HARPER, Maryland – William V. S. Tubman University has finally started renovation on its engineering building after years of delay due to corruption on the part of several senior staff of the institution.

The Liberian government had made funds available for the project under the school’s former president, Elizabeth Davis-Russell, but those funds were misapplied by senior staff of the university who solicited and received kickbacks from GBECCO, the company contracted to renovate the building.

An investigation by The Bush Chicken into the bribery led to the dismissal of Roland T. Barnes, assistant vice president for administration, and the suspension of Johnny C. Woods, chief of staff for presidential affairs and the board liaison.

According to the university’s newly appointed vice president for administration, Dr. D. Nyamieh Walker, when the corruption saga was unearthed, the current president, Edward Lama Wonkeryor, instructed GBECCO to halt all work on the building pending an investigation by a special committee.

D. Nyanier Walker, Tubman University’s vice president for administration. Photo: Zeze Ballah

Walker said following the committee’s report that led to actions against Barnes and Woods, a robust assessment of the engineering building was conducted, which led the administration to scale back the scope from a two-story building to a single level. That has reduced the cost of construction to US $500,000 from US $1 million.

Walker said GBECCO already received US $250,000 in July 2016 as initial payment. It is now clear that some of this amount was used to pay bribes to Barnes and Woods.

No further payment has been made to GBECCO since then, according to Walker. “Government will only be releasing the balance US $250,000 to the company after an assessment team from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning visits and inspects the ongoing work at the renovation site in Harper,” he added.

The building is expected to be completed by May 2017 for use by students in the 2017-2018 academic year.

Contractors working on the Tubman University Engineering Building. Photo: Zeze Ballah

After the embarrassing corruption cases the university has weathered, Walker said the administration would ensure that corruption would not be encouraged or tolerated at the institution.

He said if government funds are not managed properly, “Liberians will hang a dark cloud over the institution’s reputation.”

“The university has sounded a strong caveat to the contractors to expose any staff of the institutions demanding money from them as bribes,” Walker maintained.

However, the university’s continuation of a contract with a company that its own investigations have shown was involved in bribery has left the contractor feeling vindicated. Liberian anti-corruption laws consider both the receiver and giver of a bribe to be at fault.

Alfred Gibson, GBECCO’s technical manager, recently told The Bush Chicken in Harper that he is glad his company was “exonerated” from the corruption saga that surrounded the renovation of the building, adding “at the moment, engineers are focused on the work.”

Alfred Gibson, GBECCO’s technical manager. Photo: Zeze Ballah

As the company focuses on completing the construction, Gibson said deplorable roads in the southeast has made it difficult to transport constructing materials from Monrovia to Harper.

He said even though cement is sold locally in Harper, GBECCO is paying on average US $9 for a bag in Monrovia and US $5 to transport it to Harper. In Harper, Gibson said a bag of cement is sold for US $15, although at times it can cost US $18 when in demand.

However, the bad road conditions mean most of the cement can get damaged on the road.

“The challenge for the company is getting the construction materials on the ground in time,” he said.

Featured photo by Zeze Ballah