-As Grand Bassa Rep. alarms over US$20M plus allocation for Executive Mansion Renovation
By Mark Mengonfia,mmenginfia@gmail.com
The plenary of the House of Representatives is expected to probe into millions of US dollars allocations made towards the renovation of the seat of the Liberian Presidency, the Executive Mansion, which renovation is yet to be completed.
The expected probe is at the result of communication from Grand Bassa County District #4, Vicent S.T Willie, who wrote the plenary of the House of Representatives to setup a Specialized Committee to probe into budgetary allocation for the renovation of the Executive Mansion.
On July 26, 2006, the fourth floor of the Executive Mansion was gutted by fire while the country was celebrating its Independence Day.
The Grand Bassa District #4 Lawmaker in his communication said since the unfortunate incidence, they (legislature) have been allocating money for the purpose of the renovation process.
The lawmaker outlined in his communication that they have allocated over 20, 136,908.00 US dollars.
Breaking down the total money the legislature has allocated to the Liberian Executive Mansion, Rep. Willie said in 2010/11 budget, 973,496.00 was placed in the budget while in 2011/12 budget captured USD 1,230,078.00.
The Grand Bassa lawmaker said ” in 2012/2013 we allocated 2,000,000.00 in 2013/2014 6,466,667.00 was placed in the budget while in 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 budgets respectively we placed 6,466,667.00 and 3,000,000.00 USD for this same renovation process”.
“We can consider it as political dragon that is eating the Liberian people’s money,” he added.
He went on to say that during the 2017 elections year, money was placed in the budget for the same purpose.
According to him, the potion of the Liberian budget that is under the capture ‘ Mansion renovation’ is considered as eating spot for the government and those who have access to that budget line.
The Grand Bassa lawmaker who is an economy said since he become lawmaker, the issue of allocation for the renovation captured his attention and being a direct representative of the ordinary people, he saw the need to raise the issue.
He said since as means of recovering the access of Liberians, it is important for even former Liberian President,Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former public work ministers to be brought to the expected committee to answer to questions how the money was expensed during the time she was president.
“I will want to see the end because the President spoke of asset recovery process and if we to recover the asset of Liberia, this needs to be taken seriously. The only way I will not continue this fight is when my colleagues or the President do not want for it to be investigated,” the Grand Bassa County lawmaker added.
“Most interestingly, fellow colleagues, the 2018/2019 National Budget also has two projections that were made for the next two fiscal period which are 2019/2020 projection is USD4,080,000.00 and 2020/2021 is 7,140,000.00 he lawmaker said in the communication to the plenary.”
Rep. Willie in his communication requested the plenary of that body to reasons to have those responsible foe the Executive Mansion renovation ne cited to explain to the plenary of the Liberian house of representatives as to when the process of Renovation work would finish and that all budgetary appropriations for the renovation of the Mansion be halted until a reputable auditing firm shall have performed a full forensic audit.
One question that comes to mind is how long is he going on this advocacy?
It can be recall that former Grand Bassa County District # 4 Rep. J. Byron Brown and the present House of Representatives Speaker, Bhofal Chambers were lawmakers in 53rd Legislature who were very concern about the “everlasting renovation” process.
The Lawmakers’ quest years back did not work as expected and now the power has shifted as Dr. Chambers and President George Weah are now in the seat to make the decision they wanted years back.
If the over 20 million USD used for just the incomplete renovation process of the mansion is to be accounted for, the decision is with the Bhofal Chambers headed House of Representatives and the George Weah-led government.