Capitol Monrovia — A 15-year cargo tracking contract worth $25M and signed between the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) led-government of ex-President George Manneh Weah and the Global Tracking Maritime Solutions (GTMS), is currently being implemented in post-conflict Liberia without the acquiescence of key government ministries, agencies and the National Legislature.
It can be recalled that the Plenary of the Liberian Senate set up an Ad-Hoc Committee to launch an investigation into the Cargo Tracking Network (CTN) contract signed between the GOL, through the National Port Authority (NPA) and Global Tracking Maritime Solutions on July 11, 2018.
The contract was signed between GTMS and the former managing director of the National Port Authority (NPA) Madam Celia Cuffey Brown, including the then minister of finance Samuel Tweh and was attested to by the former minister of justice Musa Dean on behalf of the government.
Speaking during a public hearing on the investigation on Wednesday, June 12, the chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Senator Amara Konneh, disclosed that the hearing was intended to get a clearer understanding of Container Tracking Network (CTN) agreement signed with the government and the GTMS.
According to the Gbarpolu County senator, the objective of the hearing was to unearth whether or not the contract was awarded in a transparent manner.
"We want to assess and establish full compliance to Liberian laws and the execution of the contract consistent with what was agreed on. We also want to know about the financial management of this contract and all of the legal and regulatory compliances consistent with the Liberian laws," he said.
No Knowledge on contract
According to the executive director of the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC), Bodger Scott Johnson, the government, through the PPCC, has no "recollection or documentation at PPCC" on the GTMS contract.
He maintained that the commission does not have any basic information on the operations of GTMS in the country.
He said a halt was placed on procurement and other processes due to the influx of requests that were made to the integrity institution by past government officials, prior to the conduct of the 2023 general and presidential elections.
The director general of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), Dorbor Jallah, told the hearing that the agency does not have any information on the collection of revenue under this contract
"We reviewed all of our files and realized that the LRA has no knowledge of how this contract was consummated. Even though Global Tracking is a custom function, the LRA was not a party to this agreement. The LRA has no knowledge of how funds being collected under this arrangement are being disposed of. We have no recollection or whatsoever; we don't have any information."
Jallah emphasized that the LRA has never been a party to the full execution or implementation of the contract GTMS signed with the government.
He pointed out that the issue of the questionable contract was brought before the cabinet of the current administration.
As a result of this, he added that President Joseph Boakai requested him and the minister of commerce to review the contract at which time consultations were held, and briefings and documents clearly showed that "LRA has no knowledge or whatsoever of the collection of revenue from this contract."
Jallah maintained that signatories to the GTMS contract signed with the government did not include any name from the LRA, something which clearly shows that the agency was not a party to the agreement.
According to him, the LRA does not know how monies generated from the contract are being expended, adding that, "we don't know where the bank accounts are or payments are made."
Deputy Finance Minister for Fiscal Affairs, Anthony Myers, also claimed that the ministry was not a party to the agreement.
He said the Cargo Tracking Network contract signed by the previous government claimed the attention of the current administration during the transition period.
According to him, the CTN has "no apparent value in terms of its immediate effect on the commerce" of the country, but its effect was price related, negatively impeding commercial activities in the country.
Minister Myers pointed out that under the current contract, owners of goods are compelled to pay extra fees for overstay containers, something which has, an effect on consumers and affect revenue generation.
"When we were making our recommendations as part of our 100 days deliverables to our colleagues in the LRA and Commerce, one of the things we needed was the outturn of the CTN and Medtech contract; unfortunately, we only have Medtech and not the CTN contract."
When quizzed whether since the inception of the Boakai led-administration the ministry has had dealing or financial transaction with GTMS, Minister Myers responded that "there is no line that LRA shared with us in all the revenue data-and there is no line indicating that CTN has a source of custom revenue."
He emphasized that this has been a concern to the ministry and as such, it has recommended the review of the contract.
Contract fills with deficiencies
The managing director of the Freeport of Monrovia Sekou Dukuly disclosed that the GTMS contract signed with the government was marred by deficiencies, prompting the delay in the revision of the contract with the government.
He disclosed that the current management team set up a committee to review the contract, with the hiring of reputable consultants to advance recommendations for the upholding or rejection of the contract.
According to him, the NPA has "almost concluded that review" process, with a deadline set at June 15 this year.
Dukuly emphasized that the cost effectiveness of the tracking of cargo by the company and the evaluation of the benefits to make sure that price aligned with current realities were the main issues of focus during the review process.
Commerce and Industry Ministry Amin Modad disclosed that recommendations have been advanced to President Joseph Nyuma Boaki on the contract GTMS signed with the government.
For her part, Aminata Bangura, managing director of GTMS, the tracking of cargoes does not restrict to containers alone.
She said her company's operations cover goods and others coming into the country, what's plying on waters, and how ports in the country can be secured.
According to her, the operation of her company does not amount to "a revenue generating scheme for the government."
"It tells the port what comes into the port three months -sometimes two months before the goods arrive into the country. It helps the port in planning and security and it also helps maritime organizations to know what exactly is plying the waters because there are countries that are banned from trading from country to country. There are pirate situations happening in the waters; so maritime organizations want to know."
She said the working of her company helps the port to ensure that revenue generated is used to improve security at the port.
She justified that monies generated should go towards the security of the port, but however in Africa, the situation is quite different.
Company not considered
Madam Bangura pointed out that GTMS came into Liberia in 2014 and engaged the National Investment Commission (NIC), but nothing was done until the return of the company in 2016.
She said the Liberian government did not implement the Cargo Tracking Network (CTN) project during the administration of former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf though presentations were made by the company to the government, through the NIC, MOF, NPA, and the LRA, amongst others.
She noted that the company later departed the country at the time a request was made by the Liberian government to do a case study on a similar program which was ongoing in neighboring Sierra Leone.
Madam Bangura disclosed that the Liberian government dispatched representatives to Sierra Leone on a study tour to advise its implementation in Liberia.
She said the Liberian government under ex-President Weah opted for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for the commencement of its operations, clearly specifying commencement of feasibility studies, which were done by her company.
She added that implementing a draft contract signed with the government, but such contract was placed on a hold during the just ended elections in the country, at which time GTMS returned to Sierra Leone, but later showcased its workings with the government, through the NPA for legitimizing its contract.
"As a company, we did our part and we went through the process. It took us from 2014 and we didn't sign the contract until 2018; that is to establish that we did not come here from the sky. Yes we came from Sierra Leone, but we followed the due process."
She justified that since 2018 up to present, the customs department of the LRA is currently using the system of GTMS to generate revenue for the Liberian government.
Madam Bangura claimed that her company has "agents worldwide" to track global security in terms of cargo tracking using its various systems.
At the hearing, it was established that there is no record to clearly show that the government, through LRA, has received any revenue from the contract signed with GTMS.
During the hearing, many of the Senators, including Momo Cyrus and Prince Moye of Lofa and Bong counties respectively questioned the move made by the then government to enter into a contract without the knowledge of heads of line ministries and agencies, and documents leading to, or of the contract cannot be traced, found or presented.
They wondered whether those who attended the hearing where "covering up" for GTMS or past public officials due to their connection or perceived relationship with them.
They described as "worrisome" the awarding of a multi-million dollar contract to a foreign company in gross disregard to the laws of the country.
The move made by the then government to enter into a contract worth about US$25M contravenes the PPCC law and the 1986 Liberian constitution, especially Article 34.
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Article 34 gives the National Legislature the authority to: "levy taxes, duties, imports, exercise and other revenues, to borrow money, issue currency, mint coins, and to make appropriations for the fiscal governance of the Republic, subject to the following qualifications."
It further states that "all revenue bills, whether subsidies, charges, imports, duties or taxes, and other financial bills, shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills. No other financial charge shall be established, fixed, laid or levied on any individual, community or locality under any pretext whatsoever except by the expressed consent of the individual, community or locality. In all such cases, a true and correct account of funds collected shall be made to the community or locality;
All the heads of the ministries and the PPCC failed to provide a copy of the contract the government signed with GTMS.
The disclosure of pertinent information to implicate a particular individual or specific group of people was being either conceived or stage-managed by those who appeared at the hearing.
As a result of this, holding accountability former or current public officials linked to the controversial GTMS Cargo Tracking Network (CTN) would not come to fruition as evidenced by the noticeable concealing of relevant information by those who appeared to answer to inquiries from Senators and some members of the public.
The investigation may also be hampered due to the unavailability of the legitimate contract signed between the government and the company.
The public hearing on the contract may appeared to be another charade if Senators serving on the Ad-hoc committee failed to carry out due diligence by digging deeper into the deal, thereby inviting key former government officials who signed the contract to also testify at a public hearing prior to the submission of a report to the Plenary for possible actions.
This is not the first time that the Senate has launched a probe into the GTMS contract signed with the Liberian government.
In January 2021, Montserrado County Senator Abraham Darius Dillon also raised alarm over the "bogus" operations of the company in the country.
He alleged that the illegal operations of the company were creating serious problems for the business community in Liberia, with the skyrocketing of the prices of basic commodities due to high charges. Political pundits and members of the public are watching to see whether or not the latest investigation of the Senate into the matter would yield fruitful results for the benefit of all, especially the ordinary Liberian people.
