By: D. Patrick Tokpah, Bong County Correspondent
It appears that Bong sports authorities turned blind eyes on what is said to be a misappropriation of some US$12,000 given to the county by the Ministry of Youth & Sports as part of its support to preparing the County’s kickball and football teams to fully participate in the 2018/2019 national championship league.
Despite the presentation of the money by the Ministry to the Bong Sports Authorities, they announced that there was no money to cater to the needs of the players on camp.
It can be recalled that last December, Augustine Jallah the Manager of the County Team spoke with Journalists in Bong County declaring the lack of support to the team, a situation that drew the attention of some of the lawmakers of the County, including Deputy Speaker Prince Kermue Moye who supported the teams financially.
The ANALYST’s Bong County correspondent established that while the Sport Authorities were announcing lack of support, the US$12,000 in the coffers of the authorities and was allegedly controlled by Manager Augustine Jallah and Oldman Soko Sackor, in consultation with Bong County Superintendent Esther Nyamah Walker.
Superintendent Walker joined Mr. Jallah and other members of the Sport Authorities of the County to raise funds for the County’s football and kickball teams even with her allegedly knowledge of the US$12,000 Dollars was in the County’s Sports Authorities’ account.
Our Bong County Correspondent reported that no official of the County confirmed that the Ministry of Youth and Sports had given them money until the Ministry announced that they had already settled Bong, Margibi and Nimba Counties at once.
Our correspondent also reported that when the news broke that the Sport Authorities of the County had received money, some concerned citizens of the County started demanding report from them through the office of the Superintendent.
Bong County Superintendent Esther Nyamah Walker then announced to the Public that she and the Lawmakers would launch Investigation into the matter, but since that time, they have closed their eyes on the issue.
A probe into the issue by our Bong County correspondent has suspected that Bong County Superintendent Walker might have allegedly conspired with Mr. Augustine Jallah and the rest of the officials of the Bong Sports Authorities to share the money.
At the initial stage, when the news came to the public glare that the Youth & Sports Ministry gave the money, Superintendent Esther Walker admitted to receiving four hundred United States Dollars from Mr. Jallah for Gasoline, but did not know where the money came from.
Mr. Jallah rebutted the claim by the Superintendent and said Madam Walker knew about the US$12,000.
He clarified to our correspondent via mobile phone that Superintendent Walker allegedly signed documents for the withdrawal of the money from the bank, an allegation Superintendent Walker denied when she stated that her signature was falsified by Mr. Jallah.
Since that time, Madam Walker is yet to launch an investigation into the matter, even though she announced to the public that the issue would have been investigated.
Mr. Augustine Jallah who is at the center stage of the situation is allegedly on the run, while Superintendent Walker who should be signatory to money has refused to clarified to the Public about the usage of the money.
Meanwhile, the County still owes an undisclosed amount to some of the players who participated in the 2018/2019 league while any of the players have threatened to leave the County Team before the upcoming 2019/2020 National County Sports meet.
Comments are closed.