Proving Tilman Collins Dead Wrong – Part I

By Gibson W. Jerue

Each time I hear of financial improprieties or gross disregard to financial probity, my antenna is raised very highly. I always felt that messing with public funds is a like taking a handful of sand the splashing them in the faces of the people. It is also a gross disregard to the people’s interest. The funds entrusted to leaders are intended for public good and milk the insatiable largess of leaders, but often time administrations take unto themselves to apply public funds to satisfy their personal aggrandizement. I believe there are sufficient reasons for all well-meaning people to question their leaders and raise the alarm for check and balance, and financial accountability and transparency—intrinsic values that the Collins administration is wanting of.

Over the last few weeks, the Collins administration has come under tremendous criticisms for allocating suspiciously to the president a traveling budget so huge for a thriving organization like the Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas. The amount in contention is the $8,335 under the budget line of “Administrative and Board Expenses” in the 2011/2012 Budget. And this issue has generated a lot of heat and raised enormous dust that prompted the President of the GGAA, Tilman Collins to fumble with it and dashed the documents in the public domain. On Sunday, March 3, 2013 he finally submitted the budget and other supporting documents to the Voice of Gedeh FM and website information and news organ.

There are four fundamental questions that must be answered: 1) Did the Collins administration succeed in allocating $8,335 unto the president for travel and entertainment? 2) If no, how much money was allocated for travel and entertainment, and was it justifiable? 3) Was the budget constitutionally and rightfully distributed to chapters and placed in public domain? 4) Was the travel and entertainment budget necessary? In attempting these questions to do justice, I am going to address the questions one at a time. That way our people understand whether or not there was any justifiable reason for anyone to cry foul about of the alleged travel expenses.

Before touching on the four questions in our subsequent editions, we must first trace where the money is coming from to milk the GGAA is coming from. There are two major sources the Association uses to raise money: A) Chapters and membership dues, and B) Special programs, like queen contest, etc., attended mainly by Grand Gedeans and members. In either fund-raising channels, the people who bring in bulk of the money are Grand Gedeans who toll days and nights to make ends meet. Some of these people spent eight hours, sixteen hours or more hours on their job only to get a pay check that is just right for their bills. But while their bills are climbing all over them, they pinch from their income to pay their dues and massively support fund-raisers organized by the GGAA.

For anyone to think that using such an amount to for entertainment that is not defined and travel that does not replenish is a gross ingratitude to the benevolence of our people. Every penny donated or contributed to GGAA is intended to improve the organization by investing it into worthy venture, not to sponsor one man to attend entertain blazes and bring back empty basket.

Even worst of all is that the very people who pay their hard-earned money are described as “divisive”, “disgruntled elements” and “desperate people” by the Collins administration and his stooges and surrogates just because they raise concerns. I would wonder how could a person who ask as to what you did with his/her money reduces that person to becoming an evil person. But for the Collins administration, only those who are in cohort in the wanton siphoning of Association funds on trivia things are the best Grand Gedeans. The rest of us who ask a modest question, “What happen to the money” are the satans and demons from Grand Gedeh.  And if Mr. Collins has way we will be the first to open hell’s door and perish first. Watch out for part II—Did the Collins administration allocate $8, 335 unto the president for travel and entertainment?