Sam Jackson Questions RIA Road Contractors

A Liberian economist, Sam Jackson, says the East International Group, the lone contractor of the 4-lane road expansion project intended to reconstruct the Roberts International Airport route from Paynesville is bogus.Mr. Jackson who took to the social media recently in his attempt to expose the deal between the government of Liberia and this company, said in this world of technology, the East International Group does not have a website and uniqueness to finance or carry out the project.
He said even the Facebook page of the company is not a guarantor for which such huge contract should be given to it by any serious government least to speak of giving them a million dollar contract; though the cost of this contract has not been made public.
He questioned the loan agreement that was said to have been rectified by the Legislature and wondered why this project was awarded as a concession through the Public Procurement and Concession Commission as a sole source.
Referring to the company as being bogus (419), Mr. Jackson accused one Kelvin Boima as the face of the East International Company here in Liberia and asked when was the last time he (Boima) participated in a road engineering project before being awarded such huge contract?
He explained that since July of 2017, the Liberian Senate ratified a pre financing agreement between the government; then headed by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and East International Group to construct roads around the country.
Same Jackson who has been blowing Weah-led Government’s trumpet of late asked if the company is pre financing this much publicized road project because the government has not quantified the cost of relocating the residents along that road’s front view.
“Is there money in the current budget or in the pre finance budget for this project? What is the Legislature’s involvement; what is the proof of capability and source of your funding,” he questioned the East International Group.
He said the company has no work history in and out of Liberia and might only point to the Smythe Road and the Gbarnga Road projects which were underrated and messed up and that cannot suffice to being awarded such huge project.
Another concern has been trending from advocate Martin Kollie wherein he too stated categorically that the government ‘lied’ about the ELWA-RIA Road in which he stated that the well-designed graphics depicting the 4-lane road that was shown to those who went at the program was misleading.
Mr. Kollie said the images that were viewed and shared by the Weah-led cronies pro regime apologists giving President George Weah overwhelming praises for having the mind of initiating a modern project were all fake.
He said they were screenshots from a four-minute 31 seconds demo video titled ‘Liberia master RIA Road Project produced and released since 2015 with link https://vimeo.com/128848315 to demonstrate a sample or design of the 45km ELWA-RIA Road which was initiated by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Mr. Kollie wondered why must the ruling party, the CDC, continue to tell lies about everything and said, “Parking a few used dump trucks in the name of East International is fully ready to begin this project is a diversionary tactic from the prevailing paralyses (gas shortage, unemployment crisis, high inflation, hike in tuition, zero growth and hike in the prices).
However, when the Ministry of Public Works was contacted yesterday afternoon, informed this paper that the Ministry will appropriately address the issue this Thursday at the Ministry of Information press briefing.