The call to shut down Bomi County’s largest iron ore concessionaire, Western Cluster Limited, due to unending violations of their Mineral Development Agreement (MDA) is not new. The National Bomi County Association in the Americas (NBCAA–USA) has been at the forefront of championing this cause.
During his visit on Tuesday at the company’s facilities in Bomi County, President Joseph Boakai came down hard on Western Cluster threatening to shut the company down. President Boakai however frowned on how Western Cluster Limited is destroying the roads and emphasized the extent of the risk they pose to bridges between Bomi County and the Freeport of Monrovia.
“Western Cluster is not mining. They’re just taking our resources and we are not getting any reward from them for exporting our iron ore. I told their lawyer this morning that we were going to close them down. I was emphatic. If they want to invest further, they have to build a railway,” the President said.
The Company has been involved in a lot of controversies and scandals since it arrived in Liberia. Western Cluster has a mining license to mine and export iron ores from Bomi Hills in Bomi County. Citizens of the County in the Diaspora have widely criticized the extent to which their resources in Bomi are being exploited without regard for established agreements and statutes.
In a letter addressed to President Boakai dated May 2, 2024, the National Bomi County Association in the Americas (NBCAA) applauded the President for his courage to call for the shutdown of Western Cluster. The group said President Boakai’s recent call aligns with their expectations and reflects a positive stride towards ensuring accountability, public and environmental safety, and fairness in resource management.
The letter which was signed by the group’s Secretary, Mr. L. Vannie Mamey, and approved by the President, Mr. Musa V. Willie, urged the Government of Liberia to also suspend and investigate the Iron Ore Mining Agreement entered into between some legislators, leaders of Bomi, and Kongo Mining Liberia.
It can be recalled that in January 2023, the NBCAA presented a detailed analysis of its concerns on the Western Cluster controversial MOU that was signed outside of the framework of the Mineral Development Law
