Representatives of Nimba County, Neaker Gaye and Nyan G. Flomo, have reminded local authorities in mining-affected communities of the importance of effective communication between residents and the management of ArcelorMittal Liberia.
The two lawmakers met recently with community stakeholders, representatives of ArcelorMittal Liberia, along with its contracted group InterLog to discuss key issues surrounding AML’s exploration right to mounts Blei and Dehton.
Representatives Gaye and Flomo said the slow and inadequate dissemination of information from discussions with the company is responsible for the wrong perception of AML in communities.
Before meeting with the stakeholders, the two lawmakers held discussions with the locals and made them understand that AML’s right to carry out exploration drilling on the two mountains was legitimate.
Representative Gaye emphasized that the Joint Committee on Forest Management Body (JCFMB) and the local community leaders were not doing enough on information sharing with the ordinary citizens, which he said was responsible for the bitterness among the residents.
The Nimba electoral district #3 lawmaker observed that, because of the lack of information about some of AML’s undertakings that positively impact them, they misjudged the company that it is doing nothing, describing it as unfair.
The lawmaker informed the residents that AML’s presence is good for the government and people of the country and that the company cannot operate without the locals.
“ArcelorMittal cannot operate without the local people. Equally, the presence of this investment is good for the government because, from it, the government gets money to run the country to be good for all of us. The government needs to protect this investment, and having disputes there every time does not speak good about us as a country,” he said.
“I observe that you people representing the ordinary people in meetings with ArcelorMittal do not relate to the people with the information you gather, but keep them out of it.”
He told the local stakeholders to plan meetings that will allow them as lawmakers to participate and explain the agreement between AML and the Liberian government.