Employees of the General Service Agency (GSA) Monday held hostage the entity's Director General Madam Perrine Parkinson in demand of her replacement.

According to the employees, Madam Parkinson has awarded a five hundred thousand United States dollars (US$ 500,000.00) contract for preparation of this year's July 26 Independence day celebration in Bomi County to a Nigerian Contractor whom they only identify as Toni.

The employees through their spokesperson Smanthleen Sharba explained: "Madam Parkinson has taken US$ 500,000.00 intended for preparation works for this year's Independence Day celebration in Bomi County to her private firm. We are GSA employees, we should be given the opportunity to do the jobs and receive whatever benefit budgeted for the project. We will not sit here and allow her use us as fools. We are professional people and received taxpayers' monies as salary every month. So we must justify the salary we receive by doing the jobs that are intended for us rather than giving it to a foreign Contractor only because she has self interest."

GSA Parkinson's 'Pepper Bush', Workers say

The workers also accused their boss of using the GSA as her "pepper Bush" and will not allow anyone to interfere with her operations.

The employees promised to continue their strike action until their plight is addressed by the president. The workers have for some time now been pressing for the President to boot Parkinson from her post.

The aggrieved employees also made reference to past incident at the Agency where they accused her of micro-managing the entity and say their current cries for help will not go down the drain.

The workers spokesperson, Madam Sharba described the GSA boss as a different woman. "I don't like to see people labor for free. We will show Perrine our other side, which is, we will all sleep here tonight."

Sharba, who also serves the GSA as Assistant director of Regional Services also accused her Boss of bad labor practices claiming that among the 350 GSA employees, Parkinson is only on speaking terms with five and treats the rest of the employees as slaves, referring to them as Native people.

When contacted Madam Parkinson denied the allegations made by the employees and described the employees action as something that is orchestrated by someone who she said did not want to see her administration succeed.

According to her, the GSA administration has decided to empower local contractors in the county where the project is being carried out instead of carrying people from Monrovia who will be paid US$ 10.00 per day.

Undermined by people, GSA boss says

Said the GSA boss: "We have decided to give the first phase of the project to local contractors in a way of empowering them. We cannot have a situation where we will carry people from Monrovia to dig foundation when we already people in the county that can do that job and cost us les money. When the project would have reach window level or at a stage where we think need experts than we will carry employees of GSA to complete it," She said.

Asked why the GSA is always in the midst of controversy, the GSA boss said: "There are people in this entity who are undermining me. They don't want my administration to succeed. I know them but I can't say their names right now because I don't have sufficient evidence to prove my case."

Madam Parkinson described as criminal, the employees' action to hold her hostage and promised to seek the legal means to get redress.

Up to press time madam Parkinson was seated in her dark and hot office because according to her, the aggrieved employees had opposed the lighting of entity's generator.