— As Minister Zogar Wilson Says Gov’t Does Not Owe a Dime to the Workers and Will not Succum Unwarranted Pressure
IPNEWS: The much-publicized meeting with 4,000 slum dwellers, who worked on the suspended Reclaiming Liberia Beaches and Waterways Program, and President George Weah has broken down with threats to stage unspecified action for 30 months’ salary arrears owed them by the Government.
The Reclaiming Liberia Beaches and Waterways Program, which is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, was established during the administration of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to give a facelift to waterways and beaches in Liberia, and to help provide employment opportunities for scores of slum dwellers.
The workers through their spokesman Edwin G. V. Kanneh alleged that are being prevented to meet President Weah by high-profile officials of government including Youth and Sports Minister, D. Zogar Wilson and Montserrado County District No. 16. Lawmarker Dickson Siebo.
According to the workers, the memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the government of Liberia and beach and waterway workers was altered by Minister Zogar Wilson for obvious reasons.
It may be recalled, a communication dated June 8, 2020, addressed to Justice Minister Counselor Frank Musa Dean and signed by the Head Monitors and Secretary General of the program respectively, stated that the aggrieved workers are currently living in frustration and hardship due to the delay in the payment of their arrears.
The aggrieved workers recalled that on March 1 this year, Youth and Sports Minister Zoegar Wilson pronounced the immediate closure of the project “without any written acknowledgment to the workforce”.
According to them, Minister Wilson then invited the head monitor of the New Kru Town belt, Dekontee Woto, the Project Region Two-II Coordinator Edwin G. V. Kanneh, and Region-I Coordinator, George Young to a meeting to find a way forward for the project.
They maintained that additional three persons from the ministry, including the Assistant Youth and Sports Minister, Famatta Bracewell; Director for Monitoring and Evaluation Mr. Samuel Jallah, and Mr. John N. Sunday, Special Assistant to the Minister, were appointed on March 28 to spearhead the committee.
The workers claimed that a six-man committee was tasked with the responsibility to determine the actual financial obligations of the government to the employees of the program, and advancing measures for the program restructuring.
But it seems the committee has not been able to find a way forward to pay the arrears of workers, who are now demanding answers.
“We, the underprivileged slum dwellers in tears, frustration, and hardship, extend our compliment in respect to our country’s constitution which speaks of freedom of assembly,” said the concerned workers in a letter.
“We write to ask for security protection for the Beaches and Waterways Project’s entire workforce of 3,950 persons to stage a peaceful assembly at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, until a peaceful settlement can be reached beginning the 15th day of June 2020 in demand of our 21-months arrears”.
According to the slum dwellers, the delay in the payment of their salary arrears runs contrary to the pro-poor agenda of President Weah.
They added that although they were advised by authorities of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to seek an audience with Minister Wilson, their calls to the Minister for mitigation have fallen on deaf ears.
“We wrote the Minister seeking official audience with him, but to no avail, but he rather called only CDCians supervisors and observers on the project to a meeting at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, instead of the project’s leadership,” the letter continues.
“Hon. Justice Minister, from all these provocations, prejudicial and ancient approaches to our frustration, we are considered as non-partisans, non-Liberians, non-family men who need to send their children to school, pay their house rent and provide for their families.
The aggrieved workers continued: “We are left with no alternative but to protest in demand of our twenty-one months wages since the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Youth and Sports continue to show no interest in addressing this matter on hand”.
For his part, Youth and Sports Minister D. Zogar Wilson stated that the Beaches and Waterways project was terminated by the GoL in 2020.
“We entered an MOU with their leadership to pay them 2M in arrears which we did. GoL started a New Project, Coastal Sanitation (TECY) last year and some of them were beneficiaries and are still beneficiaries.”
“GoL does not owe them a dime. On this new Project, Rep Dixon Siebo made a passionate plea for MYS to accommodate some of them who have been volunteering to clean the beaches and we agreed. We have apportioned 608 beneficiaries just for New Kru Town to Rep Siebo based on his appeal to accommodate some of them. So I do not understand why they are protesting?”
“We did not request them to volunteer and in fact, we were not aware. We made no commitment, but yet we agreed to accommodate some of them and they have to work with Rep Dixon Siebo on that.”
True to the worker’s claims, in 2022 Minister Zogar Wilson admitted that government remains indebted to the aggrieved workers.
He disclosed that from 2018 to February 2020, the government has not been able to settle its arrears owed to slum dwellers who were working with the program.
He attributed his decision taken to suspend the program to financial and administrative improprieties complained by “some concerned community leaders,” who he did not name, against the coordinators of the program, George Young and Edwin G. V. Kanneh, and the lack of funding to continue.
“The budgetary appropriation for the 2019/2020 budget year that the government put in the budget for the Beaches and Waterways program — the amount of US$500,000 was expended after two pays,” Minister Wilson said.
“So, there was no money in the budget again to continue the program. And you know we are under this IMF program, and we cannot do off-budget spending. And so, we decided to suspend the program for that reason”.
According to him, the committee chaired by his special assistant is reviewing modalities to ensure the restructuring of the program, and to also determine the total amount owed to the aggrieved workers.
“There are more to just the 21 months that what the committee we set up is investigating. It will determine the number of months, and we have to determine who are those and the number of persons that the government owes,” he said.
Minister Wilson furthered: “Once the committee completes its worthen the Ministry of Youth and Sports will engage the Ministry of Finance and say, Honorable Minister, since we suspended this program and we are restructuring it; this is how much we owe our workers. How do we settle it as leaders – our decisions on payment of arrears will be based on facts and documents”.
At the same time, Minister Wilson has been alarmed over the inclusion of over 1,300 workers in the program by the two suspended coordinators without his consent.
He disclosed that these workers were included based on political and other reasons by the suspended Coordinators.
He said the government will not succumb to pay arrears to anyone who was not properly incorporated into the program.
“The suspended coordinators came to my office in 2018 and said they were under pressure coming from lawmakers and other community leaders, giving them names to put on the project. I instructed them not to take any name from anybody without my approval, and if anybody put you under pressure, come to my office and tell me”.
Minister Wilson added: “Contrary to what I told them, they went ahead and did what they did.”
He, however, expressed hope that the committee to investigate the complaints and ensure the restructuring of the program will submit its findings and recommendations within three weeks.
Minister Wilson has been consistently accused of taking political decisions regarding the project to please some of his executive committee members of the CDC serving within the 54th Legislature. But the Minister has termed the allegation as false and misleading.
“I don’t run my office on a partisan level. The President of this country, my boss, said on so many occasions that he will work with any opposition person that is willing to help his government. I take my cue from the President. I do nothing here on a partisan level,” he said.
He, however, urged the aggrieved workers not to stage any peaceful assembly in the country because the move is intended to satisfy the “personal motives” of some of their suspended leaders.
