By: Peter Dennis
dennisrealone@gmail.com

IPNews-Monrovia: Three senior administrative staffs of the government run Dolokelen Gboveh High School are calling Bong County Electoral District three Lawmaker Hon. Josiah Marvin Cole and Senator Henry Yallah to pay scholarship arrears owed the institution.

According to Solomon Dakar Kollie-Secretary General of the institution, Dean of Students Affairs Moses Sawmadal and Sam Elliot-PTA Chairman, Representative Josiah Marvin Cole owes Two million three forty five Liberian dollars (2,345,000 LD), while Senator Henry Willie Yallah owes over three hundred thousand Liberian Dollars totaling 2,645,000 United States Dollars.

They disclosed to the Independent Probe Newspaper that both Hon. Cole and Senator Yallah have allegedly failed to pay the scholarship arrears owed the institution for 2019-2020 academic year.

“From the beginning of this academic year, these two lawmakers have not been able to meet their scholarship arrears in the school.

The school needs funding to operate. We can’t operate like this. We have called on them to pay but nothing has changed” they told our Bong County correspondent.

According to a communication sent to the school administration headed by its principal, Mr. P. Kohnkahn Cole by the two lawmakers dated November 5, 2019 (Marvin Cole) and September 9, 2019 (Sen. Yallah), Representative Marvin Cole has 213 students while senator Yallah has 150 students.

Majority of these students are in the 12th grade, a copy of the communication sent to the school administration obtained by IPNews has gathered.

According to a communication sent by the senator Yallah, he pledged to assist some of the students with $3,600 per student as a financial aid with sad payment covering the portion of the tuition.

The Independent Probe Newspaper has gathered that each of the senior students at the Dolokelen Gboveh High school is paying a little over eight thousand Liberian Dollars as tuition for the academic year.

The three Gboveh High School administrators told our reporter that the institution is currently in court for so many financial problems a situation they described as shameful for the mother School in Bong County.

At the same time, the Principal of the institution Mr. P. Konkhan Cole has declined to comment on the matter.

When contacted by the Independent Probe Newspaper through calls and various text messages, both Representative Josiah Marin Cole and Senator Henry Willie Yallah refused to comment.

However, in a live appearance on Radio Bonges, the political affairs officer in the offices of Hon. Cole,  Eldorado Cammue aggressively contradicted himself by saying “We don’t owe the school. In fact, we cannot pay for empty chairs while there is no student in school”.

Moreover, several students at the Bong County Technical College grade sheets were ceased as a result of representative Josiah Marvin Cole and Senator Henry Willie Yallah’s refusal to meet their scholarship arrears in time.

This situation, according to reports, prompted the unconditional constrains of the striving students to make their own payment.

There are also reports lingering in the county that these two lawmakers (Rep. Cole and Sen. Yallah) have also refused to pay similar arrears owed another high school in electoral district#2; the Nathaniel Varney Massaquoi high school.
A source in the N. V. Massaquoi has also revealed those students have started individually paying their fees.

Some of the senior students who spoke to our correspondent in Bong County have expressed total sadness in the actions of these two lawmakers who are noted for making big and empty promises. Investigations continues. For more on this article, login to www.independentprobe.com