GBARNGA, Bong – The chairperson of the Project Management Committee in Bong, Stephen Mulbah, has outlined activities he said would strengthen the PMC and increase public trust and confidence in its work.

With an elected membership of three – a chairperson, comptroller, and treasurer, the PMC is charged with coordinating all development projects in a county, according to Liberia’s Budget Law.

Mulbah said Bong’s PMC is gearing up to begin rolling out its strategic work plan that was recently completed to enable a smooth public procurement process as soon as the county accesses its development funds from the government.

The Bong Legislative Caucus and the local administration are working to ensure the county gets its development funds from the central government soon, in order to implement projects that were budgeted during the county sitting in November 2018.

Delegates from across the county apportioned a little over US$2 million for different development projects in the county. A portion of the amount was also set aside to pay liabilities the county owed various contractors for past projects.

The strategic work plan, according to Mulbah, provides for completion of the county’s incomplete projects, factors in capacity building for members of the PMC, and considers Project Management Teams and meetings with the different stakeholders of the county.

For capacity building, he said the PMC will seek the support of partners for its members to be trained in social development fund management and administration, monitoring and evaluation, and procurement.

“We want to have a series of stakeholder engagements where our quest is to restore the public confidence in the workings of the PMC and understanding the way their county and social development fund will work,” Mulbah told The Bush Chicken recently in Gbarnga. He added that the PMC would push to be “open and transparent that the ordinary man will know what is happening – where and how and when we are going about the different intentions and different initiatives.”

To demonstrate this inclusiveness and openness, Mulbah said the PMC will meet and hold discussions with CSOs and the media, construction companies, the legal team of the county, and institutions that will receive funds from the county.

According to him, assessments of projects will commence this week. He maintained that the PMC will visit all the different incomplete projects in order to have a first-hand account of the different development projects and their respective impacts.

Mulbah was elected to the position on white ballots during the 2018 Bong County Council Sitting. He told this medium that it is his dream that the PMC of Bong is graded number one among the 15 counties in Liberia in terms of performance under his administration for the next three years.

He called on critics to be constructive and avoid negative criticisms and come forth with workable recommendations that will enhance the work of the PMC.

Featured photo courtesy of Stephen Mulbah