The girls of St. Teresa Convent High School in Monrovia have won this year’s Inter-high School Debate organized by the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency (LEITI). The competition was held under the theme: “Talking about our Resources”.

Convent won the competition in which nine other schools involved in the LEITI Extractive Club (e-Club) Program participated, after defeating the Len Millar High School with 90.5 to 71.75 points in an epic final clash. Other high schools that participated in the race include Caver Mission, Isaac A. David, Haywood Mission, G.W. Gibson, William V.S. Tubman, St. Mary, Jimmy Jolocon and the B.W. Harris which was defending the title after winning the 2012 Edition of the competition. The final clash involved a debate in which the St. Teresa Convent argued in favor of calls by some Liberians that the LEITI should be involved in the negotiation and award process of contracts in the extractive sector while the Len Millar High School challenged the proposition.

Compounding the victory, Angel Yalartai, an Eleventh Grade student of the winning side was crowned as “Most Valuable Debater”.

Speaking on Friday at the end of the two-day event (May 13-14, 2013) held in the YMCA Conference Room on Crown Hill, LEITI Head of Secretariat, Samson S. Tokpah labelled this year’s competition as a “remarkable event” and described everyone who participated in it as a victor. The LEITI Boss said the kind of information provided and quality of arguments raised by those high school kids show that Liberia is not only rich in natural resources, but also in human resources.

Mr. Tokpah disclosed that in addition to the trophies and medals awarded to the winning team and first runner-ups, the LEITI is arranging internship program at some extractive companies for all ten members of the champion team. He further revealed that the “Most Valuable Debater” (MVP) will be sponsored on a peer-to-peer learning exchange program to Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago is one of few countries in the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) that are implementing such youth development program.

The Head of Secretariat also extended gratitude to the German Government for providing funding for the program through the German Development Corporation (GIZ) as well as the judges who presided over the debate. Judges for this year’s debate include Mr. Randolph Davis of the General Auditing Commission; Mr. Oliver Rogers of the Liberia Revenue Formation Office; Mr. Kofi Ireland of UNMIL and Madam Peggy Meres of the Public Procurement and Concession Commission. Others gracing the event include Ms. Jualiane Weymann of the GIZ; Honorable Moses Acarous Gray of the Hose of Representative and educators amongst others. 

The Inter-high School Debate project is part of LEITI’s efforts to provide increased access to the public on the management of Liberia’s extractive resources. Its primarily  goal is to increase citizens’ participation in the resource debate and ensure that national policies and decisions increasingly reflect their views and concerns, especially young people who constitute a greater majority of the population and whose future would be determined by those decisions. This year’s competition enabled the students to engage one another in arguments on several issues of public concerns around the extractive sectors. The final rounds of the debate were broadcast live on Fabric FM 101.1 and relayed on several stations around the world.

The Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) is an autonomous agency established through an Act of the Legislature, to promote the transparent management of Liberia’s extractive resources. It is a tripartite arrangement governed by a Multi-stakeholders Steering Group (MSG), consisting of representatives of the Government of Liberia, civil society organizations, the private sector, and Liberia’s development partners.

Monrovia, Liberia; Thursday, May 16, 2013: The Multi-stakeholders Steering Group (MSG) of the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) has endorsed the Fourth EITI Reconciliation Report for Liberia and the Post Award Process Audit Report. The decision was made today during an emergency MSG meeting held at the LEITI Secretariat in Monrovia. 

The 4th EITI Report for Liberia, prepared by the Reconciler, Ernst and Young (Ghana), captures all material payments of taxes, royalties, land/surface rentals and other administrative fees paid to, and acknowledged by the Government of Liberia by all oil, mining, forestry and agricultural companies for the period July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011. Additionally, the report includes In-kind Contributions made by extractive companies, Revenue Tracking, and Amount Due. The report was also expanded to include payments reported by four other Government agencies including the Liberia Maritime Authority (LMA), the National Port Authority (NPA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority (LCAA).The report shows that during the period under review, the extractive sector contributed US$117m to the Liberian economy, a 65% increment in what was reported in the previous year. This shows a sustained growth of contributions by the extractive sector to the economy, from $29m in 2007/2008; $35m in 2008/2009; and $71m in 2009/2010 to $117m in 2010/2011.

The Post Award Process Audit covers 68 companies operating in the oil, mining, forestry and agricultural sectors whose contracts, licenses and permits and rights were granted/amended by the Government of Liberia for the period July 13, 2009 up to and including December 31, 2011. The objective was to ascertain whether these rights and permits were awarded in line with applicable Liberian Laws. The report shows that some of these contracts and permits were awarded either in full or partial compliance with the applicable Laws of the Republic of Liberia while others failed to meet the requirements. The audit/investigation was commissioned by the LEITI MSG in July 2011 and conducted by Moore Stephens LLP (London) in Collaboration with Parker and Associates (Liberia). This audit is the first of its kind to be conducted by the LEITI.

At today’s meeting, the MSG resolved to organize a special retreat at which stakeholders will review recommendations from these reports, with the aim of identifying areas for policy implementation.

Meanwhile, the launch of the reports will be followed by massive dissemination exercises including extensive outreach throughout the fifteen counties of Liberia.

The Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) is an autonomous agency established through an Act of the Legislature, to promote the transparent management of Liberia’s extractive resources. It is a tripartite arrangement governed by a Multi-stakeholders Steering Group (MSG), consisting of representatives of the Government of Liberia, civil society organizations, the private sector, and Liberia’s development partners.

Monrovia, April 11, 2013, 2013: The Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) and the German Development Corporation (GIZ) have on today, April 11, 2013, signed an agreement that will facilitate the production of a “Contract Matrix”. The matrix is a simplified version of all contracts awarded by the Government of Liberia in the oil, mining, agriculture, and forestry sectors. 

The signing ceremony took place at the LEITI Secretariat in Monrovia, with Konah D. Karmo, Deputy Head of the LEITI Secretariat signing for the LEITI and Juliane Weymann,   Advisor of the GIZ Regional Resource Governance Project in West Africa, signing on behalf of her institution.

In line with the agreement, the GIZ will provide funding that will enable the Secretariat secure legal services experts to produce easy-to-read versions of all concessions agreements within the oil, mining, agriculture, and forestry sectors. The project is part of the LEITI’s efforts to ensure increased access to the public on contracts and agreements signed by the Government. To ensure that the Matrix is as accurate as possible, the process will seek collaboration from legal minds at the companies, supervising agencies of government, and the civil society. It will also leverage the services of the National Bureau of Concession, National Investment Commission, etc.

The Secretariat notes that while it has strived, in line with the LEITI Act of 2009, to make these contracts accessible to the public in hard and electronic copies including access on its website, it is yet challenging for the average citizens to understand the terms and provisions due to their complex legal nature. This general lack of understanding of these concession agreements, the Secretariat says, continues to create a void wherein citizens make their own inferences, some of which may not be the true intent of the agreements. 

The matrix when produced will help to mitigate the information gap and serve as an additional tool to strengthen the LEITI communications and outreach activities by reducing the complex legal documents into easy-to-read documents for all citizens, particularly those within close proximity of concession areas. Basically, it will summarize the fiscal terms, contract start/end dates, community benefits, and other key provisions on the agreements.

On November 1, 2012, the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) executed a contract with Moore Stephens LLP in collaboration with Parker and Associates to conduct a process audit and/or investigation of all material concession rights assigned by the Government of Liberia within the mining, oil, agriculture, and forestry sectors from July 13, 2009, the effective date of the LEITI Act, through to December 31, 2011. The selection of Moore Stephens LLP in collaboration with Parker and Associates followed the conduct of a procurement exercise approved by the African Development Bank (ADB).

The decision to conduct this exercise is in line with fulfilling the entire scope of LEITI’s activities beyond annual reporting and in keeping with the LEITI Act of 2009 which mandates “appropriate audits and/or investigations of the process by which each material concession, contract, license, and other right is awarded by the Government in respect of the forestry, mining, oil, agriculture and other designated resource sectors of Liberia in order to determine that each concession, contract, license, and similar right was awarded in compliance with applicable Liberian laws”.

Consequently, the LEITI lifted in its 2009/10 Work Plan the conduct of the process audit and/or investigation of all material concession, contract, license, and other rights awarded by the Government in respect of, mining, oil, forestry, and agriculture. The initial challenge to this task was securing funds amidst government’s own constraints in light of the global economic crisis. This was resolved when the African Development Bank, under its Fragile States Facility Program extended a grant of $460k to the Government of Liberia, of which $95k was allocated to this exercise. Subsequent leadership transitions at the LEITI Secretariat hindered tackling and completing this task. With a new leadership in place, a grant extension was sought and received to allow the exercise to be carried out before December 2012.

Based on a materiality assessment by the LEITI Secretariat, the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Group (MSSG) approved the process audit and/or investigation of sixteen companies within the oil, mining, agriculture, and forestry sectors at its September 2012 meeting. Small and medium sized firms from the mining and forestry sectors will be added based on sampling methodology to be developed by the Auditor.

The report is expected to be published in the first quarter of 2013, and subsequently disseminated to the general public.
Notwithstanding the many questions and concerns raised by the local and international media in light of parallel national dialogues in extractive sectors, the LEITI cannot and will not attempt to preempt the findings of this endeavor. We wish to emphasize that this exercise represents an effort to independently and objectively examine the awarding process of our contracts and concessions and its outcomes will constructively contribute to ongoing reforms in our resource governance regimes.