The Free Conscious Independent and Objective Thinkers of Liberia have termed as reckless, ludicrous and an act of unorthodox journalistic practice attempt by some media practitioners to misrepresent the facts that Wilson K. Tarpeh, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), received US$100,000 to permit the illegal dumping of hazardous wastes in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County.
“It is completely an irony that Hon. Wilson K. Tarpeh and his team of environmental experts at the EPA will be attracting huge funding to support the work of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and at the same time receiving US$100,000 to undermine the very work at the EPA,” Free Conscious Independent and Objective Thinkers of Liberia said in a press release.
“The EPA, under the watchful eyes of Hon. Wilson K. Tarpeh, has attracted funding from the US$17.2 million grant for climate resilience project within the capital of Liberia, Monrovia. Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has secured funding to tackle Coastal Erosion in Greenville, Sinoe County, and the EPA in collaboration with NAPA identified three major cities, Robertsport, Monrovia and Buchanan, for the Construction of a Coastal Defense System, just to name a few. Can’t you see these visible achievements?”
According to the civil society group, “A fact finding conducted by the Free Conscious Independent and Objective Thinkers of Liberia has established that the US$100,000 being called by these extortionists and blackmailers as ‘bride’ is actually the value of the indemnity bond which the ship issued in favor of the EPA in case the on-going investigation finds the ship in any violation.
“Our findings also discovered that there are insiders within the managerial structure of the EPA who are not being allowed to continue business as usual; they are the ones, in their desperation, maligning the hard-earned reputation of Hon. Wilson K. Tarpeh. The Free Conscious Independent and Objective Thinkers of Liberia also established the identities of these plotters, and is calling on them to desist or risk being exposed. The EPA is a professionally driven institution and, therefore, must be considered as such.”