BY Aaron Wesley Geezay,geezayaaron@gmail.com
Cesstos, Liberia- Some citizens in Rivercess County advocating for authorities to give account of hundreds of thousands of US dollars reportedly allotted for the construction of a mini sports stadium in this southeastern Liberian County.
Speaking on a local community radio, some of the citizens said it has been too long since up to $5000 was collected during the launch of the citizen-initiated project in early 2017.
Three of them, including James Tarr, Robert Alvin Greene and Emmanuel Bartee, called on the local authority of the county to call the committee to book to give account of the money they have in their possession.
The three individuals said the officials in charge of the project have failed to give account of the funds generated as well as failing to start the project.
They added that the situation has caused the county not to host the National County Sports Meet.
The group, headed by Mr. Timothy Paulus in 2017 March launched a citizen-initiated project to build the stadium.
During the launch of the project that saw the presence of representatives’ candidates, sitting lawmakers, local county official and eminent citizens saw the committee generate over five thousand United States Dollars.
Mr. Timothy Paulus, head of the committee said that the project needed $163,000USD to be completed and could have lasted from March 2017 and December.
There were several generous donations made to the project by some prominent citizens of Rivercess, who served as chief launcher of the project. One of the donors, Mr. Joseph Theo Joseph made available a cheque of $3,000USD, and said he was prepared to make the stadium not just a mini football field, but a multipurpose sports stadium.
Rivercess District #2 Representative Byron W. Zahnwea who was seeking reelection also provided 75 bags of cement.
Besides the two individuals, all eight district commissioners, citizens and others made contributions toward the project.
Since 2017, only few pieces of cement bicks, less than two hundred, were molded.
Journalists have been making to question the lead visionaries of the project few months after it was launched, Mr. Paulus and some of his co-workers, Uriah Moore, Joseph B. M. Tue and others.
But they blamed the delay of the start of the project on the bad road condition that the county was faced with.
In a later engagement by journalists, Tue and Moore distanced themselves from taking hold of any money relating to the project, and said all the money generated was in the possession of Mr. Paulus.
Mr. Paulus response responded via mobile phone was that he could not discuss such matter, because he didn’t have the necessary documents before him.