Samuel G. Dweh
Africa-Press – Liberia. The leadership of the National Union of Organizations for the Disabled (NUOD) is rallying all members of the Disabled Community to gather en mass at the ground of the Executive Mansion—official office of Liberia’s Head of State—on the 27th of June, 2023, at 8:00am.
“This sit-in action is aimed at calling President George Manneh Weah’s attention to the hypertension-causing sufferings of members of Liberia’s disabled people’s community, as well as calling the President’s attention to the divisive actions of the current Executive Director of the National Commission on Disability, NCD, Madam Daintowon Domah Pay-Bayee,” NUOD current president, Pastor Peter B. K. Flomo, said to a gathering of disabled persons (blind, deaf, wheel chair-mobile, and crutches-mobile) during NUODs “Emergency Meeting” held June 23, 2023, at the NUOD’s temporary Headquarters on 9th Street, Sinkor, Monrovia. The Emergency Meeting was discussion of plethora of problems facing the entire disabled community.
Later the president instructed the General Secretary to produce a letter to the Ministry of Justice and the Liberia National Police to permit NUOD on the sit-in action.
“The NCD Executive Director, Madam Paye-Bayee, said she won’t work with the current leadership of NUOD because Peter B. K. Flomo, the current president, was not her presidential candidate during NUOD’s general elections held on April 27, 2023,” NUOD’s Vice President for Operations for Operations, Abraham Konneh, made a contribution to the Emergency Meeting.
Founded on the 25th of October 25, 2020, NUOD is an independent civil society umbrella body representing individual disabled persons and all in independent Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPWD) or Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) across Liberia’s 15 Counties. These OPWDs and DPos are not covered under the Government’s direct support or welfare program.
Another factor of NUOD’s planned sit-in action is based on the NCD Executive Director’s expenditure of five hundred thousand United States dollars (US$500,000) as “empowerment” fund from the George Manneh Weah-led Government of Liberia to the “entire disabled community”, NUOD’s president Peter K. Flomo disclosed. He also said the US$500,000 is part of a total of six hundred and twenty-nine United States dollars (US$629,000) the NCD Executive Director received from the Government as the disabled community’s share of the Government’s “National Budget” to each Government’s Institution and “vulnerable groups”—like the disabled community.
President Flomo, a visually impaired (blind), told his colleagues that he had explained the disabled community’s biting problems to Head of State George Manneh Weah at a program marking the 500 years of the existence of Sweden (another major Liberia’s development partner) held at the Executive Pavilion on Ashmun Street on the 6th of June, 2023.
“After explaining to the disabled community’s plights to President Weah, the President referred me to Monrovia City Mayor Mr. Jefferson Koijee who was standing besides the President when we were speaking at the Swedish program. Mr. Koijee shared his phone contact with me and told me to remind him after the program. On June 8, after the program, my leadership officially reminded Mayor Koijee through a letter. But he has never replied to that letter, and he has never picked any of my several phone calls to him,” Mr. Flomo told the gathering.
NUOD’s letter to Mayor Koijee, given to this writer for perusal, pleaded for the Mayor’s audience for NUOD’s representatives to discuss ways of connection to President Weah for assistance to NUOD on its personal projects and to empower all OPWDs and DPOs across the Country on education, economic programs, talents exhibitions, etc.
The fifth paragraph of the letter sent to Mayor Jefferson states: “Cognizant of your commendable track record of positive change for all Liberians, we do not hesitate to remind you of the United Nations Universal Human Rights Mantra—“Leave No One Behind”—and in so doing an audience with the President, through your office, would be the best way forward”
On the Government’s budgetary allotment (US$500,000) to the Country’s disabled community, given through the National Commission on Disability (NCD), headed by Madam Paye-Bayee, the Pastor Peter K. Flomo-led leadership of NUOD claims NUOD wasn’t given anything, and that the NCD Executive Director “mismanaged” use of the money.
“Madam Pay-Bayee snubbed NUOD’s advice of how the Government’s empowerment funding of the entire disabled community should be carried out to reach all disabled organizations across Liberia. When we engaged her on the unilateral use of the money, she told us that she used the first installment, US$250, 000, on empowerment of eight hundred disabled persons on the street—street beggars—within Monrovia,” NUOD president reported to the gathering of PWDs at NUOD’s headquarters.
He added: “NUOD is yet to see what Madam Paye-Bayee used the second installment, two hundred and fifty U.S. dollars. During one of our engagements with her, she told us that she is accountable to only the Ministry of Finance & Development Planning and the President—George Weah. She also told us she is working to the pleasure of only President Weah.”
“The Liberian dollars equivalent of the five hundred United States dollars is eighty million dollars,” Mr. Melvin Harding, NUOD’s Vice President for Administration, chipped in (announced) when president Flomo paused briefly.
Another issue the current leadership of NUOD hold against the NCD Executive Director is her comment, according to a NUOD official, that she controls the Organizations for Persons With Disabilities (OPWDs)
“She said she controls seventy-eight OPWDs. This is an overlap of her function as NCD Executive Director. All OPWDs and DPOs are under NUOD as the umbrella body for all these independent disabled people’s groups. Each OPWD or DPO is under NUOD. It’s NUOD’s responsibility to take the membership listing of any of these independent groups to NCD for registration or for Government’s support if there is any available support,” president Peter B.K. Flomo said.
The NCD Executive Director, Madam Paye-Bayee, couldn’t be reached by this writer for her responses on the allegations levelled against her by the Pastor Peter B.K. Flomo-led leadership of NUOD.
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