Thursday’s session was a scene of claims and counter claims between members of the Liberian Senate and the Deputy Minister for Finance and Development Planning, Samora Wolokollie, for what has been described as his ill-preparedness to appear before that body.
During his appearance before the Senate, Deputy Minister Wolokollie said each county has received the disbursement of 100,0000 United States Dollars for the County Development Funds.
The clarification of the Deputy Finance Minister comes following reports that the counties are yet to receive the US$200,000 in Social Development Funds.
Minister Wolokollie bragged that the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning has paid 50% of the Social Development Funds despite of the speculation.
When asked about the documentary evidence by one of the Senators, Minister Wolokollie told the Senators that the documents will be sent at a later date; something which was objected to by Montserrado County Senator Darius Dillion, Senator Edwin Snow of Bomi and Geevon Smith of River Cess Counties.
During the deliberation of Minister Wolokollie, who told the Senators that he was not prepared to provide immediate pieces of evidence to that body, Senator Dillion blasted that Minister Wolokollie is on record of lying to the Senate.
Senator Dillion referenced the debt pofolio documents that were promised to have been given to the Senate by the Deputy Finance Minister, but to no avail.
For his part, Senator Edwin Snow of Bomi County lashed at Minister Wolokollie for misinforming that body.
The Bomi County Senator lamented that while Minister Wolokollie was deliberating, he placed a call to the Superintendents of Bomi concerning the revelation of the Deputy Finance Minister and they said at no time did the County receive a dime from the Ministry as was being stated for the Fiscal Year 2023.
Also speaking, River Gee County Senator, Jonathan Sorgbe, revealed that his county has not received a cent in County Development Funds.
Following the positions of the Senators, Deputy Minister Wolokollie maintained that the Ministry has paid the 2023 Social Development Funds to the counties.
Our Reporter noted that the appearance of the Deputy Finance Minister could be seen as a challenge to the Lawmakers due to his argumentative posture that was displaced before the Lawmakers while under oath.
The appearance of the MFDP official was triggered by a communication from Grand Cape Mount County Senator Varney Sherman requesting status update about the Two Hundred Thousand United States Dollars in Social Development Funds for the 2023 Fiscal Year.
Meanwhile, the Liberian Senate has kept under oath and asked Deputy Finance Minister Wolokolie to reappear before that body next Tuesday with documentations backing his claims that each of the 15 counties received US$100K as County Development Fund.
The Deputy Finance Minister for Fiscal Affairs on Thursday, October 26, 2023 honored plenary’s request, citing him to appear and update members of that body on the status of the fund.
Comments are closed.