The Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) concluded its recent mid-year retreat in Ganta with renewed commitments to transparency, accountability, beneficial ownership disclosure, anti-corruption measures, contract transparency, and stronger governance of Liberia's extractive sector. Those are commendable objectives. They are also objectives that become increasingly difficult to take seriously when one examines the current state of LEITI's own public information platform.
Transparency in 2026 is no longer measured solely by workshops, retreats, speeches, policy documents, or stakeholder meetings held in conference halls. Transparency is measured by what ordinary citizens can access, verify, download, read, and scrutinize for themselves. It is measured by whether a student in Gbarnga, a researcher in Buchanan, a community leader in Nimba, a journalist in Monrovia, or an investor in New York can independently locate the documents that govern Liberia's most consequential natural resource agreements.
That is where LEITI faces a troubling contradiction.
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The lengthy report from the Ganta retreat repeatedly references transparency, accountability, public participation, beneficial ownership, compliance, and disclosure. Yet nowhere in the story is there any meaningful discussion about LEITI's website, digital accessibility, or online disclosure systems. There is no mention of upgrading public access to information. There is no discussion about whether citizens can easily find contracts, reports, beneficial ownership records, compliance investigations, or validation documents online. There is no acknowledgment that, for many Liberians and international observers alike, the first test of transparency is no longer a public hearing but a functioning website.
Our most recent review of the LEITI website raises serious concerns.
The website contains a repository of concession agreements, reports, and regulatory documents. On the surface, this suggests a commitment to disclosure. However, a closer examination reveals a platform that appears outdated, inconsistently maintained, and incomplete in critical areas. Many documents are years old, navigation is cumbersome, and the overall user experience falls short of what would be expected from an institution whose core mandate is public disclosure and transparency. (LEITI)
More troubling is what appears to be missing.
Among the most consequential and controversial extractive agreements currently shaping Liberia's economic future are the Ivanhoe Atlantic Concession and Access Agreement and the proposed Third Amendment to ArcelorMittal Liberia's Mineral Development Agreement. These two agreements have dominated national conversations on rail governance, infrastructure access, mineral rights, economic sovereignty, and the future structure of Liberia's extractive economy.
The Ivanhoe agreement has been publicly promoted as a landmark arrangement that opens Liberia's rail and port infrastructure to multi-user access and establishes a framework for independent rail operations. (Ministry of Transport) The AML Third Amendment has similarly generated intense public debate because of provisions related to rail operations, infrastructure control, expansion commitments, and long-term access rights.
Yet during our review of LEITI's contract repository, neither document could be readily located among the concession agreements available to the public. (LEITI)
That absence matters.
It matters because LEITI exists precisely to eliminate information asymmetry between government officials, concessionaires, and ordinary citizens. It matters because communities affected by these agreements deserve access to the documents that will shape their economic future. It matters because lawmakers, journalists, researchers, civil society advocates, and investors should not have to rely on rumors, leaked drafts, corporate press releases, or political talking points to understand agreements involving billions of dollars in national assets.
When critical agreements cannot be found on the country's principal extractive transparency platform, questions inevitably arise. Were the documents never uploaded? Were they removed? Are they awaiting publication? If so, why? And why has there been no clear public explanation?
The silence itself becomes part of the transparency problem.
LEITI and its Multi-Stakeholder Group often speak about contract disclosure as an international best practice. In fact, the institution maintains policies dedicated to contract transparency and public access to information. (LEITI) But contract disclosure cannot be selectively applied. The most important agreements should not be the hardest to find.
The credibility of any transparency institution rests not on the documents it publishes when convenient but on the documents it publishes when politically sensitive. Publishing routine licenses, old forestry agreements, and historical contracts is important. Publishing the agreements currently at the center of national debate is even more important.
This issue extends beyond LEITI alone. Liberia is entering a defining period in the governance of its natural resources. Questions surrounding multi-user rail access, independent rail operations, critical minerals, concession management, beneficial ownership, and resource revenues will shape the country's development trajectory for decades. These debates cannot occur meaningfully if the public lacks access to the underlying documents.
The irony is that LEITI's own retreat reportedly concluded with commitments to make information more accessible, simplify data presentation, strengthen contract transparency, and improve citizen engagement. Those are worthy goals. But before building new transparency initiatives, LEITI must first address the most basic requirement of transparency itself: ensuring that the public can easily access the documents that matter most.
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A transparency institution cannot effectively champion openness while operating through an information platform that leaves major public questions unanswered.
The path forward is neither complicated nor expensive. LEITI should immediately conduct a comprehensive audit of its website and digital repositories. It should publish a complete index of all concession agreements currently in force, identify missing documents, explain any gaps, establish mandatory timelines for uploads, and create a searchable public portal where citizens can easily locate agreements, amendments, beneficial ownership disclosures, compliance reports, and validation documents.
Transparency does not begin in conference rooms.
It begins when citizens can click, read, verify, and hold power accountable for themselves.
Until then, Liberia's extractive transparency agenda risks being defined less by what is said at retreats and more by what remains missing online.
