Who’s chopping ‘ghost’ clinic money?

By Bridgett Milton

The mystery surrounding how funding has been allotted in the National Budget for an allegedly non-existing Gbondoi Clinic has left many wondering over who is chopping the allotted cash.

The House of Representatives has passed the National Budget for the Fiscal Year 2023, and there’s a budget line for what people say is a ghost clinic called Gbondoi which is supposed to be located in Bong County.

The FY 2023 Budget has been forwarded to the Liberian Senate for further action.

The amount of $25,000 United States dollars has been allocated to the National Budget for the Gbondoi Clinic in Electoral District #6, Bong County. The money was placed in the budget for the operations of that clinic.

However, some lawmakers from Bong County have raised a concern that the Gbondoi clinic does not exist in their county.

Bong County Electoral District #2 Representative James Kolleh and Bong County Electoral District #6 Representative Moima Briggs Mensah say there is no need for the clinic to be included in the National Budget. 

Rep. Kolleh told members of the House of Representatives that it has been established that the clinic does not exist and that the allocation was only meant for some individuals’ selfish gains.

Also speaking, Rep. Brigss Mensah added that the clinic in question has in the past years been captured in the National Budget with no physical structure for services to be rendered to citizens of the County.

She then pointed fingers at Representative Marvin Cole who alleged that the clinic exists and there are structures for the amount to be used on.

Rep. Briggs Mensah said Representative Marvin Cole is defending the allocation of the money because he allegedly has been the one benefiting from an act she termed as criminal. 

Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Rep. Briggs Mensah called on her colleagues from the Senate to weed out that specific budget line allotting money to a ‘non-existing clinic’ in the district.

But addressing a news conference Thursday, 23 February 2023, Rep. Marvin Cole said the information by his two colleagues was false and misleading.

He categorically rejected their claim that Gbondoi Clinic does not exist.

He said his colleagues did not do due diligence, adding that at no point in time, he has taken money from the budget that belongs to that clinic to eat.

Cole added that the clinic is in existence and his colleagues need to do more investigation.