Dark Cloud Hangs Over CARI Employees In Bong—-As Director Dr. Arthur B. Karnuah Allegedly Planning to Dismiss Staff Recruited Under Former Officer-In-Charge Paulette Findley

By Patrick N. S. Tokpah

GBARNGA, BONG COUNTY – Credible information reaching The Informer has revealed that the new Director General of the Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI) is allegedly planning to dismiss some staff of the institute.

The source alleged that many workers are at the entity have vowed to resist such plan if the new CARI Director General attempts executing any plan of such in Bong County.

According to reports, Dr. Arthur Bob Karnuah who was recently appointed by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai after a controversial vetting process conducted by the board, is secretly planning to dismiss staffs who were recruited under the administration of former Officer-In-Charge Paulette Findley with whom he never had a cordial relationship.

Dr. Karnuah in his first general staff meeting alleged that Madam Findley, who was the Acting Head of the institute under former President George Weah, had no right to recruit qualified Liberians to work when she was acting.

The newly appointed CARI Director, however, did not provide legal reference on the matter at the meeting.

It appears that the new CARI boss wants to use the Civil Service Agency’s (CSA) current personnel exercise to get rid of staff as he is always heard saying that the CSA boss calls him every day to talk about CARI staff despite the successful heads count verification exercise recently conducted by the CSA.

Dr. Karnuah who was Deputy Director General at the institute during the last tenure of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former Director General Dr. Walters Wiles who is now on the board of the institute had an extremely tensed relationship with Madam Paulette Findley who was the administrator under their reign.

They always differed on various issues at the institute.

Dr. Karnuah’s latest plan might cause serious chaos at CARI, an entity that is noted for consistent protests against heads who usually try to execute plans employees view as counterproductive to their well-being.

Inside sources have hinted The Informer that huge numbers of staff are planning to violently resist Dr. Karnuah and even chase him out of the compound if he engages in targeting sa pecific group of workers at the institute.

“All eyes are now on the new CARI Director General to see how he will commence his process of witch-hunting some of the workers”, one source said.

Since the news broke out, some members of the public continue to condemn Dr. Karnuah and call on him not to allow the institution that has now settled down to sink into misunderstanding and chaos.

Some are speculating that Dr. Karnuah is taking instructions from his former boss Dr. Walter Wiles who is serving on the board and headed the vetting committee that saw Dr. Karnuah controversially recruited and recommended to the President.

Already, one of the candidates Dr. Mulbah Quiqui, has written the Minister of Agriculture Dr. Alexander Nueta who is the Chair of CARI Board questioning the entire recruitment process, adding that it was marked by fraud and that the vetting committee chair Dr. Walter Wiles manipulated the process against certain candidates he thought are not in his interest.

Dr. Quiqui has called for a thorough investigation into the entire recruitment process “to ensure fairness and level playing field, maintaining that it was a complete cheating”.

However, it appears that Dr. Quiqui’s complaint might not yield any fruit due to Minister Nueta’s opened statement during the induction of Dr. Karnuah recently that Dr. Karnuah and Dr. Wiles were his longtime friends.

The explosion of the latest town bomb at CARI will seriously hamper agriculture research work, throwing back the little that has been achieved in recent years.