President Dr. George Manneh Weah has accepted to complete the corruption wrecked Bong County Technical College (BCTC) and the Gbarnga Broad Street Road project following appeal from Vice President Chief Dr. Jewel Cianeh Howard Taylor on Friday October 26, 2018 when the Liberian leader visited Gbarnga while on his way to Ganta for the historic launch of the government of Liberia development Roadmap- the pro-poor agenda for development and prosperity.
The school was expected to be completed in 2012 but has since been left abandoned due to mismanagement dated as far back as December 2010, the date the county’s officials broke grounds for the project.
According to Lawrence Plator, the cost of the project” was placed approximately around 4,394,776.97 USD, and later on exceeded to US$7,604,926.96.”
By October 2017, the county had spent more than US$5 million but the project is yet to be completed.
The project is being done by the Liberia China United Investment Group.
The contract for the construction of the college was signed on October 13, 2010 for a twin-storey academic and administrative building of Dolokelen Gboveh Community College.
Since the controversy began over the handling of the school project, Vice President Howard-Taylor, then Senator of Bong County, has been leading every effort to ensure that the school is completed so that youthful generation of the county can have an opportunity to acquire quality education that would give them the key to unlock any door in the future.
To this end, the Liberian first female Vice President saw the need to appeal to her boss [President Weah] to help complete the project since the previous administration treated the situation with lip service despite several audit reports pointing to financial malfeasances in the handling of funds intended for the school.
As a torchbearer of education and infrastructural development, President Weah agreed to ensure that the school project is completed along with the road construction work on the Gbarnga Broad Street road.
President Weah’s acceptance of Vice President Howard Taylor’s plead to complete the school means that students of Bong County will not be left out of the Liberian leader’s recent tuition free policy decision that has lifted the burden of school fees off the shoulders of struggling students and their parents.
Pundits have opined that the decision to look towards the BCTC further solidifies the government’s uncompromising resolve to wage war on illiteracy across the country.
“This is good news for us. As a “talk and do” leader, we have no doubt that President Weah will live up to his commitment to complete the school so that we can learn in a conducive environment.
Dr.Weah said his government will not promise but will work with the Vice president and other relevant authorities to ensure that the incomplete College project is finally completed.
In effect, he has raised the bar for opposition to work harder in planting seed of discord between the President and Vice President.
