GANTA, Nimba – Residents of Nimba’s first electoral district have agreed on a set of development plans for the district. They have also decided to establish a District Management Committee to monitor projects and funds designated to those projects.

The DMC is meant to have similar functions as the county-level Project Management Committee, which supervises the spending of county and social development funds. Each member of the committee has a three-year mandate.

During the meeting, Lekolea Dolo, Abayomi Wiefue, and Mariama Sesay were elected to serve as chair, co-chair, and secretary of the DMC.

At the meeting to establish the DMC, various organizations and citizen groups were present. They debated priority areas for the appropriation of the US$60,000 that was allotted to the district for development purposes during the just-ended Nimba County Council Sitting held in Sanniquellie.

Among the projects decided upon by the district residents were the US$10,000 renovation of Zorkehseh Public School in Ganta’s Royal Community, a US$40,000 project to construct additional hand pumps across the district, and US$10,000 in scholarships to students selected by the Scholarship Committee.

Those elected to the District Scholarship Committee included the Ganta Christian Community’s Lakpor Dahn as chair, Bein-Garr District One’s education officer Abel S. Legay as co-chair, Allen Doloking as secretary, and Solomon Jabateh as an advisor. Saye More, Musu Kardamie, Tarnie Yohn, Nelson Garpie, and Lincoln Y. Paye were all elected as members of the Scholarship Committee.

The meeting was held in the absence of the district’s lawmaker, Rep. Jeremiah Kpan Koung, who has traveled to the U.S. at the request of citizens of the district residing there.

However, Koung’s chief of office staff, Arthur Wogbeh, presided over the meeting, which was also attended by county leaders including Saye Musah, assistant superintendent for fiscal affairs; Michael B. Nuah, treasurer of Nimba’s Project Management Committee; Emmanuel Z. Clark, project assistant of Nimba’s PMC; and George P. Zapulu, the county’s project planner.

Wogbeh commended the delegates and observers for their participation. He promised to provide oversight of the lawmaker’s office to ensure that the projects would be implemented to the will of citizens.

“We will monitor you. We will checkmate you,” Wogbeh said. “Once the right thing is done, we will applaud you. But, when there are missteps along the way, we will erect the checkpoints.”

In addition to the first district, Nimba’s seventh and ninth electoral districts have already set up their respective district management committees. The fourth electoral district is expected to establish its committee today, September 28.

Featured photo by European Commission