By Solomon T. Gaye
Tension has erupted between the administration of the John Wesley Pearson High School and the Gompa City Cooperation over lease agreement with Lone Star MTN Communications in Nimba County.
Speaking to the Inquirer Newspaper, the principal of the John Wesley Pearson High School, Nyan Taylor Guanue, reported that the failure of GCC’s past and present city mayors to provide the contractual agreement between the school and Lonestar Communications, through the GCC is hampering the smooth running of the school.
Guanue is alleging that the school’s administration was left out in the agreement which the GCC allegedly crafted and signed on behalf of the school.
“Lonestar sub office and the tower were constructed since 2010 within the premises of the school but the school’s administration doesn’t know the amount the company is remitting to the GCC,” Principal Guanue said.
“Reliable sources informed the school’s authority that GCC is allegedly receiving US$1,500 from Lonestar annually,” principal Guanue revealed; a claim which is yet to be independently verified.
Principal Guanue added that the school’s administration has written a letter to Representative Samuel Brown on the issue but to no avail.
When contacted, the District Education Officer(DEO) of the Bain- Garr District, Nyan Vahn, responded that he just took office from the outgoing DEO, Abel Legay.
“I was informed sometimes ago that Lone Star is paying for the communication tower constructed on the J.W. Pearson High School’s campus to GCC and is wrong. GCC is not clothed with the authority to collect school’s money from company in the absent of the school’s administration or without the involvement of the Ministry of Education through its DEO assigned in the district , ” DEO Vahn pointed out .
“I recommend through this medium that the contractual agreement be revisited,” DEO Vahn stated .
When contacted via mobile phone in 2010, the former City Mayor of Gompa, David Dorr Cooper, confirmed the existing contractual agreement between the school and Lonestar Communications through the GCC and referred the paper then to contact GCC present city Mayor Samuel Hardt.
When contacted, the administrative assistant to the Gompa City Mayor, Africano Dolo, revealed that US$750 is paid annually to GCC on behalf of the school in line with the contractual agreement.
“Lonestar has not paid for the past two years , on grounds that the company took liability for 2023-2024 tax payment owed by both the school and the company,” Administrative Assistant Dolo, further disclosed .
Dolo added a new layer of disclosure saying, “The money is divided into shares; US$350.00 for the school and similar amount goes to the GCC.”
Investigations continue.
