By Wilmot Paye, Former UP Chairman and ex-Minister of Mines
“MY INITIAL REACTIONS TO VICE PRESIDENT JEREMIAH KPAN KOUNG’S INTERVIEW
I listened to Vice President Jeremiah Koung yesterday, with keen interest. The interview was hilariously theatrical. I laughed my guts out as our Vice President uttered what sounded like policy pronouncements, repeatedly asserting that he had “cleared it with the President”, the taunt you hear when those who, in spite of their privileged proximity, try to draw a line of demarcation that is not in dispute.
In other words, the interview was approved by the President. It is obvious that unlike the President who while holding this same office was at one time invited by the Liberia National Police for questioning, Vice President Koung has been given a wide latitude that neither President Boakai nor Koung’s predecessor had enjoyed. But I am not sure the President approved everything the Vice President said in the interview yesterday. I am still trying to get my head around the rationale for this emphasis.
For now, however, I will highlight a few of the assertions that sounded more like contradictions. Asked what is being done differently, the Vice President said, “Most concessions were done by the past government”. According to him, endeavoring to undo them now would portray Liberia as being hostile to foreign investments. Here, the contradiction only becomes sharper.
In his Third Annual Message(“State of the Nation Address”) this year, the President was categorical when he again reechoed the Government’s policy to review all concessions, a policy position the President has maintained since assuming office. In fact, in every opening remarks during cabinet meetings, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has not minced his words on this important policy position. To translate this into action, the burden rests entirely on the shoulders of Team members, including the Vice President.
That is why every utterance, every action, every attitude, every tendency–every inclination—of those on the Team, particularly those now being entrusted with so much, like the Vice President, should act and speak in line with policy pronouncemens that are already within the public space and to which references will always be made as time progresses. I do not therefore entirely agree that everything the Vice President said yesterday was “cleared with the President”. From yesterday’s interview, it is obvious that while the President is more keen on reviewing all concessions, Vice President Koung seems to think otherwise, at least based on his own utterances.
I am not pinpointing this to prove a point to anyone for any reason. After all, there is no point to prove here. Instead, the aim is to remind Liberians that, like President Boakai who disagrees with the current policy approach of awarding concessions to foreign companies for our non-renewable natural resources merely in exchange for royalties that are usually determined using the lowest minimum rates, I remain an unapologetic adherent and proponent of the one firm belief that sovereignty without custody is meaningless.
Vice President Koung also informed Liberians that under the recently Amended Mineral Development Agreement, ArcelorMittal is required to pay US$500,000.00 every year. It is a known fact that in the previous MDA, which was scheduled to have expired in September 2030, the company paid US$50,000.00 for its Class A Mining License for the entire twenty-five year duration. What the Vice President didn’t seem to have been aware of is that on June 10, 2025 a New Fee Structure for Mining Licenses replacied the one issued on August 13, 2010 that contains only twenty-nine (29) fee categories. That old structure required Class A License holders to pay US$50,000. The sad reality was that this fee was always locked up in MDAs.
The New Fee Structure increased Mining license fees for Class B from US$10,000.00 to US$50,000.00 and Class A Mining License from U$50,000.00
(US$2,000.00 a year) to US$500,000.00 from the first year of production to the end of the second year and thereafter US$1m yearly.
But the Amended MDA which the Vice President referenced yesterday does not seem to have considered the June 10, 2025 Regulation. Thus, as the trend has been, the US$500,000.00 for Class A License is locked up in the MDA. This was not the intent. After all, locking up a license fee, which is a regulatory tool, in concession agreements, weakens regulatory bodies and makes it difficult, if not impossible, to hold operators accountable in the future.
The truth is that as a country we seem to take our eyes off the ball during the final phases of negotiations. In my honest opinion(and I am writing from experience), the fault lies squarely on the shoulders of the Negotiating Team. We often miss this point. Instead of questioning ourselves, we resort to blaming concessionholders who, capitalizing on our short-sightedness, throw out figures that are often not informed by any evidence. And as John Fitzgerald Kennedy once said, “Let us never fear to negotiate; but let us never negotiate out of fear”.
And how about the ongoing discussions on the Putu Iron Ore Mining project, our Vice President disclosed yesterday. As I have maintained, Putu presents an excellent opportunity for us to create a model that would take into consideration lessons from AML, China Union, Western Cluster, Bea Mountain, MNG Gold, etc. If we cannot get Putu right, then it means that we are certainly not learning from our mistakes. The simple truth is that instead of invoking the “Change of Control” provision in the the Putu MDA, Liberia can pay Severstal and repossess this vital asset and seek for a partnership to develop it.
What we need to overcome, as I have always maintained, is to start believing in ourselves, at least for this once.
With the right attitude and discipline to stop negotiating as though the world beneath us is collapsing, we can develop a model that will attract the necessary financial capital. After all, the operators we award concession rights to do not have the cash stacked somewhere. All they need is the evidence that the asset is there and available. Once verified, and a guarantee is provided, any bank will provide the financial capital to start the project.
The good news is that minerals, though non-renewable, never decay. Today Guinea is getting great deals because the previous generations didn’t give in to pressures from anywhere.
We cannot be crying loudly about Bea Mountain Mining Company’s operations in Grand Cape Mount County and how Liberia is not getting its fair share while at the same time failing to utilize the opportunity that Putu presents.”
