Monrovia – Citizens of Grand Cape Mount County are calling on the county’s legislative caucus to intervene in blocking the Executive Branch from meddling in the management of Bea Mountain Mining Corporation (BMMC).
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [email protected]
According to the citizens including chiefs, elders, women and youth, the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill, acting on the orders of President George M. Weah, is demanding the company to replace the company’s current Manager of Community and Governance, S. Sando Wayne, II, with his preferred choice, Joseph N. Wannoh.
The citizens said the idea of replacing Wayne, who is a son of Grand Cape Mounty with Wannoh with a position that was never advertised or opened by the company’s management, is counter-productive.
Presenting their petition to the caucus through its Chairman, Senator Edward B. Dagoseh, on Thursday, February 21, the Cape Mount citizens called on their lawmakers to engage the office of the President to rescind the decision to replace their son, who they claimed is qualified and have been serving both the citizens and the company’s interests.
“Honorable Members of the Grand Cape Mount County Legislative Caucus, We, as a people are under attack and outraged by the effect of this presidential recommendation because it denies us the enjoyment of opportunities offered by resources in our county. The Presidential directive is suggesting that it is all right to export a critical job outside of Grand Cape Mount County!” they noted in the statement read by Foley Kiatamba.
Asking rhetorically, they continue: “Who should benefit first? Are citizens of Cape Mount County less deserving of the opportunities from concessions in their county? Should we return to the defunct exclusionary politics that took our country down the path of 14 years of mayhem and claimed incalculable loss of lives of our love ones and degraded our infrastructure capacity nearly two decades ago? This is why we must instruct you, our Honorable Representatives and Senators to resist the presidential directive that seeks to violate our law and render our son jobless when his employer is very satisfied with his performance in the position.”
Senator Dagoseh’s Response
Senator Dagoseh, who received the petition on behalf the county caucus, promised to present the documents to his colleagues for a timely response.
He thanked the citizens for peacefully demonstrating their constitutional rights to express their dissatisfaction and not getting involved in any acts of violence.
“You people are exercising your democratic rights; you are not resolved to violent demonstration, but to petition your lawmakers. I think that is the way we should go in this country. In other areas, they will go and demonstrate.
“You have come to peacefully petition your lawmakers and I think that is the way we should go in this country, rather than result into violence and damaging what we have, and we cannot put them back. I have received the petition and I will present it to all the caucus members,” he told them.
Background
The citizen noted that in the January 7, 2019 edition of The Inquirer newspaper’s report, an exchange of letters between Nathaniel F. McGill, Minister of State and Chief of Staff of the Office of the President of Liberia and the Management of Bea Mountain Mining Corporation (BMMC), the Minister by the directive of the President of Liberia”, introduced and recommended Joseph N. Wannoh to the position of Manager of Community and Government Relations, that is currently occupied by S. Sando Wayne, II.
They contended that the letter sought to effectively replace another Liberian in the same position even though BMMC had not advertised a job vacancy. They added: “Worst, the Liberian affected by the Presidential directive is better qualified, competent, experienced, and hails from the county where BMMC operates.”
“More disturbing, defiant, and cataleptic is the fact that even after the Management of the BMMC apprised the President’s office that the position it recommended was occupied by a qualified and competent Liberian from the county, the individual recommended showed up at the gate of BMMC, accompanied by two armed Police Support Unit (PSU) Officers and demanded to take up assignment that the company did not approve,” they wrote.
Under political pressure from the Executive Mansion, they noted that the management allowed him (Joseph N. Wannoh) into the compound and handed him a carbon copy of the Management’s response letter.
As if this was not enough, they alleged that the office of the President pressed the Mine into splitting the Community and Government Relations Manager position, held by S. Sando Wayne, II; something they said was engineered by some “troubled officials and disgruntled youths of our county,” and to their dismay, “the silence of Grand Cape Mount County has remained the loudest until now.”