The Managing partner of MASADA Waste Management Company has on Wednesday 4th April, 2019 tendered five processes of contract documents to the Commission of Inquiry for examination.
The documents relate to contracts entered into by MASADA and the Road Maintenance Fund Administration (RMFA), an institution charged with maintenance and renovation of roads in the country.
The latter contracted the former to clear chainages in function and other parts of the country under the Youth-In-Drainage project initiated by the Ministry of Youth Affairs.
The Managing partner, Aminata Dumbuya, while testifying at the Commission, stated that the contracts came into existence in 2014 and ended in 2017. According to her, they run into billions of leones. But she could not tell the exact contract sum in that day’s proceedings. The witness further informed the Commission that the contracts entered into with RMFA are quarterly while some are annual.
In her testimony, Madam Dumbuya made reference to the first contract dated 1st October 2014 amounting to Le203,700,000 (two hundred and three million, seven hundred thousand leones). She referred to these contracts as a yearly ones and that the said sum is an advanced payment of Le830,00,000 (eight hundred and thirty million). “Le16,000,000 (sixteen million leones) out of the Le203,000,000 (two hundred and three million leones) was used for training youth groups in the Youths-in-Drainage Project and it is a one-off payment,” Aminata disclosed.
On 1st October 2015, Aminata continued, MASADA entered into another contract agreement with RMFA, amounting to Le379,200,000 (three hundred and seventy-nine million, two hundred thousand leones).
She explained that Le22,600,000 (twenty two million six hundred thousand leones was charged as the administrative cost for MASADA per month.
As the Youths-in-Drainage contract continued at that time, RMFA further contracted MASADA in the sum of Le1,000,520,800,000 (one billion, five hundred and twenty million, eight hundred thousand leoens) to continue to clear the drainages. “This contract spans from 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2016”, the MASADA Managing partner informed the Commission.
The two final contracts, according to the witness Aminata Dumbuya, were initiated between 1/1/17 to 31/3/17 and from 3/3/17 to December 2017 respectively.
The contracts sum was over a billion leones inclusive of administrative charges.
In spite of highlighting the contract sums, the witness could not offer the exact amount of money that went into all the contracts. No breakdown of the income and expenditure was provided by the witness. However, contracts and pictorial evidence on the work done was collectively admitted by the Commission and marked Exhibit P-22. The exhibits formed part of the Commission’s records.
Pounding up her testimony, the presiding judge, Justice Biobele Georgewill, inquired from the witness about what constitute administrative cost in the Youth-in-Drainage project.
The witness, Aminata Dumbuya, explained that administrative costs are charged outside the carting away of debris. The charges include payment of bin attendants, who man the bins erected at 16 mobile transit points. The bins are provided by MASADA and they are manned by persons employed by MASADA, the witness emphasized.
During cross examination conducted by lead defence counsel, Ady Macauley, the MASADA Managing partner revealed that, in the Youths-in-Drainage project, the bin is dropped with the client and collected for onward dumping to the designated landfills. Since the dustbins were erected in the middle of communities, the witness narrated, MASADA sought the services of bin attendants to prevent other people not connected to the project to deposit filth in them and to sanitize the area.
She ended her testimony by informing the Commission that administrative cost is the responsibility of her institution, MASADA.
The question of administrative cost was central to that day’s proceedings since an RMFA official, Clifford Williams, had previously testified that his institution paid administrative cost to MASADA as part of the contract terms.
Meanwhile, prior to the witness’s testimony, Justice Biobele Georgewill said proclaimed former officials in the Ministry of Youth Affairs as persons of interest. These officials include Reverend Ibrahim Koroma, the Project Coordinator, Youth-in-Drainage project, Ministry of Youth Affairs, Dr Serry Idriss Kamara, Project Coordinator, National Youth Village, Massaio Mansaray, Finance/Admin Officer, National Youth Village and Mohamed Kamara, the Project Manager, Youth-in-Fisheries project.
The Commission’s declaration of these officials as persons of interest is linked to the evidence adduced by counsel for the state and the testimony of the current permanent secretary, MOYA. The Commission believes that, by virtue of the positions of trust occupied by the said officials in the implementation of the MOYA Projects, they can furnish the Commission with ‘vital information.’
The current MOYA Permanent Secretary, Andrew Lawrence Sorie, testified that the whereabouts of all five officials remains unknown.Sorie informed the Commission that most of these officials stopped coming to work after the 2018 presidential and parliamentary elections.The witness made specific reference to the Project Manager, Youth-in-Fisheries, who allegedly abandoned the office after the pronouncement of the elections results.
“Mohamed Kamara stopped coming to work on April 2018. He abandoned work as well as vehicles. We searched for the vehicles and found them parked somewhere else,” the witness disclosed.
Upon such revelations, Justice Biobele expressed his intention to order the arrest of these officials with a particular focus on Reverend Ibrahim Koroma. The presiding judge reasonably believed that Koroma had allegedly embezzled Le26,000,000,000 (twenty six billion leones) that was mainly allocated to the Youths-in-Drainage’ project.
During the proceeding, it was unanimously agreed by both state and defence counsels to subpoena the aforementioned officials to appear at the Commission. The subpoena will be published in the local newspapers as evidence of service on the officials.
“Should they fail to appear, the Commission will go through the Inspector-General or Police to arrest them,” the Judge declared.
The officials are expected to appear on today 8th April, 2019.