Amara Mohammed Konneh, the Senator who heads the Senate integrity body – the Public Accounts Committee along with Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darious Dillon misled fellow lawmakers and public in trying to complain about purchase of vehicles for the January 2023 inauguration of President Joseph Boakai.
Oracle News Daily fact-check of their statements on social media and in Senate plenary sessions that the Ministry of State purchased SUV vehicles on instructions from Minister Sylvester Grigsby, bypassing the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC) and Public Financial Management (PFM) Laws, has revealed a raft of inconsistencies, false and misleading statements.
Background:
Between December 2023 and April 2024, Minister Grigsby faced allegations of instructing the NASSCORP to acquire five new SUV vehicles for personal use rather than official functions.
Some broadcasters and lawmakers including Montserrado Representatives Yekeh Kolubah put the figure at $500,000. One online platform (dubawa) said the Minister requested $5 million.
On April 26, 2024, Amara Konneh, Senator of Gbarpolu County, publicly criticized the Ministry of State for purchasing SUV vehicles on instructions from Grigsby, bypassing the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC) and Public Financial Management (PFM) Laws.
Senator Konneh highlighted this as an example of bad governance, using state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as slush funds, and called for Grigsby’s resignation.
He said in his Facebook post: Fajr prayer: Yesterday in the Senate, we argued, for the third time, our complaint against NASSCORP and the Ministry of State for purchasing SUV vehicles on instructions from the Minister of State and Chief of Staff to the President at a time when he served as a Senior Advisor to the President-Elect, and outside of the PPCC and PFM Laws (as amended).
In the photo below, I am conferring with my co-complainant Abe Darius Dillon who had to recuse himself because he was also the Presiding Officer before giving me the floor to emphasize the bad governance practice of using SOEs as slush funds and reiterate our recommendations that the President take the following measures to remedy the situation:
- Seriously reprimand NASSCORP’s Director General
- Instruct the Minister of Finance to reimburse NASSCORP the full costs of the vehicles from the Ministry of State’s budget
- Ask for the Minister of State’s resignation.
The purpose of NASSCORP is to manage workers’ Social Security trust funds by receiving payroll taxes, paying out benefits, and investing any surplus in special government-backed investments. It is wrong to use pensioners’ money as a slush fund to purchase vehicles for government operations.
Six months later Konneh counterpart in the House of Representatives jumped on to the allegations.
Clarence Gahr, who Chairs the Legislative Joint Public Accounts Committee (PAC), called for the resignation of the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Sylvester Grisgby, linking him to the purchase of luxurious SUV vehicles with taxpayers’ money.
“The leaked document shows that Minister Grigsby received money from NASSCORP to purchase vehicles for President Boakai during the transition period and those vehicles are yet to be made visible,” Gahr said.
“The Minister of State has to resign because he cannot account for how he acquired funds to purchase SUV vehicles for the President’s personal use. Leaked documents linking him to taking money from NASSCORP to buy the vehicles but we are yet to get any explanation from him.”
Key Inconsistencies and false Claims
Notably, the Senators targeted Sylvester Grisby, one of the nation’s most experienced public servants and NASSCORP’s managing director. They accused him of malfeasance without providing substantial evidence, undermining his integrity and reputation in a highly public manner.
The lawmakers said that: Minister Grisby was given money for cars for personal use; He received money from NASSCORP; He was given $500,000; NASSCORP engaged in questionable financial practices in its vehicle procurement.
Facts: The truth on record
On 17 January 2023, with five days to Inauguration on Jan. 22, current Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Sylvester Grigsby, while serving on Transition Committee that was organizing the inaugural ceremony wrote the Director General of the National Social security and Welfare Corporation to assist with logistics given the prevailing constraints.
“We are facing very serious challenges with respect to logistics and transportation for the inaugural activities. Even after the inauguration the Ministry of State will be in continued dire need for transportation,” Grigsby wrote.
“In view of the forgoing we wish to request that you kindly secure for us five (5) SUVs for the use of VIP guests attending the inauguration and thereafter to help ease the transportation need of the Ministry of state.”
Additional review of documents shows, NASSCORP procured three SUVs at the unit cost of $39,000 and aggregate value of $117,000.
The Corporation did not give cash to Grigsby neither did it provide direct funding to any member of the transition team. NASCCORP entirely handled the transactions in keeping with its policy and utilizing Corporate Social Responsibility funding.
Minister Grigsby’s request was in the context of NASCCORP’s corporate social responsibility scheme, which institutions as well as private citizens, have accessed since the establishment of the entity in the 1970s.
Verdict: Lawmakers, like all public servants bear the responsibility to uphold truthfulness in their statements. False claims made about NASSCORP’s inauguration car purchase fueled one of the biggest misinformation campaigns in recent decades.
