Posted by Nicolas Cook -Caucuses Concerned About US$10 million is reportedly accrued from the sale of iron ore reserve sold by the National Transitional Government of Liberia. But the Grand Bassa County and the Nimba County Legislative Caucuses have alarmed that they at the NTLA have been left out of the deal, thereby making sale of the iron ore illegal. As the Analyst's Senior Reporter George J. Borteh reports, the Bassa and Nimba Caucuses want to know who is buying the ore, what has happened to the proceeds and why concessional operation without formal agreement being ratified by the Legislature could go ahead, anyway. In Liberia, concessions by law should be given legislative approval, but Grand Bassa County transitional lawmaker, who is the chairman of its caucus, Nathaniel Innis and Nimba County's Caucus Chairman Josephus Saye Dokie are saying that the Executive Branch have embarked on selling the nations precious treasures to a Chinese Company that they have no knowledge about. They pointed to NTGL Chairman Charles Gyude Bryant and Lands, Mines and Energy Minister Jonathan Mason as being the forerunners of the deal, the sale of the iron ore in Buchanan. According to Mr. Innis, the bad part about this sale is that the proceeds are yet to be accounted for, while Chairman Bryant and Minister Mason have kept the name of the company buying this lucrative natural resources for themselves. Reports say the iron ore in question was mined from Nimba County during the latter 1980s by the Liberia Mining Company(LIMINCO) and stock piled at the Port City of Buchanan. But the outbreak of the civil war had forestalled its exportation and sale. According to the same reports, the ore valued at US$10 million has now been siphoned from the country by an unknown Chinese company, which Mr. Innis said would carry out more operations at the Nimba range. Legislator Innis, who said the Grand Bassa County Caucus he heads at the transitional parliament is left out of the show. He expressed fear that the people of Bassa may not benefit from the operation of the unknown company. Nimba Copunty's Dokie at the Parliament expressed similar fears. The people of Bassa County had fallen prey to such operation. Instead of benefiting from concessional operations, they have always been victims. One of such operation was the Oreintal Timber Company (OTC) which operated in Bassa and yielded the people nothing. Like this operation of taking the iron ore out of the country, the OTC arrangement did not get legislative backing, and was therefore tagged and decried as illegal by human rights organizations during the Taylor regime. For the OTC, Taylor said it was his pepperbush. "Maybe the Chinese company is also a secret pepperbush of Bryant," a Bassa residents who was on a visit at Representative Innis' office drew a logical parallel. "I didn't know really that there was a shipment of iron ore pending at Port of Buchanan until when I visited the county on an assessment tour," he said. At the time, he said it was when he discovered Chinese Ambassador Songtian and some NTGL officials carrying out the arrangement. Up to present "there is no knowledge on what has happened to the proceeds. In fact I cannot understand whether the company that is making the shipment has legitimate status to operate in the country," he indicated. Innis informed this paper that his curiosity led the Bassa and Nimba Caucuses to a with meeting Chairman Bryant to inquire what was happening, but nothing much was gathered other than being told that the ore had been sold. And that there would be further up in the Nimba Mountain for processing by the very company was the Chairman's version to two legislative caucuses. Benefits for the people? Bryant reportedly told the lawmakers that the company which he did not name will reconstruct the railroads linking Buchanan to Nimba. This rationalization an analyst argues was for the good of the company because they would not do massive export of iron ore mined from Nimba unless the rails were properly conditioned. "But as far as we are concerned, we at the NTLA have not received any document to the effect of a mining concession scheduled to operate in Nimba and Buchanan, representative Innis said. Not withstanding this controversy, Bryant allegedly could not tell the two caucuses what had happened to the proceeds raised from the sale of the iron ore. Instead, the NTGL Chairman pointed to his Lands, Mines and Energy Minister Mason as being responsible to provide explanation, according to Representative Innis. Mr. Innis was not in isolation on the stance, Nimba County Representative, a geologist by discipline, who Co-chaired the NTLA Committee on Lands Mines and Energy agreed with the reservation of his Bassa colleague. He too expressed fear that the people may not benefit from such mining operation by the Chinese Company in terms of development. Frantic efforts to get a word from the Mines Minister were thwarted. His office staff at each time the Analyst contacted his office said he was very busy; investigation into the exportation of the nation's iron ore under cloud of misunderstanding continues.
on 27/8/2004, 22:18:05, in reply to "Assessment of LAMCO/LIMINCO -Buchanon"
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Who Is Buying The Iron Ore?
The Analyst (Monrovia)
August 5, 2004
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