The newly elected female senator of Gbarpolu County, northwestern Liberia, has expressed serious disappointment over the just-ended county sitting.
Senator Botoe Kanneh is the only female lawmaker among her males counterpart in the county. Since five years ago, Gbarpolu County has not had any county sitting, creating serious developmental setback for the citizenry of the county.
Currently, that side of Liberia seems isolated with the lack of paved roads, infrastructure development, community college and technical vocational learning Institution for citizens of the county. Speaking at the just-ended county sitting, Senator Kanneh informed the delegates attending the occasion that she thought the sitting would have been to review the performance report of the Project Management Committee (PMC), and if there were any inquiries then the county could constitute an audit of the issues.
She said it was very surprising to her that, after the reading of the PMC report, on the same day of the sitting an election was conducted for a new PMC leadership for the county.
According to her, she expected that the county’s PMC would have provided clarity on the status of the county’s social development fund, meant for developing the county like other counties in Liberia.
Senator Kanneh said, but contrary to her thoughts, the presiding officer of the sitting, Representative A. Kanie Wesso, who is also county caucus’ chairman, put at the top of his agenda the election of the county’s new PMC leadership.
Providing information on projects implemented by the county’s PMC was Sam Zinnah, Chairman of the county’s PMC, who informed the delegates who had come to grace the occasion that Gbarpolu County has US$1.9 million left in its escrow account, which sparked serious concerns among those attending the sitting.
There were concerns as it relates to who is in control of that escrow account and why for so long. Members of the county caucus have been divided for a long time, thus causing the county to remain under-developed.
According to the chairman of the county’s caucus, the just-ended county sitting cost US$10,000, spent out of the county’s social development fund. This more people from the county questioned.
All members of the county caucus were in attendance, including local authorities.
