The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts and Audit Senator Amara Konneh has raised an alarm over alleged widespread illicit mining and environmental degradation in several mining regions across Liberia.
By Obediah Johnson
Senator Konneh pointed out that these illegal mining activities and environmental degradation, taking place in Gbarpolu County and other parts of the country, are threatening the lives and properties of Liberians.
He raised the alarm in a communication addressed to the Plenary of the Liberian Senate on Tuesday, June 2.
Plenary is the highest decision-making body of the Liberian Senate. He observed that these unregulated, unlawful extraction operations—often involving heavy dredging machines and unauthorized foreign actors—are wreaking havoc on the local ecosystems.
“Our vital waterways are being polluted, and vast tracts of land face severe, potentially irreversible environmental degradation that threatens the livelihoods, health, and safety of our rural constituents.”
Senator Konneh recalled that on a recent visit to Henry Town, Gbarpolu County, the Minister of Mines and Energy Matenokay Tongan described what he saw there as “a national emergency.”
He noted that such description by the Minister is not unique to Gbarpolu, but nearly all of Liberia’s fifteen counties.
He stressed that given the immediate threat these illegal mining and environmental degradation pose to both the Liberian economy and environmental sustainability, the Minister of Mines and Energy and the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must provide detailed briefings to the Senate as soon as possible.
He said these authorities should be mandated to brief Senate on the root causes, specific actions, enforcement mechanisms and remediation strategies their respective entities are actively taking to curb these illegal activities and mitigate the ongoing environmental damage.
A motion for the Senate to launch a probe into the matter was filed by Grand Gedeh County Senator Thomas Yaya Nimely.
The Senate Committee on Mines and Energy would spearhead the investigation and report back to Plenary within two weeks.
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