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Wilmot Paye: Minister Reforming Mining Sector

June 23, 2025

Top: The newly renovated Ministry of Mines and Energy is part of an ongoing reform by Minister Wilmot Paye. The DayLight/Harry Browne

By Varney Kamara

MONROVIA – A bold, new signboard brandishes the phrase: “Ministry of Mines and Energy.” The walls glitter with freshly painted gray and white. Just beyond the lobby, a fenced yard holds items seized from miners. Inside, lighted corridors beam with hope and accountability.

These are part of a sectoral reform Minister Wilmot Paye is instituting for a bewildered yet promising mining sector. In an exclusive interview with The DayLight, Paye explains the reform, which ranges from employees’ productivity to combating illicit activities.

“That’s not where we want to be. We had to get the basics right. If we don’t get the basics right, how can we regulate two key sectors of our economy: the mining and energy sectors?” Paye tells The DayLight.

“Former South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said, ‘If you can’t measure it, you can certainly not manage it.’ So, first, we need to have the capacity. You have to have the personnel. You have to boost the morale. You have to have the equipment.”

Part of the internal restructuring, the ministry purchased office computers and equipment, according to Paye. Next, the administration stabilized electricity and restored order. Workers are now coming to work as early as 8 am and departing offices by 4 pm, in line with civil service rules.

Furthermore, the ministry has relocated the Liberian Geological Survey and Liberian Hydrological Survey on the Old Road to the ministry’s headquarters on Capitol Hill. The two offices collect and analyze rocks and water data to support mineral exploration.

Recent surveys suggest Liberia has vast mineral potential beyond its traditional mineral resources. However, the lack of scientific, evidence-based data has prevented the full realization of this endowment. Paye says the refurbished geological and hydrological surveys, with modern equipment, will help bridge that gap.

Minister of Mines and Energy Wilmot Paye speaks to The DayLight on June 10, 2025. The DayLight/Harry Browne

Recently, the ministry embraced new data from a Chinese-funded study that revealed over a dozen previously unidentified minerals, moving beyond iron ore, diamonds, and gold to seeking complete geological mapping of all ten quadrats nationwide, with only one section surveyed so far, he says.

Also, the ministry has abolished voluntary work, which has plagued the mining sector for decades. A 2021 General Auditing Agency (GAC) report found that 65 percent of the ministry’s workforce were volunteers. So, Paye dropped 225 volunteer inspectors, mining agents and patrolmen who did not complete high school, and retained 85 who did.

“When you have volunteer inspectors who were deployed across the country to help implement the mining laws and regulations, you are simply saying to them, ‘Go and pay yourselves, and that’s what happened,’” says Paye.

“What has happened over the years is that we had mining agents and people assigned to regulate the sector and implement the mineral mining laws—some of whom didn’t even finish high school. So, how can you monitor what you don’t understand?”

Eighty-five geologists and mining engineers have been incorporated into companies in line with the Minerals and Mining Law, and that number could rise to 114 in the coming months, according to Paye. The law requires firms to give preference to employing skilled Liberians in senior roles.

“The companies are legally obligated to provide what is called a “sustenance allowance” for two years. Some young professionals are earning about US$2,000. So, imagine a young person just leaving university and becoming part of the system. This is one way of grooming an industry, producing future industry leaders and decision-makers who can then be deployed and recruited across the country.”

That aside, the ministry has assigned 30 additional geologists and mining engineers to newly established County Mine Offices. Established in all 15 counties, these structures help to fight illicit mining activities. They, Paye says, are equipped with GPS devices and other tools whose lack hinders supervision.

Bao Chico Mine — The Ministry of Mines and Energy is enforcing a legal provision through which Liberian geologists and mining engineers work at mines, including Bao Chico in Gbarpolu County, seen in this elevated view. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

Newly established county mine offices would oversee all mining and energy-related activities in their respective counties. Mining agents, the ministry’s highest local officers, will report to these offices, which in turn will report to the central office, Paye says. He adds the ministry has purchased GPS equipment and drones for fieldworkers to make their work easier.

Asked whether new county mine officers would not usurp existing mining agents’ function, Paye says, “No, there won’t be a clash. The county mine offices will oversee all mining and energy-related activities in their respective counties. The mining agents employed at the lower levels will report to the county supervisory offices.

“The only way to effectively curtail illicit mining activities is to have people on the ground with the technical knowledge to implement sustainable and environmentally friendly mining programs. We must consider the entire ecosystem of the mining sector: community welfare, the rights of license holders, and protecting investors, while preventing illicit operations. The real risk here is that we are losing a lot as a country due to illicit activities,” Paye says.

“What we are doing is establishing a serious presence across the country. Once we achieve that, we can hold people accountable, because there will be decentralized oversight,” Paye says. “We want to know what mining activities are taking place in River Gee County, for example—who is operating there, and who holds a license.”

‘Kata-kata’ machines

Illicit mining undermines Liberia’s mining sector, which contributes 15 percent to the country’s GDP. It is linked to pollution, deforestation, and annual losses of US$200 million, according to a 2021 report by the Global Financial Integrity, a US-based think tank dedicated to researching and combating corruption, illicit trade, and money laundering worldwide.

20191019 110425 — Men operate a mining machine, locally known as a kata-kata machine, in Grand Cape Mount County in 2019. Picture credit: James Giahyue

Dredge on Dugbe River 2 — Two dredges on the River Dugbe in Sinoe County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

From the start of this year, the ministry and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have shut down illegal and noncompliant mines countrywide. Coordinating with the Ministry of Justice and the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), the crackdown has led to fines and prosecutions.

One of the areas of concentration is the use of devices in the artisanal mining subsector, locally known as “kata-kata” machines. Normally, the Ministry of Mines issues permits for kata-kata machines in difficult terrain. However, miners are using the machine so widely without the ministry’s approval. Illicit miners are also using dredges, which pollute rivers with mercury, destroy habitats, and pose a risk to public health.

In addition to those illegal activities, noncompliance is commonplace. There are government officials with shares in or control over companies, creating conflicts of interest. Some firms do not meet requirements, and there are issues with foreign staffers’ residency and work permits. Some companies have vague ownership structures, a breeding ground for terrorist financing, tax evasion and money laundering.

Paye calls on journalists and the public to join in the fight against illegal mining.

“We always tell our people to push their government to do the right thing,” Paye. Don’t side with companies. They’re not here because they love your country. They’re here because of what they see. Push your government to act right so the citizens benefit.”

Minister Breaks Laws With Shares In Mining and Logging Company

June 29, 2022

Top: Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Cooper Kruah illegally holds a five percent stake in a mining and logging company. Illustration by Leslie Lumeh

By James Harding Giahyue

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a three-part series on Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Cooper Kruah’s conflict of interest as a shareholder in Universal Forestry Corporation, a mining and logging company operating in Grand Bassa and Nimba.

MONROVIA – Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Cooper Kruah holds shares in a company actively mining and logging in Liberia, a violation of laws governing the two industries as well as a breach of the Liberian Constitution and the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, an investigation by The DayLight has found.

Kruah holds five percent of the shares in Universal Forestry Corporation (UFC), according to the firm’s legal document. UFC has had 11 mining licenses since his appointment in February 2018, records of the Ministry of Mines and Energy show. The company had held a few logging concessions prior to Kruah becoming a cabinet minister. However, it began to acquire a flurry of mining licenses after he became the Postmaster General. The company currently has a logging agreement.

Of the nearly one dozen UFC mining licenses, 10 are for semi-industrial-scale gold mining, prospecting, and dealer licenses, and the other is a diamond broker license. Four of these permits are still active. The company operates the mines and dealerships in Montserrado, Grand Bassa and Nimba. One of its goldmines in Nimba had been the setting of a 2019 mine accident, which killed at least five people, according to the BBC.

The company produced 16.85 kilograms of gold, valued at US$313,525 in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, according to the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI), one of the biggest contributors in the sector that year. From that period to last year, it paid the government US$99,545, according to the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA).

His equity in UFC is a violation of the Minerals and Mining Law of 2000. The statute debars “the President of Liberia, the Vice President of Liberia, any member of the National Legislature, Justices of the Supreme Court and Judges of the subordinate courts of records, cabinet ministers, managing directors of public corporations during their tenure in office.”

Kruah had established UFC in 1986 with an initial 25 percent shares, which reduced to five percent when the company amended its article of incorporation in 2007, the document shows. Its other shareholders include Edward Slangar, former advisor to the late President Samuel Doe, and B.J. Kim and Jin Kyung, two foreign nationals. Kruah also serves as the secretary of the company’s board of directors and has been cited in official communications, seen by The DayLight, as its lawyer.

To prevent a conflict of interest, the law mandates a government official to either “dispose of such mineral right or place such mineral right in a blind trust,” a business that takes care of private investment interests without the interference of the owner. There are no records that Kruah, who has been fighting cybercrimes, has done either of those things.

Kruah faces a US$2,000 fine, a 24-month prison term, or both penalties if convicted in a court, according to the mining law.

kruah Mines — A mine in Nimba County operated by Universal Forestry Corporation, one of whose shareholders is Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Cooper Kruah. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

The Ministry of Mines and Energy did not respond to The DayLight’s queries for comments on the matter up to press time. We will update this report once it does.

UFC also has a logging agreement with Sehzueplay Community Forest in Tappita District, Nimba County, the same region the company operates the majority of its goldmines. The agreement for the 8,690-hectare rocky woodland was signed on January 30, 2020, nearly two years after Kruah’s appointment.

That, again, breaks the National Forestry Reform Law, which rules out public officials from holding any logging permit above one percent. Like the mining statute, the forestry law compels an official of government to transfer ownership of the “entity outside the person’s influence and control, such as an unrelated individual or a blind trust…” There are no records that Kruah has done that as well.

The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) approving UFC’s agreement with Sehzueplay with Kruah one of the company’s shareholders also breaches the FDA Ten Core Regulations, a set of dos and don’ts of the logging sector. Regulation 103-07 in particular disqualifies companies whose shareholders are members of the government from being prequalified for logging licenses.

The Managing Director of the FDA Mike Doryen told The DayLight in a mobile phone interview that the agency was investigating the matter. “Rest assured, we will take the appropriate action,” Doryen said. “I will not protect any official of government who breaks the law.”

Conflict of interest carries a fine between US$10,000 and US$25,000, up to three times the sum Kruah has received from his equity in UFC, or a prison term of up to 12 months, according to the National Forestry Reform Law.

It is not the first time that UFC has violated forestry legal frameworks. It was involved in the notorious Private Use Permit (PUP) Scandal, in which an estimated 2.5 million hectares of forests—or 23 percent of the country’s landmass—was illegally awarded to logging companies. A government-backed inquest found the company broke the law in different instances while logging in Geetroh, Butaw District of Sinoe County between 2010 and 2012. That investigation found that UFC did not have an environmental permit or a certificate to harvest trees and that it paid community benefits into a personal account. UFC’s PUP and 62 others were canceled and a moratorium remains in place on the permit.

Kruah’s stakes in UFC are also a breach of the Code of Conduct, which defines conflict of interest as “when a public official, contrary to official obligations and duties to act for the benefit of the public, exploits a relationship for personal benefit.” Under this law, he faces a fine, suspension and dismissal, among other penalties.

The Code of Conduct has its roots in the Liberian Constitution, which says, “No person, whether elected or appointed to any public office, shall engage in any other activity which shall be against public policy, or constitute [a] conflict of interest.”

Jin Kyung, UFC’s general manager, denied Kruah is a shareholder in the company. Kyung said the copy of the company’s legal documents The DayLight has was not genuine but refused to share his copy, claiming it was a private document. That claim is wrong as a company’s article of incorporation is a public record under the Business Corporation Act and the Freedom of Information Act as well as the logging law.

Kruah did not grant The DayLight an interview on his violations, asking us to “publish anything you want to” in November last year. He had accepted our request for an interview but insisted we did not record the conversation.

The news comes barely a week after the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) called for the prosecution of several officials of government, including Minister of Agriculture Jeanine Cooper, for alleged conflict of interest.

Some of the logs Universal Forestry Corporation illegally felled in the Sehzueplay Community Forest in Nimba County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

This story was a collaboration with the Center for Transparency and Accountability of Liberia (CENTAL), with funding from the Swedish Development Agency (SIDA). It is an activity under the CENTAL’s ongoing National Integrity Building and Anti-Corruption (NIBA) program.

Tag: Minerals and Mining Law of Liberia

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