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Written by Our Senior Staff
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Thursday, 21 June 2012 19:56 |
Communities constituting Monrovia have participated in a series of workshops organized by the Liberia Country Team (LCT), which is implementing a World Bank sponsored project intended for monitoring municipal contracts awarded to the Monrovia City Corporation.
The last workshop brought together a cross-section of ladies from various communities in Monrovia who gathered at the offices of NARDA on Broad and Johnson Streets’ junction to climax the first phase of the project in terms of public awareness.
Jacob Slewion of the Public Procurement Concession Commission (PPCC) and C. Mike Doryen, Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist at the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) were among facilitators that provided ‘food for thought’ to the participants about municipal procurement and contract initiatives.
Mr. Doryen disclosed that the Monrovia City Government was established in 1835 prior to the formation of Liberia in 1847.
According to him, the popularity of the then City Mayor, Thomas Faulkner demoralized Charles D. B. King during the 1929 election that was rigged.
The scenario reportedly prompted the dissolution of the City Government at the time until 1973 when the William R. Tolbert administration mandated the existence of City Government through mayoral election for the winner to serve a four-year term. City Councilmen were also elected and the laws they made were referred to as City Ordinances.
Mr. Doryen noted that the City Corporation is clothed with the responsibility to ensure proper garbage collection, zoning laws and on the overall, cleaning the City of Monrovia.
At the same time, Mr. Slewion, speaking from the PPCC point of view, said monitoring procurement and contracts is necessary because the public needs to know how funds allocated for projects are expended.
He indicated that community dwellers have the right to monitor the processes of procurement and contracts because; when public funds are used on specific projects, the “value for money” is what the beneficiaries need.
Meanwhile, Agenda Executive, G. Jasper Cummeh, has lauded participants of the series of workshops conducted by the Liberia Country Team and called on them to make maximum use of what they acquired from the workshops for the common good of the City of Monrovia.
Previous workshop on municipal contracts’ monitoring took place in Fiamah, Slip-Way and Clara Town where representatives from across Monrovia assembled at different times weeks ago.
Seventy five of the participants are likely to be selected for further training to become monitors for the LCT’s project. |
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Last Updated on Friday, 22 June 2012 00:21 |
