Africa-Press – Liberia. As an anxious public await the Senate’s concurrence on the House action last week on key economic instruments, including the Ivanhoe Atlantic Concession and Access Agreement, a growing number of lawmakers and policy observers are voicing concerns over what they describe as a blatant conflict of interest involving Montserrado County Senator Saah Hardy Joseph, who chairs the Senate’s Joint Committee tasked with reviewing the deal.
The senator’s financial ties to ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML)—the very company that has objected to the multi-user rail and independent operator framework from the implementation of the Ivanhoe Agreement—are now under sharp scrutiny, as the Joint Committee he leads continues to stall proceedings without clear justification.
Delay pattern
On December 8, the Joint Committee finally convened its long-delayed hearing on the Ivanhoe Agreement after weeks of waiting since the agreement was transmitted to the Legislature on October 23, 2025. Yet, instead of proceeding with substantive review, Senator Joseph abruptly adjourned the session, citing the absence of principal signatories—the Ministers of Justice and Finance. Some Observers argue he could have proceeded since only the Finance Ministry sent an Assistant Minister.
When the actual Ministers themselves returned three days later as demanded on December 11, fully represented and ready to engage, the senator again called off the meeting without explanation, stunning the public and the press corps present.
“The pattern is clear,” a legislative source told the Daily Observer. “He is running out the clock to buy AML time. Every day this drags another day, he hopes to delay passage of an Agreement that AML is lobbying heavily to derail,” according to persons familiar with internal deliberations.
Business ties
The Daily Observer has confirmed reports, published by The Liberian Investigator and GNN Liberia, that buses owned by Senator Joseph have been leased to ArcelorMittal Liberia for the transport of mine workers in Nimba County. These are the same buses the senator once claimed he imported to serve commuters in Montserrado County at his own expense.
Meanwhile, the Senator told journalists in July 2025 that the buses in question were not serving the people of Montserrado County because they were “undergoing major repairs”.
In addition, sources close to the transport sector confirm that Joseph maintains trucking contracts with ArcelorMittal, directly benefiting from the company’s ongoing mining operations in Yekepa and Buchanan.
Repeated attempts by the Daily Observer to obtain comments from both men went unanswered.
Lawmaker, contractor at the same time
Under the Liberian Code of Conduct for Public Officials (2014), lawmakers are explicitly prohibited from engaging in business activities that “create a conflict between personal interest and public duty.” The Code further bars public officials from accepting or maintaining contractual relationships with any entity doing business with the government.
In this context, Senator Joseph’s dual role as legislator and contractor for ArcelorMittal raises grave ethical questions about his ability to conduct impartial oversight. As the chair of the Senate committees overseeing both the Ivanhoe Agreement and the transport sector, Joseph effectively sits in judgment over a policy framework that could threaten his own financial arrangements.
“Senator Joseph cannot serve two masters,” said a senior legislative staffer who requested anonymity. “He is using his position to shield AML’s interests, not Liberia’s. It’s a textbook case of conflict of interest and abuse of legislative power.”
The senator’s November 12 letter to the Inter-Ministerial Concessions Committee (IMCC) demanded documentary proof of compliance with the 2019 Liberia-Guinea Implementation Agreement, questioning whether the Government of Guinea had properly concurred with the Ivanhoe deal.
While framed as an issue of due diligence, several lawmakers have dismissed the move as a tactical distraction. “The testimonies and official documents provided by the Administration have already confirmed Liberia and Guinea’s concurrence under the Bilateral Agreement” one Senate staffer said. “This is not about procedure. It’s about obstruction.”
The Daily Observer was provided by Legislative staff, a full list of documents submitted to the House and Senate by the Administration upon request.
A Question of Integrity
At stake is far more than just a rail concession. The Ivanhoe Agreement represents a potential breakthrough in Liberia’s quest to implement a multi-user rail and port system — a policy designed to end two decades of single-operator control over the Yekepa-Buchanan corridor by ArcelorMittal.
By delaying hearings and questioning settled diplomatic processes, Joseph appears to be aligning himself with AML’s long-standing opposition to multi-user access and independent rail operatorship — the very reforms the Boakai administration has championed as a matter of national interest.
“What’s happening here is policy capture,” said an economic governance expert. “When legislators become financially dependent on concessionaires, they cease to be regulators and start acting as their defenders. That’s the danger Liberia faces right now.”
A Call for Accountability
Several blogs in the public posted on social media are now calling for a full investigation into Joseph’s business dealings with ArcelorMittal Liberia, citing both ethical and legal grounds. Others suggest that he should recuse himself from further participation in deliberations on the Ivanhoe Agreement to restore public confidence in the Senate’s oversight process.
Until then, Liberia’s most consequential infrastructure deal in decades could remain trapped in committee — held hostage, critics say, by a lawmaker who appears unwilling to separate personal profit from public duty.
“If the Senate cannot clean its own house,” one legislative aide remarked, “then it is a bad reelection on good governance.”
However, there are strong indications that Senator Joseph is the only bottleneck to the passage of the Ivanhoe Agreement as a stooge of AML. Margibi Senator Nathaniel F. McGill, posted on his facebook page: “There is absolutely no reason why the HPX concession should not be ratified. I hope my Senate colleagues will not stand in the way of its ratification.” There are multiple reports that similar messages have been shared in Legislative chat rooms calling attention to Senator Joseph’s tactics.
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