Liberia: Who Put US$25K in 2023 Budget for ‘Ghost’ Clinic?
Representative Moima Briggs-Mensah wants Senate cut out budget line, transfer money to existing projects
.... The revelation by Briggs-Mensah, who is the Chairperson of the Bong County Legislative Caucus, comes as members of the House of Representatives approved the allotment as a subsidy to that “ghost facility.”
A lone-soldiering lawmaker is raving on Capitol Hill over a US$25k allegedly placed in the 2023 national budget secretly for a reportedly non-existent health center in her native located in Bong County.
Representative Moima Briggs-Mensah is rallying her colleagues to have that budget line removed, because the Boneueh Health Center, for which the funds were appropriated, is a ghost facility that does not exist anywhere in that county.
The revelation by Briggs-Mensah, who is the Chairperson of the Bong County Legislative Caucus, comes as members of the House of Representatives approved the allotment as a subsidy to that “ghost facility.”
Worst of all, the description of the budget-line places the health center in Briggs-Mensah’s district but the lawmaker is, therefore, denying its existence and is wondering how it was even captured.
According to the lawmaker, Boneueh does not have any medical center with such a name; therefore, the budget line should be removed.
"Boneueh town is in my district but upon visitation, I realized that the project doesn't exist,” Briggs-Mensah of Bong County District #6 said. “As Chairperson of the Caucus, I am calling on the Senate to scrap the Boneueh Health Center budget line and transfer the money to existing projects in the county."
Rep. Marvin Cole, who represents his county on the House budget committee, has been accused of orchestrating the fictitious establishment and funding for the Boneueh Health Center.
During budget debates, Cole said the Boneueh Health Center is existing and it is where he and others were born.
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Rep. James Kolleh of Bong County District #2, however, has refuted this, saying that he concurred with Briggs-Mensah that the US$25K should not be used for a ghost health center.
Kolleh pointed out that the Caucus had determined that the health facility didn't exist and that the funding was just intended for some people's personal advantage.
Meanwhile, the House has forwarded the 2023 Draft National Budget in the amount of US$794. 5 million after its ratification, to the Senate for concurrence.
The House passed the budget on February 21 with an increment of US$16.5 from its previous amount of US$777.9 submitted by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.