Claim: “Gbarnga City Mayor, Gallah Varpilah, has purchased 4 acres of the Sirleaf Market’s land to build a private store.”
Source: STAR TV, an online news television
Verdict: False! Gbarnga City Mayor Gallah Varpilah did not purchase any land at the Sirleaf’s market.
Full Text: Referred to as “the Sirleaf Market,” ” the project was an initiative of the government of Japan that started during the administration of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2013.
Just before the official ground-breaking ceremony, the Japanese government had made 500,000 United States dollars available as initial support to start the project.
The intent was to relocate the Gbarnga central market from the already congested Gbarnga Broad Street to a more spacious place that would be a better environment for marketers.
Despite previous delays, the project was completed in 2023, 10 years after the first block was placed in the ground.
The completion of the market has already been viewed as a significant development for Bong County, which finally saw the government of Japan, through its Value Fund Secretarial, spend a little over $951,000 in United States dollars.
Two months ago, since the dedication of the market facility, the city government immediately started relocating the marketers from the broad street to the new facility.
On September 17, 2024, STAR TV, an online media platform, posted on Facebook that the Mayor of Gbarnga, Gallah Varpilah, had purchased 4 acres of the Sirleaf Market’s land to build a private store.
The Claim: “Gallah Varpilah has purchased 4 acres of the Sirleaf Market’s land to build a private store.”
Verification: To authenticate this, we contacted Mayor Varpilah on the claims made by STAR TV.
Varpilah said the information was false and that he did not even have space for the kitchen at the market.
We also contacted the Head of the Liberian Marketing Association, Bong County chapter, Madam Tumue Allen, who said the information was untrue.
She said the LMA is responsible for giving space to marketers and there has not been a time when the mayor has even requested a space for a shop.
To further prove that the STAR TV claim is false, Allen told us that the current land used for the Sirleaf Market is 3.2 acres so there is no way that someone can purchase 4 acres from there.
She said the mayor has only been telling residents of Gbarnga to follow the proper channel in getting space at the market by referring them to the LMA and has never requested a piece of space for himself.
We then contacted STAR TV to share with us their source but the platform replied, “We wrote what we had to write. You guys act like you are the only best journalist every time. The whole day you want to investigate other people’s work. Someone from the market who does not have a spot told us. This is all we can say, Yaaa, bye!”
Conclusion: Based on the information provided by all of our sources, STAR TV’s claim is false.
Written by J. Titus Yekeryan, Grant Fellow
