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Liberia: Controversy Over U.S. $10,000 Islamic Schools' Subsidies
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The Inquirer (Monrovia)
25 March 2008
Posted to the web 26 March 2008
The Islamic Schools System says US$ 10,000 intended as subsidy for them from government has been diverted by some individuals.
The Chairman of the Islamic Schools System, Mr. Mohammed F. Kawah, said the amount was signed by the Muslim Congress School with the assistance of another Muslim who is a prominent figure in the Ministry of Education.
"When we contacted the Muslim Congress School, they acknowledged receiving the money and promised to pay but up to present not a dime has been paid to any Islamic school," Mr. Kawah said.
He stated that the Islamic Schools System wrote the Ministry of Education raising issue with the manner in which the amount was given to the Muslim Congress School alone instead of all Islamic schools in the country.
In a letter to Sheikh Mahmoud Trawally, Deputy Education Minister for Administration, Hawah Goll Kotchi said the check for the amount was made to the order of the Islamic Schools System and not to the Muslim Congress School System.
Mr. Kawah said the diversion of the amount to one individual school has caused serious embarrassment to the entire Islamic School System and has therefore called on the requisite authorities to ensure that the matter is appropriately addressed.
He said efforts to get the money from those who signed for it had led the ministry to take up the issue with the national Muslim Council of Liberia which is different from the Islamic School System.
When the Ministry of Education was contacted yesterday, the Deputy Minister for Administration, Kotchi, admitted that the national budget had subsidies for various school systems which included the Islamic School Systems in Liberia.
Madam Kotchi told this paper that initially there was nothing like the Islamic Schools System and that nothing of that nature ever existed even before it was pushed forth into legislation but it was included in the budget due to the fact that subsidies were being given to other school systems.
She explained that as it is that all other schools like the Catholic Educational System, the Baptist Educational Foundation among others, there was not such structure as the Islamic Schools Systems.
She however did not say why a check was made in that organization's name and released to a particular school.
She however said when the previous money was allotted to the Islamic Schools Systems was passed, the Muslim Congress High School was the only widely known Muslim School, therefore an amount of US$10,000 was signed for by Mr. Swalihae Kamara who is the registrar of the school at two different intervals on behalf of the entire system.
Madam Kotchi said the amount received by Kamara was not accounted for until recently. She said the money was intended for school systems and not a particular school; therefore even if she were around, that would not have happened.
She said it came to her attention when Lofa County Senator, Fomba Kanneh and one Olando Gray visited her office to inquire about Muslim Schools subsidies but, "I told them that Mr. Kamara has signed for it. They left promising to take up the check issue with authorities at the Muslim Congress as the money had never been reported to anyone," the Deputy Minister for Administration narrated.
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She explained further how weeks later another group headed by Mr. Gray visited her to inform her of an organization incorporated by the name Islamic Schools System of Liberia that was now clothed with the authority of receiving subsidies for Islamic Schools System.
"I told them that I would read carefully the document and consult the Minister. But when I reviewed the Article of Incorporation, I discovered that it was specifically done to facilitate receipt of the subsidy since it was dated December 3, 2007. Moreover, the schools listed as beneficiaries are all located in Monrovia," Madam Kotchi pointed out.
The Deputy Minister for Administration said noticing that confrontation was arousing from among the Muslim hierarchy; she wrote the National Muslim Council of Liberia on February 5, 2008, seeking its comments and or advice on the matter.
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