GBARNGA, Bong – Renovations have started at the Superintendent’s Compound and the Gbarnga Administrative Building in Bong, and authorities are using the same contractor as before.
On July 1, 2024, the Bong County Council approved Superintendent Hawa Loleyah Norris’s 100-day Action Plan budget. The budget contained US$302,913 for projects such as the fencing of the Gbarnga Administrative Building (US$50,922), renovation of the Superintendent Compound (US$144,000), and cultivating beans in the 13 administrative districts.
Speaking in an interview with journalists following a guided tour at the renovation site of the Superintendent’s Compound and the Gbarnga Administration Building, Bong’s county development officer, Sedekie Kromah, said the renovation will give a facelift and recondition the building for use by Superintendent Hawa Norris.
“This building is the official residence of Bong County Superintendent,” he said. “You are aware that money spent for the renovation of the compound under the past regime was made available as a result of the 2008 County Development Sitting in Gbarnga, but the project wasn’t done.”
Kromah said the building was being used as a toilet and hosting hardened criminals. Kromah also revealed that the current renovation was being managed by JEAMCCO Inc., the same company that was hired previously. He said there is no need to give the project to a different contractor because JEAMCCO agreed during the bidding process to pre-finance any work. He further noted that the US$144,000 initially allocated by the County Council to complete the renovation was a reduction from the past administration’s US$149,000 allotment. They claimed to have paid US$5,000 to JEAMCCO INC.
However, some members of civil society have objected to the county using the same contractor. Jesse B. Cole, executive director of DELTA Human Rights Foundation, said it was sad to see the Bong County Council and the county administration award the contract to the same company that received US$26,000 in 2020 with no work completed on the compound.
“During research by FIND, DELTA-HRF, and MACE-Liberia, JEAMCCO Construction company did not respond to our [freedom of information] request up to today, even though they received money from the Bong County Account and has not given any account of said money,” Cole noted.
He added: “The audit report also proves this. Then, how can you, the County Council, and the Bong County Administration approve US$144,000 for the same renovation project with the same project without any bidding process announced?”
Cole called for a hold on the contract until the company could account for the US$26,000.
“This here is business as usual, and if we all have to ensure that it’s not business as usual, the needful must be done, and all necessary information on this issue must be published,” he said.
Featured photo by Patrick Tokpah
