Africa-Press – Liberia. Liberia’s foremost energy specialist Christopher Zeohn Neyor has taken issues with controversial economist Samuel Jackson for “misrepresenting the facts” in his recent comments denigrating the efforts applied by experts and foreign donors towards the restoration of electricity in Monrovia and other parts of the country during past governments.
Mr. Neyor previously served as the Managing Director of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) and Senior Energy Advisor and President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) during the administrations of former Liberian Presidents Samuel Kanyon Doe and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.
He is presently the Chief Executive Officer/President of Morweh Energy Group, Inc, a Liberian-owned and managed enterprise, which engages into consulting and investment services across all facets of the energy sector and provides strategic guidance for infrastructure project finance.
He played a pivotal role in advising Madam Sirleaf and the former Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy on post war power restoration, spearheaded the writing of the current Liberia National Energy Policy (LNEP) and initiated the conceptual framework for full development of the nearly 1000 MW capacity of the St Paul River basin.
But in recent times, his cousin renowned Liberian economist Samuel Jackson has been making disparaging comments to discredit the efforts applied by him and several others to restore the supply and distribution of electricity in Liberia during the regime of Madam Sirleaf.
Mr. Jackson blamed donors, especially the Americans for being responsible for the declining state of Liberia’s energy sector due to their alleged interference.
“LEC is bankrupt. ‘Chronic illiquidity’. The Mt. Coffee Hydro Dam or TJR Faulkner Dam is the dumbest infrastructure project on the planet. 88 megawatts of pure technical nonsense. Cost. Nearly 400 million dollars to refurbish. Loses 2/3 or more of its capacity in the dry season. Run of river. In 2004, the USTDA spent 500,000 dollars to have Stanley Engineering conduct a feasibility study to rehabilitate a 64 megawatt dam built in 1966 when our population was just 1.2 million. In 2004 when the study began the population of Monrovia alone was almost 1 million due to the inorganic growth of the city from the 14 years of fratricidal conflict. By the 2008 census the country’s population was 3.2 million” Mr. Jackson stated.
He continued: “Which Liberian energy experts sat in a room with their foreign counter parts and thought it was a great idea to refurbish an old dam on the St. Paul River? Which president thought it was genius to do small light today and big light tomorrow? Which countries or bilateral partners thought spending 1 billion dollars over 7 years in something called EPP1 and EPP2. LACEEP. LESEEP to produce the low electricity access rate we have today is correct? What we have today is a colossal mess. We have a choice. Pretend we can fix it or start from scratch. Yes. The one billion dollars spent is not even sunken cost. It is wasted money. President Weah can put on his big boy jockey shorts and fix it tomorrow morning. He can tell the partners. Thanks but no thanks. Ask accountability from the Sirleaf Administration. Shame the designers and implementers of our current energy mess and inform the Liberian people with figures that he tried to fix the mess but the cookie is burned. The stove overheated. He did not bake the cookie. He came in too late”.
No same political view
But in his response posted on his official Facebook page early Sunday, Mr. Neyor informed Mr. Jackson that their biological relationship doesn’t not in any way call for them to have the same political view or life philosophy.
He recalled that following the inception of the CDC led-government, Mr. Jackson approached him to use his high-level contacts to secure genuine funding for road infrastructure because loans they had consummated were not coming through.
“I was disappointed that after packaging a $700 million proposal at my cost, that instead of engaging us on how the proposal was structured and what were the steps to full implementation, a proprietary document presented to the government was used to frame a public bid (of course there were no takers as expected)”.
The duo presented the proposal to the Weah led-administration in early 2018. According to them, the proposal is not just for the loan but a comprehensive effort to support infrastructure financing in Liberia through national development bank finance and bilateral economic cooperation agreements. The loan was proposed through Morweh Energy Corporation, a duly organized Liberian corporation.
Morweh Energy has the capability to provide research, economic, geological and environmental studies and technical advice including risk analysis and mitigation strategy to firms and governments in order to enable them to make an investment decision for medium to large projects.
Error Researched Info
Mr. Neyor maintained that the researched works on the energy sector provided to the public by Mr. Jackson were totally false and misleading. “You wrote in your FB post that I provided advice on your London School of Economic project paper and listed me as source of verification on assertions you made in the post. Such insertions in your post and tagging me insinuate my agreement. Because many of your statements were erroneous or misrepresentation of facts, I’ve a reputation to protect and must therefore say something”, Mr. Neyor stated.
He continued: “First, I’ve over the years provided designated outside thesis guidance on energy to students from various graduate schools including Harvard and Princeton. Yours was not an official advice because it was a direct request from you, the student. I tried to inform you that many of your “researched” information about the Liberian electricity sector were in error and therefore your conclusion about private sector investment as immediate solution was misleading”.
He pointed out that there will be no genuine private sector investment without an acceptable investment climate, noting that, “that is a fact not because I say so but because that is the reality of investment”.
“Your various assertions in this post and on talk shows and other media is a twisting of information whether deliberate or out of ignorance. It is tantamount to gas lighting in some instances. Many of your information, especially on the power sector are simply wrong. Cousin Sam, I do not want to be associated with such intellectual dishonesty”.
Will not blindly support
Mr. Neyor observed that the statement posted by Minister Jackson was a sure of blindly supporting the government he once heavily criticized in the past.
Mr. Jackson, who was one of the fiercest critics of President George Weah, has been advancing recommendations, suggestions and heaping praises on the CDC led-government since he was contracted during the national economic dialogue held in Liberia.
He has also been castigating opposition politicians and verbally attacking critics of the government and other foreign partners, including the United States Ambassador Michael A. McCarthy.
“While you (Jackson) now blindly support the same government you once harshly criticized and now see it as a government that does no wrong, I on the other hand, have never and will never blindly support any government, even ones I support or work for” Mr. Neyor stated.
He pointed out that his high level of patriotism or love for Liberia, the suffering masses and his conscience will never allowed him to “blindly” support any regime or government.
“I advise in private but when the barn catches fire because expert counsel was disregarded, I clarify the air as a duty to country. My record speaks for itself. In closing I plead with you to never tag me or use me as verification reference in your ongoing adventures. I do not wish to be a source of your validation in a sector outside your expertise”.
Liberians are responsible
In his latest write up, Mr. Jackson again blamed the Americans for the barrage of problems Liberia and its citizens are encountering in the energy and solar waste sectors.
“As the day began, Liberians were awakened to a strongly worded Op-Ed piece by Michael A. McCarthy, U.S. Ambassador to Liberia. The diplomat bluntly confronted the Liberian people for what he considers serious lapses in governance, reflected in corruption, lack of basic drugs in clinics and hospitals, bemoaned the mountain of garbage in the nation’s capital and demanded to know why Liberians are incapable of removing dirt from the streets of the nation’s capital. The Ambassador did not include a caveat in his Op-Ed that the evils he recounted were not new and were in fact challenges that had bedeviled previous administrations”, Mr. Jackson stated in one of his comments posted on the social media.
He continued: “No one can deny that Liberia has historically faced challenges with corruption, lack of accountability and during the postwar period, waste management has shown to be a difficult task in the city of Monrovia due to the inorganic population growth from the 14 years of civil war. Moreover, the government of Liberia is urged to take seriously the concerns of the American diplomat. But the public should be warned that the Ambassador took the liberty to rant and rave at a poor country, mostly dependent upon aid from the United States and other donors and conveniently omitted from his narrative that the country’s existence has been characterized by neglect, exploitation and collusion of the international system with corrupt elites. Resultantly, the neglect, exploitation and collusion led to a fratricidal conflict and a failed state, with all institutions mostly destroyed and human capacity substantially reduced, while the Americans stood by as the carnage engulfed the entire nation”.
But in reaction, Mr. Neyor differed by stating that Liberians themselves are responsible for their own problems. “What is wrong with us, is us”. It is not the Americans, it is not the Europeans; it is not the Chinese neither the Indians nor the Lebanese. It is disingenuous when you blame the Americans and the immediate past administration as source of the ongoing electricity outages and uncollected garbage in Monrovia. Stop it!”, Mr. Neyor cautioned his cousin.
He advised: “Read my recent published article on the genesis of our power outages and the missed opportunities by various administrations for permanent solution. The blame cannot be on foreigners or any one administration but all of us as Liberians”.
In his recent piece under the captioned : The Genesis of Liberia’s Continuous Power Outages and the Overlooked Solution, Mr. Neyor pointed out reasons responsible for Liberia’s unstable supply of electricity and advanced recommendations to the CDC led government to address the situation now and in the future. Mr. Neyor is regarded for his high level of patriotism and commitment towards the advancement of the motherland and the citizenry.
While serving at NOCAL, he instituted zero tolerance against corruption, waste and abuse of state funds. He also initiated a scholarship drive to ensure that the government, through NOCAL provide educational opportunities to deserving students in the sector to study abroad and return to contribute their quotas to their nation.
He felt out of favor with ex-Liberian President Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf when she appointed her beloved son, Robert Alvin Sirleaf, to serve as Board Chair of the entity. Rob presently himself as a “small god and a Mr. Know All” at NOCAL, taking actions and decisions without the acquiescence of the management.
This led to the collapse of the once famous institution just few months to the expiration of the tenure of Madam Sirleaf. During the 2014 mid-term senatorial election, Mr. Neyor wrote a historic open letter to Madam Sirleaf alarming over several issues at the time her son was contesting the election.
Years later in 2017, Mr. Neyor extended an olive branch to Madam Sirleaf by calling for reconciliation, barely few months to the end of her 12-year rule in Liberia. Both Madam Sirleaf and Mr. Neyor are members of the First United Methodist Church in Monrovia.
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