COALITION FOR THE SUSTAINABILITY, TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY OF DEMOCRACY
BENSON STREET, MONROVIA, LIBERIA

The attention of the Coalition for the Sustainability, Transparency and Accountability of Democracy, a conglomeration of seven civil society organizations has been drawn to a front page bold banner headline in the New Democrat News Paper captioned “MCC JACKPOT SCAM BUSTED, HUGE SUMS VANISHED, DONORS WARNED”, with reference to former City Mayor Hon. Ophelia Hoff Saytumah.

While we welcome freedom of expression in Liberia’s emerging democracy, it also important that characters of well meaning Liberians are not tempered with. COSTRAD is of the opinion that the fact that the story was carried in such a manner clearly suggests the ignoring of the enormous contribution Hon. Ophelia Hoff Saytumah made in bringing MCC to the status she left it.

Contrary to the news paper report, COSTRAD has discovered that the amount referred to were disbursements to vendors based on their own request. On the issue of payments made to Help Inc, it is interesting to note that at the time the MCC was experiencing delays from the UNDP to make funding available, it was Help Inc that provided fuel to the MCC as a means to enable it to continue the lifting and disposing of wastes from the various dump sites to the Wein Town disposal site. It is obvious that when the Corporation has a liability, it must settle same, therefore the payment to Help Inc. was a legitimate one.

On the issue of taxes collected and not deposited, COSTRAD also discovered that Hon. Ophelia Hoff Saytumah in her quest to remedy this issue contracted the services of a Firm to set up a tax collection and monitoring system that will ensure that tax bills issued to business houses are collected and deposited into MCC Bank Accounts. Upon contracting the firm, the World Bank stepped in and told Hon. Saytumah to wait. Up to today’s date, there is no trace of the World Bank attempting to address the incapacitation experienced in the collection and monitoring of Municipal Taxes.

COSTRAD is flabbergasted that a report that is claimed to be prepared by a GEMAP Advisor, Mr. Thomas Downing was kept secret.  We also wonder if the report was that of an audit of the MCC, why Mr. Downing failed to seek inquiries from the former Mayor.  COSTRAD has gathered that the World Bank did not conduct any of such work that is associated with the so-called report. Analyzing the manner and form the purported report was handled; one can deduce that this is a master minded plan with the backing of evil and hidden hands to smear the reputation of Hon. Ophelia Hoff Saytumah.

If the so-called whistle blower was fair to his or her conscience, she or he would have mentioned that the former Mayor Hon. Ophelia Hoff Saytumah initiated the 18.4 million United States Dollars project that is currently being implemented by the present administration to renovate the Monrovia City Corporation. In the face of misleading reports against Hon. Ophelia Hoff Saytumah, the Coalition for the Sustainability, Transparency and Accountability of Democracy (COSTRAD) is rather interested in knowing what happened to the ten million United States Dollars (US$10,000,000.00) project that was managed by the World Bank and the UNDP for which huge sums were paid to the UNDP as management fees. The records are vivid, Hon. Ophelia Hoff Saytumah did her best while serving as Mayor at the MCC, and rewarding her with character assignation warrants a disservice and a high level of ingratitude.


Signed ___________________________
                Mr. David W. Matthews
                Secretary General

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