The National Civil Society Union of Liberia (NASCUL) has entreated His Excellency President George Manneh Weah to reappoint the Director General of the National Social Security Corporation (NASSCORP), Dewitt vonBallmoos, as his tenure ends in March 2022.
According to NASCUL’s President, Amos B.S. Kanneh, the civil society’s call for vonBallmoos’ reappointment is based on his many achievements as Director General of NASSCORP since he took over the entity in March 2013.
vonBallmoos succeeded Francis Carbah, who resigned in the first year of his appointment by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. He ensured that the development of the entity remain cardinal, in addition to formulating policies in the interest of the people, as well as fostering the agenda of the entity’s Investment Division, which was created in 2003.
President Kanneh hailed the NASSCORP boss, and noted that he is known to many for his numerous humanitarian gestures and contributions to the socio-economic wellbeing of the country.
According to him, research conducted by NACSUL reveals that DG vonBallmoos has ensured that the entity has elevated from distributing pension funds to venturing into infrastructure investments, which has yielded positive results for the entity and the nation at large.
The NACSUL research outlined the construction of the NASSCORP Administrative Headquarter, which began in 2015, with construction works contracted to CESAF Liberia Limited. “The edifice comprises of a seven-storey office building and a three-storey carport/office annex building, leased to Loita Capital. The building was dedicated and opened in April 2019,” the NACSUL boss revealed.
“Not seeing Monrovia as Liberia, NASSCORP endeavored to establish a regional hub in Tubmanburg, Bomi County.
“The National Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP), in its goal to gradually establish infrastructure in the various counties for its regional operation, embarked upon the construction of a regional office in Tubmanburg, Bomi County (Region 3), where there previously existed a rented facility for regional operation. The construction of the regional office facility in Bomi commenced in 2019, and was completed in February 2021.
“The regional complex was unveiled and dedicated on March 23, 2021. It consists of a regional office, a five-bedroom guest house, two studio apartments, and a manager’s residence. The regional office has a banking premise for lease,” President Kanneh quoted his entity’s research documents.
Furthermore, President Kanneh noted that major sectors of the Liberian society have also benefited from vonBallmoos and NASSCORP’s social corporate services, including the education and health sectors.
“In 2018, under the watch of DG vonBallmoos, NASSCORP began the construction of the Jahmale Medical Diagnostic Center at the ELWA Junction, Paynesville, which has become a major boost to the health sector.
“The Jahmale Diagnostic Center is a modern medical diagnostics center which emerged due to the significant weaknesses in the country’s health delivery system. The increased volume and high cost associated with Liberians travelling outside of Liberia to seek medical diagnostic services presented a sound basis for investment. The diagnostic center is expected to attract and encourage Liberian medical specialist to return to the country as well as allow specialized knowledge transfer of local medical technicians.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, NASSCORP, as part of its corporate social responsibility, joined the fight against the deadly virus by visiting various communities in and around Liberia to distribute safety items and food as a way of assisting during the state of emergency.
“In addition to the distribution, the NASSCORP Pandemic Response Team educated the dwellers of each community about the signs and symptoms of COVID-19, and how to avoid getting infected. After the presentation, the leaders of each community lauded the efforts of NASSCORP for identifying with them and also assured the team that they will adhere to all the health protocols,” he said.
As it relates to education, NACSUL said, “On December 15, 2020 NASSCORP donated 50,000 (fifty thousand) notebooks to the Ministry of Education (MOE) to buttress government’s effort at improving the educational sector of the country by making notebooks available for all students in the country.”
The group revealed how DG vonBallmoos has been instrumental in President Weah’s quick impact projects, as well as other meaningful development projects around the country.
NACSUL emphasized the need to reappoint DG vonBallmoos in order that he may continue his many unfinished projects that are giving the nation a facelift.
The group contested rumors in street corners that the Director General has served two terms, and so he is not eligible to be reappointed at the entity.
NACSUL clarified that when Francis Carbah resigned on September 10, 2012, vonBallmoos acted as Director General until March 2013 when President Sirleaf appointed him to complete the tenure of his predecessor. Carbah’s five-year tenure ended in 2017, at which time the NASSCORP Act was amended by the National Legislature.
According to NACSUL’s President, under the revised Act creating NASSCORP, the Director General and the Deputy Director General shall serve for a period of five years and may be reappointed by the President for not more than two additional terms and shall be removable by the President for cause. Under the previous Act, the DG and his deputies served at the will and pleasure of the President. The act was revised toward the end of 2017.
The civil society maintained that reappointing vonBallmoos to NASSCORP will be an added value to fostering the CDC’s flagship development agenda, the “Pro-Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD)”. The group argued that, with all the protestations around the country, there has not been a day a single employee or beneficiary of NASSCORP complaint about salary delay and bad administrative practice, and that this is all due to the professionalism, competence and effectiveness and efficiency of Director General Dewitt vonBallmoos.