Bong County District#3 Representative Josiah Marvin Cole has admitted requesting the Ministry of Health to transfer funding intended for Gbondio Health Center to Kpayah Clinic in Bequelleh Clan, Jorquelleh District.
During a Press conference Thursday, Hon. Cole said he officially wrote the Deputy Minister for Administration at the Ministry of Health requesting her to transfer US$25,000.00 intended for Gbondio towards the Completion of the Kpayah Clinic construction in his District.
According to the District#3 lawmaker, the Ministry of Health duly advised him to focus on the construction of one facility after receiving US$100,000.00 for the two projects in the 2022 national budget.
Situated in Bong County Electoral District#6, Gbondio is said to lack Health Center but Representative Cole denied the report and disclosed that there exists a non-functional Health facility in Gbondio Community that was constructed during the administration of Jewel Howard Taylor.
An independent investigation conducted by this station uncovered that the structure in question is a Midwifery Center instead of a Clinic or Health Center.
The two facilities have been reflected in the Country’s National Budget, since 2018.
The County Health Team is yet to comment on the matter.
The situation lead residents of Gbondoi in Electoral District #6 on Friday morning to stage a protest against the diversion of funds intended to construct a clinic in their town by Representative Marvin Cole to his district (Electoral District #3).
The Gbondoi citizens blocked the national road that connects Bong, Lofa, Nimba, and other places to Liberia’s capital Monrovia.
At the start of the protest, vehicles were seen in a long line for about three (3) hours in Gbondoi Town before the presence of the Liberia National Police to claim down the situation and remove the roadblock.
Pregnant women of Gbondoi usually have to give birth on the streets with sick people being carried in a hammock to nearby clinics.
Investigation continues.
By: AIbert M. Fania- Bong County
