Liberia: In Oil & Gas Laws Stakeholders Want President's Power Limited

Dec 9, 2014 | Leroy M. Sonpon, III, Liberian Observer
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At least 150 stakeholders from over 30 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have successfully validated two 'Oil and Gas Laws', but recommended limitations on the power of the Head of State, in order to promote sustained transparency, accountability and good governance.

The representatives of the CSOs over the weekend in the two-day National Validation Stakeholders Conference, argued that according to Article 22 (b) of the 1986 Liberian Constitution, "All mineral resources in and under the seas and other waterways shall belong to the Republic and shall be used by and for the entire Republic." Therefore, they said, in order to not provoke a curse upon the oil and gas sector, as has been the case in other countries, there should be a competitive recruitment process, instead of heads of the sector being presidential appointees.