Africa-Press – Liberia. Mounting concerns over conflicts of interest are clouding the Liberian Senate’s review of the US$1.8 billion Ivanhoe Atlantic Concession and Access Agreement, amid credible reports that two key senators chairing the process — Saah H. Joseph of Montserrado County and Numene T. H. Bartekwa of Grand Kru County — have existing trucking contracts with ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML) worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars.
The two senators, who serve respectively as Chair and Co-chair of the Senate Joint Committee on Transport, Investment, and Concessions, are said to be providing haulage and logistics services to the steel giant, which operates the Yekepa–Buchanan rail and port corridor.
Neither Senator Joseph nor Senator Bartekwa has responded to Daily Observer inquiries seeking confirmation or denial of the alleged business relationship. Both were sent written questions concerning the reported contracts and whether such ties constitute a conflict of interest as they preside over the legislative review of a rival concession that directly challenges ArcelorMittal’s rail monopoly.
The Ivanhoe Atlantic agreement — which would operationalize Liberia’s multiuser rail policy and grant access to Guinea’s mineral-rich Nimba range through Liberia — is now before the Senate for ratification. ArcelorMittal, meanwhile, is awaiting the President’s resubmission of its own revised Mineral Development Agreement (MDA), which was previously returned for renegotiation due to noncompliance issues and controversial provisions such as the Rail System Operating Principles (RSOP).
Government insiders and legislative observers believe the Senate Joint Committee’s handling of the Ivanhoe Agreement has been unusually slow, with some suggesting that Senator Joseph may be stalling until the AML renegotiation reaches the Senate floor. The Ivanhoe deal was submitted to the Legislature on October 22, 2025, but the first public hearing did not occur until seven weeks later — December 8 — and was then abruptly suspended.
Hearing Suspended
The December 8 hearing, chaired by Senator Joseph, was meant to examine the diplomatic, legal, and operational framework of the cross-border agreement between Liberia and Guinea. However, it was suspended due to the absence of the principal signatories — the Ministers of Justice and Finance.
Although both ministries dispatched senior representatives, including Assistant Finance Minister Andrew N. Ngolloe, representing Deputy Finance Minister for Fiscal Affairs Anthony Myers, the Joint Committee insisted that the principals themselves must appear to answer questions directly.
Senator Joseph explained that the committee could not proceed without the chief financial and legal authorities of the country. “Considering that the minister is not present, this is a serious hearing. This is a decision-making room, so he has to be here,” Joseph declared as he adjourned the hearing to Thursday, December 11, at 2:00 p.m.
Nimba County Senator Samuel Kogar, who serves on the Joint Committee, did not oppose the decision to postpone. Instead, he reinforced the Chair’s position that the ministers whose signatures appear on the agreement should be physically present. “A Senate invites people for concession agreements or contractual agreements, then the ministers who signed won’t appear? I don’t think we are proceeding right,” Kogar said.
Those present at the session included Transport Minister Sirleaf Ralph Tyler, who is the sectoral head corresponding with the Senate Committee on Transport, which Sen. Joseph heads; Deputy Minister of Justice for Economic Affairs, Cllr. Charles D. F. Karmo II; Liberia Revenue Authority Commissioner General James Dorbor Jallah; and National Investment Commission Chairman Jeff B. Blibo.
Overlapping Interests
Both Joseph and Bartekwa are also central figures in the ongoing controversy surrounding the September 2025 Senate delegation’s visit to ArcelorMittal’s Nimba concession. That visit — conducted without the knowledge or participation of the Nimba County Legislative Caucus — was widely criticized for its lack of transparency and timing. Senator Bartekwa was among the delegation.
In hindsight, the exclusion of Nimba lawmakers from that trip, coupled with the current delay in processing the Ivanhoe Agreement, has raised questions about whether senators with commercial links to ArcelorMittal can impartially preside over matters that affect the company’s business interests.
According to several officials who attended the December 8 hearing, all ministries and agencies except the Ministry of Finance had provided the requested documents in both hard and soft copies and were prepared to testify. “The Chair could have proceeded with the hearing and allowed follow-up submissions afterward,” one government participant told the Observer. “But he opted to postpone.”
Silence Amid Scrutiny
The Daily Observer sent formal inquiries to both Senator Joseph and Senator Bartekwa, seeking clarity about their reported business dealings with ArcelorMittal Liberia. As of press time, neither senator had responded.
Public Concern
The optics are troubling. The two senators overseeing the Ivanhoe review reportedly have business dealings with the very company whose monopoly the agreement seeks to curtail. Their involvement in the September AML concession visit and the slow pace of the Ivanhoe hearings now appear part of a broader pattern that has drawn criticism from both civil society and within the government.
If true, such entanglements would pose serious ethical and procedural questions about legislative impartiality in one of Liberia’s most consequential infrastructure agreements in decades — and whether personal and corporate interests are quietly shaping the future of the nation’s rail corridor.
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