Local politicians from Loudoun County in the American state of Virginian have come under fire over a trip to Ghana in the middle of June this year.
Residents in the area on Tuesday (September 5) turned up at a Board of Supervisors meeting “to voice their concerns about their taxpayer dollars being used by local leaders to fund a lavish trip to Ghana,” Fox News reports.
The taxpayer dollars, according to the outlet, were used for “first-class flights, five-star hotel, and nice meals, among other luxurious expenses,” the report added.
The three officials namely Phyllis Randall, Koran Saines and Sylvia Glass are said to have spent over $60,000 in funds when they came to Ghana principally to sign a sister city agreement with the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA).
Phyllis Randall is the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair whiles her vice is Koran Saines, Sylvia Glass on the other hand is a Supervisor of the Board.
Randall responds to allegations:
In a statement to Fox 5, Randall denied using taxpayer dollars to fund the trips.
“I don’t travel on county taxpayer revenue and never have,” she said, according to the outlet. “It’s a policy I put in place when I came to office in 2016.”
The funds, the outlet reported, did not come out of Randall’s own pocket, however. They came from the economic development authority transient occupancy tax that is usually paid for by visitors of Loudoun County — not residents.
“There are people who are rebelling in their ignorance while ignoring the truth because they don’t want the answer, they want the issue,” Randall said during Tuesday’s meeting.
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