GOMPA, Nimba – After disputes between the Nimba County Administration and lawmakers about whether the superintendent submitted a report to the Nimba County Legislative Caucus on how the county spent the 2015/2016 budget, there is now clarity on the matter.

Representative Larry P. Younquoi of Nimba’s eighth district said the caucus did receive the superintendent’s report, but returned it for clarifications.

The caucus required Superintendent Fong Zuagele to justify the expenditure of US$1.9 million from the previous year’s resolution. According to Younquoi, figures in the report did not correspond with the figures that were in the signed resolution authorizing the spending.

Younquoi also pointed out that funds expended on transportation allowances by the superintendent needed to be thoroughly explained or clarified.

“There are areas where the superintendent used money for transportation allowances and per diem that didn’t seem to be uniform,” Younquoi said. “So when they give us the report, they need to give us supporting documents – that’s the document we are talking about here.”

Senator Prince Yormie Johnson, the chair of the caucus, has been accusing the superintendent’s office of not having submitted a report. As a result, he refused to convene a county council sitting to determine how to appropriate the county’s funds for the upcoming year.

Younquoi, who chairs the lower house’s Committee on Good Governance, said the caucus does not have any right to cancel the county council sitting. However, Johnson has further said that there would be absolutely no sitting held until Zuagele is removed as superintendent for Nimba.

Featured photo by Arrington Ballah