By Christopher Yarwoe, tam.yarwoe106@gmail.com
Buchanan, Liberia – In the aftermath of the passage of the new budget law, three persons have been elected to head Grand Bassa County Project Management Committee (PMC), now legally empowered to manage the County’s development funds.
According to the budget law, the PMC is expected manage public finances in each of Liberia’s 15 counties over the next three years.
The PMC will implement projects using the County Social Development Funds.
The election was held recently in the port city of Buchanan, about 88 miles southeast of the Liberian capital, Monrovia.
More than 80 delegates of the 10th County Development Council Sitting in Grand Bassa County elected the three individuals for the positions of Chairman, Comptroller and Treasurer of the Project Management Committee.
Those elected were: Moses Gbehzohngar Henry – Chairman, Uriah Bryant – Comptroller and Charles Dobson – treasurer.
Before their election, a Vetting Committee was set up by the County Superintendent Hon. Janjay Baikpeh to vet applicants for the positions of Project Management Committee and be brought to the delegates to vote in an election process.
The vetting committee was voted by the delegates to be a legal body to vet names for the vacancies of the PMC positions.
Siakor P. Flomo, President of the Grand Bassa University Student Union (GBUSU) said he was pleased with the county sitting and the vetting committee they all endorsed to carry on their work.
Mr. Siakor said though there was some friction regarding the PMC election, all went well and this was the first of its kind to have a peaceful sitting in Grand Bassa County.
Members of the Vetting Committee were Rev. Dr. Lawrence K. Bropleh – Chairman, Hon. Daniel Willie – Co –Chairman, Mr. Bailey Tokpa – Secretary, Madam Martha Karngar – Member and Othello Contour – Member.
The Committee announced those three individuals qualified to contest in the Project Management Committee (PMC) Elections to fill in three vacancies, Chairman, Comptroller, and Treasurer.
The PMC is charged with identifying, costing, overseeing and coordinating all projects design for implementation, as well as managing all the finances and transaction documentation of CSDF projects in the county in accordance with the PPCA and national budget implementing regulation.
Also speaking, Matthew Harris, Acting Secretary of the Zonal Council appreciated the vetting process that was put into place at the county sitting.
According to him, people were not elected on favoritism but on the basis of qualification, merit and professional expertise.
Based on the vetting process, “it shows clearly that we are getting somewhere”, Matthew stated.
“The method the vetting committee used showed some level of transparency and openness,” the Acting Secretary of the Zonal Council added.
He said if this continues it will help to promote democracy in the country.
According to the Chairman of the Vetting Committee, Rev. Dr. Lawrence K. Bropleh, Moses Gbehzohngar Henry obtained 98% qualification to contest as Chairman, H. Uriah Bryant obtained 99% qualification for the position of Comptroller and Charles Dobson obtained 61% which qualified him to contest for the position of Treasurer.
The committee said the vetting was based on some guiding principles. The principles include: the budget law particularly letter “iii” in section nine which gives the delegates the mandate “to elect a 3-member Project Management Committee (PMC), once every three years, comprising: a Chairman; Treasurer, and a Comptroller.
The law further states that the Council shall define criteria for qualification to contest the position of PMC Treasurer and PMC Comptroller – said qualification being based on professional training and working experience in the field of accounting.
Dr. Bropleh told Magic FM, a community based radio station in Buchanan that they followed the general accepted principles about interview guided by education, experience or relevant equivalent experience of the applicants.
For the position of PMC Chair, the law mentioned “A minimum of 3 years of demonstrated working experience in the area of project management or related fields, or its equivalence”. Something the committee reported was not found in most of the candidates.
The Vetting Committee said two persons applied for the position of PMC Chairman. They were Tarr Gbardeh Sayweh and Moses Gbehzohngar Henry.
According to the Committee, only Moses met the qualification while Tarr did not meet the required qualification as mentioned in nine (9) of the budget law.
Tarr, following his rejection by the Vetting Committee described the electoral process as “the worse fraudulent act ever held in the history of Liberia”. Tar believes the PMC officials were selected and not elected. “The vetting committee was created to deny some of us. It is the first time in the county’s history to force PMC leadership down the throat of the people”, Tarr Gbardeh Sayweh stated.
For the position Comptroller, the Committee said three persons applied for the job. They were Charles Dobson, H. Uriah Bryant and Aloysius Bull. According to the committee report, only Uriah Bryant was qualified and the other two persons were not.
Speaking on the Treasurer position, the Committee said that three persons applied to occupy the vacancy. Those three persons were: Ben Miller, J. Eisenhower Mentee and Odadar Geegbor. The Vetting Committee reported that nobody met the qualification for the treasure position.
Therefore, Dr. Bropleh said the Committee recommended Charles Dobson who came second to H. Uriah Bryant for the Comptroller position as treasurer to the delegates and caucus if accepted by them.
The Chairman of the County Legislative Caucus and Presiding officer of the County Development Council Sitting- Rep. Thomas Alexander Goshua, after receiving the report of the vetting committee administered a motion to have the candidates to vote on white ballot.
Senator Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence of Grand Bassa County seconded the motion of the presiding officer Goshua to have the candidates voted for on white ballot.
“Mr. Presiding and fellow delegates, the fact that the vetting committee has made a recommendation, and the gavel is going on the recommendation, is the same voting process. So, I hereby denied the motion,” the senator stated.
But, Electoral District Three Lawmaker, Hon. Matthew Joe objected to the decision and announced a motion for reconsideration.
Hon. Joe said that the process was undemocratic and should not be considered as a means of obtaining the office of the Project Management Committee.
“I strongly believe that the budget law gives power to this body to vet candidates for the PMC election, but the law does not provide that the vetting committee should make decision for the people. If that be the case, then there should not be any election announced but there was election announced.”
So, “I think the responsibility of the vetting committee was to vet those people then we go for election but for appointment to be made, I think is against the budget law and I am strongly against that”, Rep. Matthew Joe said. “I stand by my word”, Hon. Joe concluded.
Senator Lawrence maintained that Rep. Joe objection be denied because the recommendation of the vetting committee was the same voting process that the delegates have to go through.
The Chair of the Caucus continued the motion and the delegates voted on white ballot for the three candidates. Those elected were: Moses Gbehzohngar Henry – Chairman, Uriah Bryant – Comptroller and Charles Dobson – treasurer.
Tarr Gbardeh Sayweh described the PMC election as not credible. He said the work of the vetting committee was to only make report but not recommend to the delegates how to proceed with the election process.
Inducting the new core of officials of the PMC, Senator Jonathan Kaipay urged them to work in the interest of the people to move the developmental agenda of the county.
For his part, Chairman Henry thanked the delegates for electing them as he promised to implement projects resolved by them at the Unification Pavilion in Buchanan.
Henry served as Treasurer while Bryant served as Comptroller of the PMC for the past three years in Grand Bassa County.