MONROVIA – With the rejection of their third Mineral Development Agreement (MDA), steel giant ArcelorMittal, is obviously weighing in on their next move, of which sources within have hinted FrontPageAfrica could include taking the House of Representatives to court. But in a carefully worded press statement, the company insinuated that it has not been officially informed of the rejection of the MDA which has been sent back to the Executive. The company stated, “For now, AML is awaiting all facts related to the actions by the Legislature before it will make any further statement on this matter.”
According to ArcelorMittal, all they have heard at the moment is “unconfirmed media reports that the House of Representatives has made appointments to the conference committee and some other decisions over the past few days regarding the company’s Third Amendment to the Mineral Development Agreement (MDA), which is awaiting ratification by the Legislature”.
This could possibly mean that the Executive is yet to inform the company of the request from the House to relook at the MDA for resubmission since the decision was made earlier this week.
The new MDA promises to deliver Liberia one of the biggest mining investments in the region with over US$800 million direct benefit to Liberia.
The decision to return the Agreement to the Legislature comes after the House and the Liberian Senate failed to settle their differences over the agreement that had spent months languishing at the Legislature. It was initially passed by the House and forwarded to the Senate for concurrence after several scrutiny.
The Senate refused to concur with the House in ratifying the draft MDA on grounds that it did not address most of the concerns raised by residents of the affected communities. The Senate accused the government’s negotiators during the crafting of the draft agreement of making several waivers at the detriment of the state. The Senate then drew up several recommendations to be addressed before the ratification of the agreement. It then proposed the setting up of a conference committee with the House to resolve their differences.
Some of the Senate’s recommendations bordered around disputed area and exploration, Rehabilitation of Infrastructures, third party’s access to rail and port infrastructures, additional revenue consideration and compliance.
Conference Committee Failed to Meet
The House voted unanimously in support of the Senate’s proposal to form a conference committee to find a way forward. The Committee members were Representatives Clarence Massaquoi (Lofa County), chairman and Rosanna G.D.H. Schaack (Rivercess), co-chair. Serving as members include Representatives Johnson Gwaikolo (District #9, Nimba), Vincent S.T. Willie (District #4, Bong) Cllr. Kanie Wesso (Gbarpolu), Matthew Zarzar (Sinoe), Acarous M. Gray (District #8, Montserrado County) and Joseph Somwarbi (District #3, Nimba County) as the resource person. They were to join their Senate counterparts, that included Cllr. Augustine Chea (Sinoe) as Chairman, while Senators Cllr. Varney Sherman, Nyonblee Karngar-Lawrence, Numene R. H. Bartekwa, Simeon Taylor, Prince Moye and Sen. Jeremiah Koung are members.
But the House, without announcing whether the committee met, hastily convened a closed-door session on Monday, March 28. At the end of the meeting, Plenary then open the session to the press and public and voted unanimously to send the agreement back to the Executive for renegotiation.
The House’s decision was based on a motion filed by Rep. Ben Fofana of Margibi County, craving the House the return the draft MDA to the Executive since it was solely its prerogative to negotiate contracts and concessions as specified by the Constitution of Liberia.
The House did not explain whether the Conference Committee held any discussion, but House Speaker Bhofal Chambers, in a snap interview with reporters in the corridors of the Capitol Building, said the decision to send the agreement back to the Executive was in the best interest of the Liberian people.
“We did not do it in isolation of the other branches of government; specifically, the Executive Branch. So, we work in concert to ensure that this decision today is done in the best interest of the Liberian people,” Speaker Chambers said.
Asked about his expectations in the wake of the decision taken by the House, he said: “We look for better concession agreement. We know that Mittal Steel has been here. We want to laud Mittal Steel for all that it has been doing. But we also equally feel that if there are gaps, those gaps must be narrowed.”
How Right Was the House?
FrontPage Africa has gathered from sources within the steel company that though they are yet to receive a formal communication on the status of the MDA, their lawyers are reviewing the process that led to it being sent back to the Executive for renegotiation.
“ArcelorMittal is in effect, questioning the legitimacy of the action of the Lower House of the Legislature and, in fact, still considers the bill as before the legislature,” the source said.
ArcelorMittal is taking into consideration that the President submitted the bill to both Houses of the Legislature and being a bicameral body, both Houses acted separately on the bill. Therefore, there was the need for the conference committee, as recommended by the Senate to sort out their differences as it relates to the Agreement.
The source said, the steel giant company is wondering why the conference committee that was set up was never allowed to perform their function and why the House, without the concurrence of the Senate, decided to send the bill bank to the Executive for renegotiation.
FrontPageAfrica gathered that ArcelorMittal may be seeking clarity from the court as to whether the House acted legitimately when it unilaterally decided to return the MDA without any regards to the Senate’s recommendations for way forward.
Despite the rejection, ArcelorMittal insists “this Amendment to the MDA is in the best interest of Liberia and its people, as signed on September 10, 2021 after more than 12 months of negotiations with the Government of Liberia.”