By Patrick N. Mensah, Maryland County,
Maryland County, Southeast Liberia — As Superintendent Henry B. Cole launched the 2024/2025 County Improvement Fund report, residents throughout Maryland County are calling for pressing nationwide authorities intervention and a complete audit of the county’s 2025 County Improvement Fund (CDF) amid mounting allegations of economic mismanagement, inaccurate reporting, and lack of transparency in native improvement actions.
The controversy facilities on the county’s annual improvement report submitted by Maryland County Superintendent Henry B. Cole, which lists a number of initiatives as accomplished underneath his administration.
Nevertheless, residents, neighborhood leaders, and native officers contend that a number of the listed initiatives stay unfinished, elevating severe issues in regards to the report’s accuracy and the administration of public funds.
Among the many most contested initiatives is the Gbloken Early Childhood Faculty in Pleebo Sodoken Statutory District. The 2025 report states that six initiatives have been accomplished utilizing County Improvement Funds, together with the development of the Gbloken faculty.
Gbloken Common City Chief Adam Taylor strongly rejected the report’s claims, describing them as deceptive and detrimental to a neighborhood nonetheless struggling and not using a purposeful studying facility.
“About two weeks in the past, I heard on the radio that the challenge was completed,” Chief Taylor stated. “However I, Adam Taylor, the City Chief, am telling you that the challenge isn’t completed. That information is a lie.”
In line with him, kids in the neighborhood proceed to attend lessons in a makeshift palava hut as a result of a everlasting faculty constructing has not but been constructed.
The Assistant District Superintendent for Improvement of Pleebo Sodoken Statutory District, Emmanuel Quire, has additionally publicly challenged the superintendent’s report.
In a press release posted on his official Fb web page, Quire defined that the college challenge was initiated underneath former County Superintendent George A. Proud and later handed over to the administration of Superintendent Cole.
“No work has been completed on it since then, however the superintendent’s report says the challenge is accomplished and being utilized by college students,” Quire wrote. “As improvement officer for Pleebo Sodoken Statutory District, I can affirm that the report isn’t true.”
Information point out that the Gbloken Main Faculty Mission was launched in 2023 throughout the administration of former President George Weah, with an preliminary allocation of US$35,000 underneath then-Superintendent Proud. In 2024, Maryland County Assistant Superintendent for Improvement Fred Barto introduced an extra US$10,000 to finish the construction.
Deliberate enhancements included concrete flooring, door and window installations, and portray upgrades, which residents hoped would allow college students to occupy the constructing in 2025.
Regardless of these allocations, the challenge stays incomplete, regardless that it’s listed as completed within the county’s annual report.
Maryland County Council Chair Thomas Mawolo additionally expressed concern, confirming discrepancies between the official report and situations noticed throughout latest web site visits.
“The report doesn’t replicate the realities on the bottom,” Mawolo famous.
“How will you say the challenge is accomplished after I personally visited the positioning this week, and nothing has been completed?”
Mawolo additional disclosed that the report was not shared with the County Council earlier than publication, limiting the council’s capability to offer oversight or corrective suggestions.
“It was unfair that the report was not shared with us,” he stated. “After our area go to, we had a heated assembly with the county administration, they usually admitted it was an error.”
For his half, Superintendent Cole, when contacted, dismissed the criticisms as politically motivated and accused District #2 Consultant Anthony F. Williams of encouraging public scrutiny for political causes.
Cole argued that the phrase “Mission Standing Full” within the report referred to accomplished monetary transactions relatively than the challenge’s bodily completion.
“After we talked about completion within the write-up, it was not in regards to the challenge itself however about funds made to the contractors,” he stated.
The superintendent declined to reveal the title of the development agency however confirmed that contractors had been paid in full regardless of the unfinished work.
Requires Audit and Accountability
Because the controversy deepens, residents and civil society actors throughout Maryland County are calling for a complete authorities audit into the administration of County Improvement Funds. Residents argue that incorrect reporting undermines public belief and delays the supply of important providers.
For the individuals of Gbloken, nevertheless, the political dispute gives little consolation.
Kids proceed to be taught in makeshift buildings whereas the college stays unfinished, underscoring the rising hole between official improvement reviews and the realities confronted by native communities.
With stress mounting from residents, native authorities, and neighborhood leaders, many are urging nationwide authorities establishments and anti-corruption businesses to intervene, guarantee accountability, and restore confidence within the administration of public improvement funds in Maryland County.
In the meantime, former Superintendent George A. Proud has posted on his Fb web page clarifying the scenario.
He identified on his Fb web page that Gbloken Elementary Public Faculty was among the many proposed initiatives introduced to us throughout a County Council Sitting by delegates from the Pleebo/Sodoken district.
“Sadly, we didn’t get funding to implement this challenge. It’s being undertaken by the current Administration of Supt. Henry Cole.
That is additionally in our turnover notes introduced to Superintendent Henry Cole. Hope this can assist ease no matter rigidity we realized is growing within the county, Maryland – a house we’ll at all times have”. He wrote.
