers of the Police Support Unit (PSU) ordered them out of the compound.

“The Police didn’t tell us why they were asking us out, but when we were in the HR office, we saw Chon David walking towards us with the two PSU officers and pointed at us, just in that time the officers asked the five of us outside but failed to give reasons why we were being asked out of the compound,” he said.

Boima A. Sonnie, of the agency human resources department, could not be reached for comment.

When a FrontPageAfrica reporter sought further inquiry, he was also denied entry into the GSA compound by security guards.

According to the security, they were acting on a special mandate by GSA Director Mary Broh, who ordered the compound a no-go zone for journalists or non-employees after the incident.

Madam Broh’s reappointment at the GSA has come under scrutiny when some employees accused her of misdeeds at the agency. 

In the workers’ seven points petition statement rejecting the reappointment of Madam Broh, they accused her of corruption, nepotism, huge disparity in the distribution of allowances, use of invective on employees, lack of capacity building programs, denying employees benefits from government partners, and arbitrary dismissal and suspension. 

“We as citizens of Liberia (that) massively voted the CDC because we are fed up with massive corruptions and abuse of power,” the workers said in their petition, while calling on the President to reexamined her preferment “because she has violated all the norms and values we stood for as Liberians,” they wrote in their statement. 

Several employees who witnessed the incident Friday told FPA that Broh’s decision to order the employees out was retaliation to a recent investigative report by the paper based on documentary evidence alleging that the GSA director has sold several government vehicles despite a moratorium placed on the sale of scrap vehicles. 

But the employees vowed to continue their protest against Broh until all of their allegations against her are investigated. 

Following the Police action against the workers, the spokesman said they made efforts to seek the intervention of another senior official of the agency but to no avail. 

“When the Police asked us (to leave) I went straight to Mr. William Darkel who having to be the Deputy Director at the GSA but instead he got angry at me,” Doley said.

“As soon as I asked him (Mr. Darkel) if he was in the know of the Police putting us out, he started shouting, ‘who do you think you are, foolish man like you, get out’, he told me,” Doley explained.

But Deputy GSA Director General William Darkel refused to pick up his calls after many attempts FPA made to hear from him.

Along with Doely, several others employees, who are leading the protest against Broh’s reappointment, were allegedly dragged out of the compound.

They are Moses W. Doely, Aloysius C. Swen, Charles A. Habakkuk, Prince Gongbahn, Nathan Okai, and Beatrice Johnson.

Monrovia – FrontPageAfrica has obtained a load of documents alleging that the Director General of the General Services Agency, Mary Broh, has sold government vehicles to several individuals despite a government mandate halting the sale of all scrap vehicles under the GSA.

Report by Alpha Daffae Senkpeni – alpha.senkpeni@frontpageafricaonline.com 

Madam Broh’s decision to auction vehicles – documents of transactions in FPA possession – contravenes instructions by the government, violates public procurement regulations and further drains government’s vehicles assets. 

News of the GSA boss’ action comes amid lingering concerns that the new administration has inherited a broke government and would struggle to manage existing resources. 

The FPA probe also comes on the heels of a recent mandate by President George Manneh Weah urging former public officials to turnover government vehicles by February 9 – a deadline that has already elapsed. 

Ahead of the transitional period, which ushered in the Presidency of Mr. Weah, the Cabinet, under the administration of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, ordered the preservation of “all state assets under the ambit of the GSA” until a review process is conducted by the GSA, Public Procurement Concession Commission (PPCC) and the Governance Commission. 

The Committee’s Recommendations 

Following the revision process, the committee again recommended to the office of the former President that the sale of all government vehicles should be stopped, declaring that the process adapted to auction government vehicles was illegal.

The body also recommended that no previous administration official should be allowed to purchase government vehicles. 

“In short, our recommendations were that – the way and methods in which government vehicles were being scrap should be stopped and that the law should be followed to the letter,” says Dorbor Jallah, Executive Director of the PPCC. 

“We suggested that if anything (vehicle) should be scrap, it should go through open tender.” 

Jallah, however, said until the end of the transitional process up to the inception of the new government, the moratorium placed on the sale of government vehicles had not been rescinded. 

And further investigation by FPA shows that the moratorium is still in place while the Cabinet has not convened under the new administration to hold extensive discussions on the issue. 

In the main time, Mr. Jallah said the law still prevents the sale of government vehicles and recommendations following the revision process should still be adhere to in accordance with the law. 

Partiality in Selling Scrap Vehicles 

The committee was concerned about the partiality of the auction process often at the disadvantage of a long serving public officials assigned with vehicles but have to turn over said assets to successors, who would make a request and purchase the vehicle after serving for just a year. 

The committee also suggested that if vehicles were to be sold, it should be done through a public auction where bidders would compete fairly in compliance with the law.

Said Jallah: “And the public auction should not be limited to any segment of society or you have a public tender for it, where people can come… PPCC was simply saying that all of those things should be done with a reserve price by looking at the value of the car and price it but don’t just leave it open and that’s what the law requires.” 

The report also advised that the GSA should transfer a particular scrap vehicle to another agency/ministry instead of auctioning vehicles since all public institutions do not have the same budgetary strength.

This, in the wisdom of some budget experts, would reduce government’s recurrent expenditure on the purchase of vehicles. 

Broh’s Defiance 

But Broh has turned a complete blind eye to the committee’s recommendations and existing PPCC regulations selling at least five vehicles since November 2017. 

On November 1, 2017, Madam Broh sanctioned the sale of a 2012 Nissan Patrol to one Morris Freeman for US$500 and later on November 3, she also ordered the sale of a Toyota Land Cruiser SUV for US$200 to Miekee Gray. 

On January 18 and 19, 2018, she then ordered the respective sale of a Toyota Hilux to Rockson Nemly for US$1,000 and a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado to Varney A. Sirleaf for US$3,000. 

At the same time, some aggrieved workers of the GSA have raised red flag over the alleged sale of heavy-duty equipment, which they claimed “worth millions of United States dollars but has disappeared in thin air”. 

The workers alleged that 10 forklifts donated by the Chinese government, 280 containers provided by the United States Ebola response team as well as a crane and two forklifts donated by the US team, have all gone missing. 

When an FPA reporter sought clarity from the GSA Boss about her recent auctioning of government vehicles and other allegations, she responded angrily. 

Said Broh: “Go and report whatever you have. I don’t care. Just make sure you should write the facts or else if you lie on me I will sue your a**.” 

‘Under fire’ Broh Criticized 

Madam Broh is one of few top officials retained by the new administration, but her reappointment at the GSA has come under scrutiny after some employees accused her of misdeeds at the agency. 

In their petition statement rejecting the reappointment of Madam Broh, the workers outlined a seven point accusations. 

They mentioned corruption, nepotism, huge disparity in the distribution of allowances, use of invective on employees, lack of capacity building programs, denying employees’ benefits from government partners, and arbitrary dismissal and suspension. 

“We as citizens of Liberia (that) massively voted the CDC because we are fed up with massive corruptions and abuse of power,” the workers said in their petition, while calling on the President to reexamined her preferment “because she has violated all the norms and values we stood for as Liberians”.