The beaches and water ways project under the supervision of the Ministry of Youth and Sports is suspended as of March 1, 2020.
The project was government-focus program introduced to clean the beaches, prevent diseases associated with lack of proper sanitation and create jobs for young people in slum communities.
According to Youth and Sports Minister, he received complaints from concerned communities alleging that the two regional coordinators of the project were engaged with malpractices.
The communities alleged that Region One Coordinator John Young and Edwin Kanneh were flooding the pay-roll with ghost names and ghost communities on the program.
The Minister said the complaints led to the suspension of the two coordinators.
Minister Wilson quotes one of the suspended coordinators, John Young as admitting to adding people on the project without prior instruction from the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Announcing the decision Friday, Youth and Sports Minister Zeogar Wilson said the suspension was triggered after investigation revealed the authenticity of the improprieties in the program.
Minster Wilson said investigation revealed that more than 651 ghost names and nine ghost communities were infused in the program.
He said investigation discovered that the Commissioner of Virginia Tarh Weah submitted about ninety-two persons on the list not from his community.
The Ministry also found that many people on the program were recruited in 2019 but they were paid for 2018, something Minister Wilson found almost impossible.
He noted that the project had five hundred thousand allotted in the budget, but such amount was used even before the year came to an end.
Addressing the Information Ministry Press Conference Friday, Minster Wilson said the project is suspended as of March pending review.
He said following the review process of the program, a new structure will be set up to run the project, noting that government lost confidence in the current setup of the project.
The Minister said given the discrepancies in the program, government finds it difficult to determine who it owes on the project.
