Verity News has intercepted a trove of leaked exchanges between the Executive Director, Dr. Edward Lama Wonkeryor, and the Deputy Executive Director for Administrator, Rev. Monen Jacquelynn Duoe, over attempts by the Deputy Comptroller, Thomas N. Baio, to burn a huge quantity of financial documents to cover up evidence amid serious allegations of rampant corruption under the Wonkeryor-led administration.
It is alleged by a high-ranking NCHE staff who prefers anonymity that Deputy Comptroller Baio was instructed to burn the financial documents by Executive Director Edward Wonkeryor.
While the investigation of Deputy Comptroller Baio is ongoing as was commissioned, Dr. Wonkeryor in a letter to the DEDA, Rev. Duoe, has instructed that the investigation be placed on hold until his return to work on October 7, 2024.
Even though Wonkeryor’s Deputy has claimed that there’s evidence to prove that Baio was caught burning NCHE’s financial documents, Dr. Wonkeryor has instructed that the accused, Baio, resume work without any regard for investigation.
“It would have been prudent to ask the Acting Executive Director to constitute a committee comprising the Human Resource Director, Deputy Director for Operations, Technical Advisor for Administration, Inspector Genera, and Comptroller to look into the merits and demerits.
In view of the above conditions, please place a hold on investigating Mr. Baio until I return to work on October 7th.
I do not want the Finance Department to be left vulnerable for stereotypical exploitation.” Dr. Edward Wonkeryor, Executive Director, NCHE
In response to Wonkeryor’s communication, Rev. Duoe was alarmed about being potentially strangulated by Wonkeryor’s action and claimed that she thought her office was being disrespected.
Doue however argued that the decision to set up an investigative committee was discussed and agreed upon in line with the CSA Standing Order.
“I am confused. The decision to ask Mr. Baio to stay from the office until further investigation is done as discussed. We are talking about the financial papers of the entity being illegally destroyed by a staff of the Commission without discussion with the administration. I am not talking about “they say” as there is evidence of the act and the staff in question confirmed that he was destroying the documents because they were old. Those were not old papers as my signature was on some. Dr. Wonkeryor, shouldn’t this be a serious concern that a staff is destroying financial papers at a time when the entity has been in the local papers for corruption? Dr. Wonkeryor, I am taking aback by your actions to overturn the ongoing investigation.” Rev. Monen Jacquelyn Duoe, Deputy Executive Director for Administration, NCHE
‘Academic Fraudster’ as Acting Executive Director of NCHE
It can be recalled on March 21, 2023, that the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) established in a communication to Mr. Solomon X. Y. Jallayu that the online school where he reportedly obtained his “doctoral degree” is not nationally and regionally accredited. The NCHE communication also revealed that Mr. Jallayu’s “college” he claimed to have graduated from is not recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) in the United States. Even though these facts about Jallayu’s fake credentials were established through an investigation, Dr. Wonkeryor chose to employ him as Deputy Executive Director for Quality Assurance and Compliance with Employee #67047, Social Security #020358003, and a salary of US$2,400 per month. Critics, including revered academics and educators, wonder how someone with questionable credentials can operate at the National Commission on Higher Education.
‘Corruption at NCHE’
Recently, a thorough investigation by Verity News uncovered a dossier of financial documents, including payment vouchers, requisitions, purchase orders, checks, and receipts of how Dr. Edward Wonkeryor has allegedly turned NCHE into a haven of financial mismanagement, waste, and abuse. Against the advice of internal auditors and in gross violation of the Public Financial Management Law of Liberia, Dr. Wonkeryor spent US$4,200 to procure furniture for his private home, US$23,000 as DSA, fuel, launch, and transportation on a data collection trip in Liberia, double payment of US$2,165 for vehicle repair, and thousands of USD in per diem.
On top of this, he has issued NCHE accreditations to dozens of mushroom colleges and predatory universities. According to data on accredited Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in Liberia, there are eighty (79) HEIs as of 2024 with two (2) Higher Education Institutions offering Doctoral Degrees (2.5%), eleven (11) offering Master’s Degrees (14%), thirty-five (35) offering Bachelor’s Degrees (44.3%), and thirty-one (31) offering Associate Degrees (39.2%). A breakdown of the data shows that there were 38 accredited institutions of higher education when former President George Weah took over in 2018. Before the end of his regime, 23 more HEIs were accredited taking the total number of accredited colleges and universities to 61. Between January 2024 and August 24, the record shows that 19 more HEIs have been accredited under Dr. Edward Lama Wonkeryor without any regard for standards, best practices, and quality assurance according to our source.
With the dossier of documents in our possession and other sourced information, this latest discovery calls for greater accountability at the NCHE through a comprehensive audit and LACC investigation. According to some staffers at the NCHE, Dr. Wonkeryor is posing a serious risk to quality higher education in Liberia allegedly due to his commercial agenda to grant accreditations to schools that are not even qualified to exist as schools.
