Quarrel over Ebola donation

Montserrado County Electoral District 14 has launched its Ebola Taskforce with a donation of L$210,000 and 200 buckets to help in the Ebola fight. But residents of the district are questioning the source of the initiative, after Montserrado County Superintendent Madam Florence Brandy, sharply contradicted district 14 Rep. A. Vamuyan Conneh public when she announced that the donation, including the 210,000 Liberian dollars, 200 buckets and chloride, came strictly from the county.

Rep. Conneh provided what he said was his personal initiative, one hundred printed T-Shirts and 200 anti-Ebola buckets with his photographs pasted on them to the district on Tuesday, September 16. Additionally L$210,000 was given to the contact tracing team during the launch of the task force.

But after the indoor program held at the Clara Town Hall, Representative Conneh insisted on a chart with reporters that the donation was his personal initiative, saying the county has a budget and will do its part.

“The county has their own budget… this is my own personal contribution. The county will have that, but this is my own initiative,” he said. Both officials, however gave messages of sensitization to the locals, appealing to them to put aside religious, political and cultural practices to unite in kicking Ebola out Montserrado County and Liberia.

Representative Conneh urged the district task force that just as it is done in census, inventory should be taken on those who have died of Ebola in the district for future consideration after the fight.

For her part, Superintendent Brandy told the residents: “Today, Montserrado has come to empower you to work,” saying everything that is going on today is a county initiative. She warned that if community people do not own the Ebola fight, it will be hard to break the chain of transmission, urging them to report all cases.