The Political Leader of the Movement for Progressive Change (MPC), Simeon Freeman, has disagreed with the manner in which the House has treated the third mineral development agreement (MDA) of ArcelorMittal.
According to Freeman, if there are clauses in the current MDA not yet handled by ArcelorMittal, the National Legislature could have dialogued with the concession, knowing that Liberia is not the only country with natural resources, which means, many countries with natural resources are competing for investment to harness those resources for the good of their people.
Freeman warned that, if Liberia continues to manage its investment climate in such a way, as done by the lower House towards ArcelorMittal’s investment, this could potentially scare away other investors and send out negative signals to international investors.
According to him, such treatment of investors resulted to Firestone Rubber Plantation reducing its investment in Liberia.
Freeman said while he is not for or against ArcelorMittal, he was appealing to the Legislature to handle its differences in committee room to preserve the country’s investment profile.
ArcelorMittal and the Government of Liberia (GOL) spent over a year negotiating an amendment to the current agreement between the two parties. Once ratified, ArcelorMittal would increase its investment portfolio in Liberia from 1.7 billion to 2.7 billion. This means that additional US$1 billion investment would be made for the expansion of its operation in Liberia.
However, efforts to proceed with the ratification of the amended agreement encountered roadblock, many believe, stemmed from the maneuvering of the Guinean-based mineral exploration company, Ivanhoe, a subsidiary of HPX. HPX has contended that even though ArcelorMittal spent US$500 million to rehabilitate the rail and port, they cannot be the operator of the rail while they (HPX) join the multi-user arrangement provided in the amended MDA. Moreover, HPX is also contending to build capacity of the rail ahead of the Liberia-based Arcelormittal. Many observers believe that the long-running clamor and polarization of ArcelorMittal amended agreement was surreptitiously instigated by surrogates of HPX to cast doubt and aspersion on the AML deal, thus, stimulating sentiments for its rejection.
This suspicion was seemingly confirmed when the lower House on March 29, 2022 met in an emergency executive session on a one-item agenda to return ArcelorMittal amended agreement to the Executive for renegotiation. Even more interesting was that HPX and the Government of Liberia (GOL) entered into a secret framework agreement on rail and port two days prior to the lower House’s emergency session, which returned ArcelorMittal deal. These unconventional activities were already drawing significant public interest and concerns before the surfacing a receipt purportedly signed by Speaker Bhofal Chambers, indicating payment of US$500,000 for Legislative engagement, allegedly from Ivanhoe, HPX.
Simeon Freemen’s statement have been considered by observers as a caution for all public actors in this ArcelorMittal–HPX saga to reconsider the national interest of the country above all other personal financial gain.