— Accuses opponents of propaganda, smear campaign against him
The President of the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) has been on the offensive amid mounting criticism over the US$121,000 allocated for the completion of the first-floor of multipurpose headquarters of the Association, which claims to have been vanished in thin air.
Cllr. Sylvester Rennie claimed on Saturday that some members of the LNBA are at the forefront of “a very ugly and dangerous campaign to smear his hard-earned reputation, and vowed further efforts to counter criticism of his leadership’s commitment to the headquarters construction projects, in Tower Hill Community, Roberts field Highway.
“We have used every fees collected from our members for the project, which the first-floor is expected to be completed by January of 2025, for use,” Cllr. Rennie maintained, when he and a team visited the site to get progress reports.
In recent times, some members of Cllr. Wiefueh Sayeh’s team have reportedly been using the headquarters project as a propaganda campaign against Cllr. Bornor M. Varmah, current National Secretary General and a presidential candidate, supported by Cllr. Rennie, in the November 30 general elections. The elections will be held in Ganta, Nimba County.
Cllr. Elisha T. J. Forkeyoh, a candidate for the post of national secretary general on the ticket of Cllr. Sayeh, during a press conference, accused Rennie’s leadership of corruption, making specific to the US$121,000 headquarters project.
“Absolutely nothing has been done in the past two years to continue the construction process,” Cllr. Forkeyoh noted. “It is unfortunate that the construction process has stalled in the midst of enormous dues and contributions being made by lawyers.”
He added, “If elected, I will make sure that the leadership accounts for the funds entrusted to them, especially for the headquarters construction projects.”
Cllr. Bobby Livingstone, the chairman of the construction project, who accompanied Rennie, used the visit to encourage his colleagues to take up time to go to the site to see the level of work being done there. “We are here today to show some facts about what we started and how far we are doing,” he said.
Livingstone, is contending for the position of vice president, however noted that the visit was important to provide updates on the status of the Headquarter Project.
For his part, Mr. Joseph Dennis, general manager of JES Engineering, the contracting company disclosed that the first-floor is 85% complete.
JES Engineering, is a Liberian-owned company that signed an Exchange of Notes Agreement, worth US$121,000, for the completion of the first-floor of the Association’s four-storey multipurpose headquarters along the Tower Hill Community, Roberts field Highway.
The agreement was signed on Tuesday, October 15, by the LNBA’s President Sylvester D. Rennie and the General Manager of JES, Mr. Joseph S. Dennis, in the presence of the LNBA’s project manager, Cllr. Bobby Livingstone.
By then, Cllr. Rennie said the project is fully funded from dues and other fees collected from its membership. When he delved into the selection process of JES Engineering, Rennie noted that they followed a competitive bidding process.
“We announced a bid about three months ago for contractors to express interest. We were able to get a company that is 100% Liberian owned to carry out our project,” Cllr. Rennie said during the then signing ceremony.
Rennie added that the contract for the pending project will run for eight-months, where the first-floor will be completed, which JES Engineering has upheld.
On the delay of the project, Rennie then blamed it to a lack of funding over the years, as well as the previous contracting Liberian company, GeoScope Limited.
“We were compelled to terminate the contract with GeoScope because the company defaulted on the project,” Rennie said. He added that a plan is underway to seek legal redress against GeoScope.
However he said with the sound financial policy currently being put in place, a substantial amount has been collected to implement the project.
