During the last few months of the transitional government, there were many deals made allocating mining concessions. One of these was an estimated $900-950 million dollars deal with Mittal Steel. Recent legal analysis has shown that the Mittal contract is unfavorable to Liberia and gives all the benefits to the steel company. It was also alleged that money exchanged hands providing an incentive to the transitional government to agree to the unfavorable terms of the contract.   The 25-year contract would give Mittal control of a huge reserve of iron ore, Liberia's biggest economic asset.  First and foremost, the NTGL lacked a legal mandate to negotiate any long-term concessions.   Deals with Mittal Steal, Firestone, and other companies that have significant economic impact should not have been carried out by a transitional government.

            Thinking back to the Firestone economic tragedy referred to as a contract, and the current Mittal deal has left me asking myself, why do we have so much faith in Foreigners and their empty promises of investment and economic development in Africa/Liberia?    Just like Firestone, Mittal steel has told the Liberian people that its 25 year contract would provide jobs and bring investment to the country.   Did our transitional leaders ever stop to think just how much revenue and profit Mittal steel will generate in the 25 years?  If you think I am over-reacting, take a look at how much profit Shell, Exxon mobile, BP, and the rest of the oil companies are generating in revenues and profit quarterly, while in Nigeria, the Niger Delta, and the Congo, citizens who live next to oil exploration sites would be lucky to make enough money to send their little ones to school.   Why use oil companies when I can use an example closer to home.  The Firestone Corporation has operated in Liberia for decades, and failed to make maximum economic impact on the Liberian economy.   After years of exploiting Liberia, what did Firestone do for Liberia in terms of infrastructure development and investment, other than poor working conditions and high production quotas?   To be fair to Firestone, they built some schools for employees and their children on the Firestone Plantation (sarcasm intended). 

            Let's not allow our leaders and law makers to make decisions to hand over control of some of our biggest assets over to foreign operators and companies who, - to be quite honest – don't have Liberia at heart.  Why are we allowing these companies to run Liberia under 25 to 30 year leases? We should not allow multinational companies to run Liberia and call it "free market".   Modern imperialists are not interested in owning foreign lands but in controlling foreign markets and resources, and in some cases their governments; and this is what African leaders are now giving away in the name of economic development and investment.   When we compare Africa's economic development to that of Europe, we see that from the moment Europeans carved up the continent and put Africans to slave labor, they were advancing themselves organizationally and technologically.   The Mittal deal is nothing more than a perpetuation of the exploitative economic system created by Africa's colonial "masters"; a system of economic dependency that's choked and continues to choke Africa, while creating wealth for countries other than African countries.

            Thanks to our selfish self seeking POLI-TIC-ians, one can't blame companies that are taking advantage of so called investment opportunities in Liberia. Many of these companies can easily bribe their way to life time contracts that never seem to leave Liberia and Africa better off than when they saw it.  Firestone signed a contract for 99 years, making Firestone a multi billionaire dollar empire..   The firestone family – not the company itself – makes and spends more money a year than the government of Liberia.  Let's us not forget that European/western companies have never cared about Africa's development, despite what they say.  If nations in Africa become economic competitors, and economically vibrant, where will multi-national companies get their cheap resources and billion dollar profits?

            Everyone is enjoying Africa's wealth except for Africa and Africans.  If it isn't the Europeans, it's the Lebanese, and now the Indians; why not the Africans? When will we say enough is enough?  Liberians should continue to raise concerns about the Mittal Steel contract, and encourage the current administration to thoroughly evaluate this contract and other major contracts for the benefit of Liberia and the Liberian people.   Those of us who have the opportunity and not necessarily the power, should continue to question and bring attention to not only the Mittal deal, but those of Firestone, other awards and permits signed by NTGL,   and all future deals, because these deals have financial significance and potential long-term effects on national development.