Published: June 10, 2026
FOYA, Lofa County — For seven fiscal years, Liberia’s national budget has set aside more than a quarter-million U.S. dollars to build the Foya Polytechnic. The school does not exist.
A visit to the proposed site, land donated by town elders, found only bare ground, tall grass and no foundation. There is no sign that construction ever began. The allocations appear under the Ministry of Education subsidy and cover 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.
An investigation traced the budget line to a bill proposed by former Lofa County District 1 Representative Eugene Fallah Kparkar, who died in December 2016. No record shows that any legal instrument establishing the institution was ever enacted.
After Kparkar’s death, Francis S. Nyumalin, who won a 2017 by-election to succeed him and now serves as minister of local government, set up a board for the so-called polytechnic even though the bill needed to create it in law never cleared the House or Senate, the investigation found. The institution’s name nonetheless surfaced in the national budget in 2018, under the Education Ministry subsidy, with no legislative instrument behind it.
Since then, the allocations have moved through budget line code 251102 to an account residents say corresponds to no institution on the ground. Budget records show US$15,000 in 2018, US$50,000 in 2019, US$35,000 in 2020, US$70,000 in 2023, US$54,000 in 2024, US$20,000 in 2025 and US$20,000 in 2026. The line disappeared from the 2021 and 2022 budgets after concerns about the entity drew public pressure, residents said, only to reappear once that scrutiny eased.
Screenshots from successive budgets showing the allocations to the Foya Polytechnic
On the ground, the gap between budget and building is stark. “We gave this area to the government 150 acres because they said they will come and build big school here, but since then, they haven’t come yet, we’re still waiting for them. Last year people went and brush the area and they said they were going to start in this year but no way,” said Augustine Tumbey, a resident of Bandinine.
Tumbey said the community surrendered the land so local high school graduates could pursue higher education at home rather than travel to Voinjama or neighboring Sierra Leone. Residents Moses Kpelehwah, Thompson Gborey and Junior Korteyoh said the site was surveyed soon after the handover, but they have never seen a blueprint for the promised structure.
“No Foya Polytechnic here. We have been hearing about that school noise here, but it’s not here. If this school was here we couldn’t bother going outside for studies and spending plenty of money out there in places like Voinjama and Sierra Leone,” said Rebecca Fayah, a student.
Local officials say the project does not appear in their records. Foya Statutory Superintendent Joseph Mbokar said it was not among the documents handed to him when he took office. “I’ve checked in the document. Foya Polytechnic is not there, and I can’t speak of it. Something that is not on my desk, I can’t speak of,” he said. He identified the same plot the community had offered as the intended location for a different, unrelated project involving partners he did not name.
Foya City Mayor Josiah Sakeh said his turnover notes likewise made no mention of the polytechnic. Tewa Blama, named as co-chair of the institution’s board, distanced herself from it. “I don’t know nothing. If la anything where somebody know la me, let them take me to court, but now, I don’t know nothing,” she said.
Efforts to reach the officials best placed to account for the spending drew no response. Education Minister Jarso Maley Jallah, whose ministry carries the subsidy; the finance minister, who disburses the funds and holds the account details; current District 1 Representative Thomas P. Fallah; and Nyumalin, who is tied to the board’s creation, all failed to answer questions put to them via WhatsApp. They also failed to answer or respond to multiple calls placed to them.
Eric Kruboson Zubah, coordinator of NAYMOTE Partners for Democratic Development, said the matter warrants an independent inquiry by a responsible government agency to determine whether it amounts to a ghost project, misuse of public funds, weak implementation or administrative failure. “The facts must guide the conclusion, and individuals connected to such funds must be held accountable. If found guilty in a court of competent jurisdiction, let them bear the full weight of the law. The culture of impunity must end,” he said.
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