BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa – Authorities in Grand Bassa have postponed the County Council Sitting to December 7, 2018, after having previously scheduled the meeting for November 30, 2018, in Buchanan.

The County Council Sitting is an annual meeting where delegates from the nine administrative districts and the four cities across the county assemble to deliberate on how to spend the county’s county social development funds. The event also provides an opportunity to review the utilization of past allocations.

According to the head of this year’s Council Sitting Secretariat and county information officer, Eddie Williams, the sitting has been postponed due to inadequate information dissemination across the county.

Williams said this was because the county did not receive funds in time to pay for the publicity campaign.

“So, as we speak, we are now using all platforms to disseminate information about the sitting,” Williams told The Bush Chicken via phone.

The budget law requires the county superintendent to ensure “that extensive publicity, through all media platforms – radio, TV, print, and social media, is given to the convening of a sitting to encourage maximum participation.”

Eighty-two delegates have been selected from across the county to attend the sitting. Fifty are drawn from the nine administrative districts and one statutory district, while twenty will come from Grand Bassa’s four cities.

The three members of the Project Management Committee, the seven members of the Grand Bassa Legislative Caucus, and two persons from the office of the superintendent will form the remainder of delegates.

The delegates will decide priority projects to be done across the county if the central government makes available Grand Bassa’s share of the county and social development funds.

Although the county has not yet received the funds from the central government, US$9,010 has been raised by the county’s leaders to host the sitting on December 7.  The amount will be repaid when the county receives its county and social development funds.

About US$1.1 million is allotted to the county in the national budget for the current fiscal year.

Grand Bassa’s Sen. Jonathan Kaipay recently told the public that the central government had agreed to provide US$250,000 to the county as part of its portion of the county and social development funds.

So long has the government been delaying to remit the county its share of the national budget that members of the Project Management Committee have not been paid for one year as of November 2018.

The co-chairman of the Grand Bassa County Legislative Caucus, Rep. Matthew Joe of Grand Bassa’s third district, has also confirmed that there will be a resolution signed between the county and members of the Project Management Committee to pay them when the county receives its funds from the central government.

“The resolution signing will be the first thing we will do in the midst of all the delegates to show to them that the county owes them and that when we receive our county and social development funds, we will pay them, but election will go on for the three positions,” Joe told The Bush Chicken via phone.

Members of the committee are elected for a three-year tenure by delegates representing various sectors and political districts to spearhead the management of all projects funded under the county and social development funds.

Featured photo by Sampson David