THE GOVERNMENT OF PRESIDENT GORGE WEAH is desperate to make good its promises since taking over the helm of power, but several missteps keep setting off alarms and drawing ire. President Weah got to do what President got to do, but when bloopers and inconsistencies are overshadowing his endeavors, it leaves us pensive.
FROM THE DROWNING ETON AND EBOMAF deals to the controversial natural resource swap agreement with a major Chinese company, suspicions of credibility and complications continue to permeate the corridors of opposition political parties as well as the population.
WHEN FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT PLANNING Minister Samuel Tweah announced the US$2.5 million swap deal with the Chinese at the Ministry of Information, he delivered poorly – at least from a communication point-of-view.
SAID MINISTER TWEAH: “Let me be very clear on it, this is not a loan. It is an investment facility; a framework entered into between the China Road and Bridge Corporation and the Government of Liberia under the FOCAC arrangement to unveil US$2.5 billion for financing the country development over the next five… No restriction, all the natural resources…the feasibility study will determine the viability of the project.”
HERE’S THE MISSTEP BY MR. TWEAH: how dare you provide scanty details about a deal that resembles ridiculous ones of the past and has the audacity to tell the Liberian people that all of their resources are included in an agreement? His announcement has already attracted concerns from natives of Lofa County, contending that they will resist any agreement that are not in their interest. We think their concerns are valid and the government must avoid sparking further controversies about this swap agreement.
WE ARE AWARE, MR. TWEAH that you wanted to score a point – by assuring the Liberian people that the government’s over 60-man delegation to the FOCAC summit in Beijing was pretty successful and that you had sealed the deal of the decade.
THANKS, BUT NO THANKS! LIBERIANS ARE BECOMING KNOWLEDGEABLE about preserving the future and we think until you spell out the long-term benefits and they might reject a controversial agreement that would bring similar privations associated with concessions like Firestone, Liberia Agricultural Company, ArcelorMittal and the recent flopped China Union deal, amongst others.
AS MUCH AS PRESIDENT WEAH and his lieutenants are eager to deliver on their much-publicized pro-poor agenda, we think deals should be properly scrutinized before they are even considered. Learning from the failures of the Eton and Ebomaf loan deals should be a wake-up call for this administration.
LIBERIANS RAISING RED FLAG OVER the swap deal have a genuine case and unless the government is insensitive, it should take cue from these recommendations to avoid reoccurrence.
We have seen several flawed concessional deals that are still haunting today’s generation and it seems that this government would want to tread a similar path. We believe many of our compatriots will keep your government’s feet to the fire and caution you about mortgaging the future of this country.
TAKE THE 1926 FIRESTONE CONCESSION deal for example which saw the Liberian government giving the company a 99-year lease for a million acres – US$0.6 cents per acre. Like the impending deal, Firestone was allowed to choose wherever it wanted the land, creating one of the largest rubber plantations in the world. In return, Liberia pocketed US$5 million at a 7% interest rate to the government of William V.S Tubman administration at the same time exposing the fragility of our sovereignty.
DESPITE THE PRESENCE OF FIRESTONE in the country for the past 92 years, Liberia doesn’t have a single value addition plant for rubber, something many Liberians have bemoaned.
FAST-FORWARD TO 2018 and weigh-in on the country’s vulnerabilities going into similar deal. Min. Tweah failed to disclose the overall worth of Liberia’s resources for which it is now being mortgaged for US$2.5 billion, and so giving the Chinese the go-ahead to assess our resources and put a price tag on it can be equated to handing them a blank check. It’s a ridiculous decision that must be rethought. How do we independently verify the data the Chinese will hand us after their assessment?
SIGNING DEALS TO SOLVE OUR INFRASTRUCTURE deficit is a worthy venture, but unless we do it scrupulously, taking into consideration the future challenges and benefits, it would only create another massive problem and we might just relive the awkwardness of all the other failed or dubious concessions that have plunged our country into further disaster.