SENATOR THOMAS GRUPEE RECEIVES PRAISES FROM NCCEL GBEHLAY-GEH BRANCH

-For construction of headquarters in Karnplay City

Members of the National Council of Chiefs and Elders in Liberia (NCCEL) residing in Gbehlay- Geh Statutory District have appreciated Nimba County senator Thomas Grupee for the construction of a modern building to host the headquarters of the council.

The chiefs and elders told reporters in Karnplay City on Saturday, May 26, 2018, that the construction of the building has brought proud to them as fathers of the county and country; noting that it is the first time for chiefs and elders to benefit from such project in  County.

‘’This Building is meaningful and it represents the council in this area; and in fact Gbehlay-Geh Statutory District is the only place  in Nimba today that chiefs and elders can boast of having a decent building to serve as headquarters for our organization’’, the chiefs asserted.

‘’We as old people in Liberia should have a good place to sit and discuss things that are affecting the county and country. We know that government does not have the capacity to pay us, but if we have a good place to rest, we will be very happy that is why we want to tell senator Grupee thank you plenty for thinking about us in Gbehlay-Geh Statutory District’’, they noted.

The chiefs explained that the County lawmaker has contributed to several projects in several towns in Gbehlay-Geh Statutory since his ascendency to the senatorial post in 2011 including: Loguatuo, Duoplay, Zeanlay#2  and Garplay among others.

Meanwhile, the chiefs are appealing to the national government through Senator Grupee’s office to provide furniture and caretakers for the maintenance of the building.

‘’we are old and cannot scrub the floor or brush the grass in the yard, so we want Senator Grupee to talk with the National Council of Chiefs and Elders in Liberia to allocate funding that will enable us to pay somebody to help us keep this building clean’’, they added.

The forty-four thousand United States dollars used for the construction of the Gbehlay-Geh NCCEL headquarters was allocated in the 2016-2017 budgets under the Legislative Support Project. It is portion of Senator Grupee’s two hundred twenty eighty thousand (228,000.00) United States dollars allocated that fiscal year for his Legislative earmarked project; the balance of the money was used on other project across the county.

Besides the construction of the NCCEL headquarters in Karnplay, Senator Thomas S. Grupee has also constructed a modern school building at the cost of one hundred forty-four thousand ($144,000.00) United States dollars for the Glahn Town Public School in Gbi and Doru Administrative District in Lower Nimba, also under the Legislative Support Project.

The Legislative Support Projects were crafted by members of the House of Representatives to fast-track development in the counties as county development funds were seen as bureaucratic and frequently mismanaged by county authorities.

Projects under this scheme is supervised by the Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment(LACE) that sub contract companies to implement projects under the LSP.