The NEWS (Monrovia)
16 April 2008
Monrovia — The opposition Liberty Party, the third largest political party in the country, made a number of critical observations in its "State of the Nation " address on Monday, challenging the government on several fronts.
Amongst the many issues raised, the Liberty Party observed that unlike the timber and iron ore mining sectors, the government was yet to review concessions within the diamond and gold sectors.
The opposition party pointed out that diamonds were cited as a source of conflict in Liberia and neighboring Sierra Leone, and as such, it urged the government to similarly look at concessions within the diamond mining sector as well.
The Liberty Party's position comes in the wake of government's actions canceling all logging concessions entered into during previous regimes and renegotiated concession agreements in the iron ore mining sector.
The pronounced intent of government was to ensure that the country's interest was secured to the fullest and not cheated.
But the absence of concession scrutiny within the diamond and gold sectors as the Liberty Party pointed out appears as if the government has embarked upon a selective scrutiny exercise in the mineral sector.
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