Press Statement
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen of the Liberian Media, we want to use this medium to welcome you all. We want to thank you for responding to our invite. Our invitation to you today, is intended to inform the people of Liberia, especially the people of Grand Bassa County on serious national issues that if not handled properly, could undermine the peace of the county and the country in general.
Our call is in reference to the continued gross disrespect and humiliation of the Bassa People being perpetrated by the multinational Arcelor Mittal. Arcelor Mittal is in flagrant disregard to the laws of the country, especially, its Mineral Development Agreement with the Liberian Government.
The Grand Bassa Civil Society Council, a conglomeration of grassroots civil groups in the county has been concerned about the ill-treatment of the Bassa People by Arcelor Mittal and has been holding a series of consultative meetings to find an amicable way in resolving these concerns.
Since 2019, the Civil Society Council of Grand Bassa has been holding a series of consultations with citizens and lawmakers of the County. Arcelor Mittal Liberia (AML) has been served several invitations to attend these Meetings to create an opportunity to address the several concerns of the Bassa People. We want to inform you, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, that sadly, AML has been tenaciously unwilling to attend these meetings and has since continued to behave in a manner and form that suggest that the concerns of the masses of Bassa are invalid.
These issues were again elevated by the Civil Society Council during a citizen’s engagement which was held in the Unification Pavilion in Buchanan City on May 7, 2023.
At the meeting, the people of Grand Bassa County authorized the Civil Society to take the lead in flagging the unhappiness of the Bassa Citizens on the planned relocation of the construction of the Concentrator Plant from Buchanan City to Yekepa; as well as other violations of the Mineral Development Agreement by AML.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, It will interest you to know that AML has instituted an apartheid policy at its concession area in Buchanan with the establishment of two different and separate hospitals-one for the white executives and another for the poor Black workers.
In 2010, AML promised that by 2012 to refurbish the Stephen A. Tolbert Memorial Hospital with all modern equipment so as to service the general public, local and expatriate staffs. Instead, the company maintains the deplorable hospital for the use of local staffs, while it opened a well-furnished and well-equipped hospital only for the white expatriate staffs in the concession area and refused to have it opened to the general public. This is very disturbing, annoying, and unacceptable.
Liberia is amongst several African nations that helped to fight the apartheid system in South Africa. This is why, we are shocked that the Weah Government will sit idly by, to see Arcelor Mittal implement policies of apartheid right in the heart of Africa’s oldest black republic. This has infuriated the people of Bassa who see the action of AML as an insult to, not just the Bassa People, but Liberians in general.
The Bassa Citizens have mandated the civil society to speak in the loudest of voice against AML. The Bassa People also mandated the civil society to organize peaceful protests and as well as take legal actions where necessary, against AML’s continuous gross violation of the MDA.
It can be recalled that a protest action was staged by a pressure group called, ‘RESCUE BASSA MOVEMENT’. The civil action prompted the government’s intervention. Since that time, the Liberian Government has tried to whitewash the issue and downplay the key concerns being raised by the people of Bassa.
The government tried to find a quick-fix method and arranged meetings to get results as usual. For the record, we want to state categorically that we don’t see any genuine action from the government and its partners to solve the concerns of the People of Grand Bassa County. The council was invited by the government and the position of the Council was articulated by its chairman which remains constant; with maintaining to carry out the two action plans mandate of the Bassa People-which is to carry out peaceful protests and as well take legal actions. This, we are determined to do and do with all our strength and powers. Additionally, the Civil Society will not attend any meeting with the government and its partner on this matter without our legal counsel.
Finally, the people of Bassa are not ready or at no time have we decided to make or carry out a barter system concerning the concentrator. That determination is for the people of Bassa to make and not our lawmakers or local leaders.
Thank you very much.
