The Editor,
If the Singapore loan agreement is so good for our country, why not publish it?? Here’s why they won’t: It’s because President Weah wants the Liberian people to buy pig in a bag! (Re “Senator Sando Johnson Weighs In On Controversial Singapore Loan”)
But our common sense tells us that before you buy anything, you must inspect it FIRST! So we need to look at the terms and conditions of the Singapore Loan before signing on the dotted line.
Why?
Because private investors seldom use their own money to finance government projects in corrupt countries like Liberia. If they do, they will impose harmful credit terms and conditions on those countries. If you don’t believe I just said, read the Wall Street Journal article about Venezuela (Re “Venezuela’s Creditors Are Cutting Its Crude Oil Lifeline”)
According to the above article “creditors are targeting the oil shipments that provide nearly ALL the country’s foreign income. A series of court orders….has authorized a U.S oil giant (Conoco Phillips) to seize as much as $2.6 billion in the Venezuelan oil revenue as compensation for assets expropriated from the company in 2007”
As you can see, unlike our sugar daddies (IMF and USA), who will “forgive” our loans, private investors will sue your pants off to get their money!!
And we all know that the Liberian government has a LONG history of not paying their debts, both foreign and domestic. On top of that, it has a long history of corruption: 97.99999 of government officials are nothing but born rogues!!
So here’s my $64,000 dollar question for you: Do you know anyone in their right mind who’s willing to lend half a billion dollars to born rogues?? I patiently await your response.
And don’t you think that these private lenders are going to put something in their loan agreement to protect their assets (cash)?? Hell, yes.
Yeah, it’s nice know that a private investor wants to lend Liberia half a billion bucks(US$536 million) to build roads and bridges. But, but, can the Liberian people read the paperwork (loan agreement) FIRST???
In West Point, where I grew up, we don’t buy pig in the bag, Mr. President!!
Martin Scott,
Former West Point Resident
Atlanta, Georgia