Gbarnga-Bong County's Fiscal Affairs Superintendent, Paul A. Sulonteh has described the removal of Bong County's controversial Project Management Committee (PMC) Chair, Steve J. Mulbah from his post as a total boost for the County due to his alleged corrupt nature.
Steve J. Mulbah and others were removed from the PMC, based on the implementation of the Local Government Act of 2018 which calls for the County Council to have a nine-member committee from various organizations.
According to Mr. Sulonteh, the former Bong County Projects Management Committee Chair has been involved in massive corruption over the past years under his watch as Chair of the County Projects Management Committee.
He alleged that the former PMC Chair has been collaborating with some officials of the County including Bong County Superintendent, Esther Walker to loot the County's Natural Resources for their gains.
The Bong County's Fiscal Affairs Superintendent further alleged that Bong County Superintendent Walker has also reportedly been collaborating with the County's Inspector, Moses Stubberfield, and several other commissioners of the County to illegally sell scraps that could benefit the County's development project to Gbarnga Businessman, Ansu Saysay.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sulonteh told this paper that Superintendent Esther Walker and the County Inspector, Moses Stubberfield have been allegedly forcing residents of Kokoyah District over the past weeks to affix their signatures to a reported illegal document intended to grant the Gbarnga Businessman legitimacy of buying or purchasing the scraps in the County.
He alleged that the superintendent also used a portion of the three-hundred thousand Liberian Dollars ($LD300,000.00) given to the Muslim and Christian Communities by President George Weah for the Christmas celebration to bribe officials of Kokoyah district to affix their signatures to the illegal document.
When Contacted, Bong County Superintendent, Esther Walker said she cannot respond to the allegation on grounds that she has other busy schedules to attend to.
Additionally, Steve J. Mulbah, who was contacted by our reporter, remained coy or coquettish in responding to Sulonteh's allegation in the County.
It can be recalled that Bong Legislative Caucus suspended two members of the county's Project Management Committee on charges of unauthorized payments against the decision of November 18, 2018, County Council Sitting, overpaying contractors and overpaying staffers of the Project Management Committee.
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The caucus decided to suspend the Chair of the Project Management Committee Steve Mulbah and Comptroller Abraham Kollie on October 8, 2020, following an emergency meeting.
The caucus' decision stemmed from allegations by the Fiscal Superintendent Paul Sulonteh that Mulbah unilaterally increased his salary from US$1000 to US$ 2000 without the consent of members of the Project Management Committee and the caucus, while other members of the PMC, according to Sulonteh, unilaterally increased their salaries.
"The PMC headed by Steven J. Mulbah unilaterally increased his salary from US$1,000 to US$ 2,000 without any justifiable cause. Also, the Comptroller, Abraham Kollie, increased his salary by 50 percent. I think this is unfair to the county. We should not be using the social development funds as a cash cow while several abandoned projects are left to decay," Sulonteh said.
