Editorial: Boakai’s Silence on LTA Saga Is Troubling

For months, serious allegations and unanswered questions surrounding the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) have occupied public discussion. Claims ranging from financial impropriety to questions about the management of Liberia’s International Gateway Monitoring System are too serious for the government to simply allow them to linger.

At the heart of the controversy are the International Gateway Monitoring System and the circumstances surrounding its operation following President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s suspension of Telecom International Alliance’s (TIA) license.

The LTA has maintained that the gateway operation has since been handed to NMBTEL. But fundamental questions about that arrangement remain unanswered in the public domain: Who owns NMBTEL? Where is the company located? What process led to its selection? What are the terms of its arrangement with the government? And what safeguards are in place to ensure that revenue generated by this critical national telecommunications infrastructure is fully accounted for?

These are legitimate questions involving public revenue and the management of a strategic national asset. They deserve clear answers.

LTA Chairman Clarence K. Massaquoi has denied wrongdoing and maintained that NMBTEL has fulfilled its contractual obligations. His denial must be acknowledged. But denial alone cannot settle questions involving public institutions and public resources. Transparency requires documentation, disclosure and independent scrutiny.

The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) has already taken notice. Its Chairperson, Cllr. Alexandra K. Zoe has said the Commission is assessing the matter to determine whether sufficient grounds exist for a formal investigation.

That is an important first step, but the public deserves more than an assessment that leaves the central questions hanging indefinitely.

There have also been allegations that NMBTEL may have links to individuals associated with the LTA. Those allegations remain unproven, and The New Dawn makes no finding or conclusion regarding them.

Precisely because the allegations are serious and unproven, however, an independent investigation is necessary. Such an inquiry would protect not only the public interest but also officials and private entities whose reputations are being affected by persistent claims.

Questions have similarly arisen over reported outstanding obligations involving TIA following the suspension of its license. Whatever the merits of the contractual dispute, the government should publicly explain the status of the matter and any legal and financial consequences for settlement.

What is increasingly troubling is the apparent silence of the Presidency while questions surrounding the LTA continue to multiply.

The LTA is not an obscure agency. It regulates one of Liberia’s most important economic sectors and exercises authority over telecommunications operations that generate significant public revenue. Questions about its management, therefore, have implications beyond the reputations of individual commissioners.

If, as LTA officials have reportedly maintained, the Commission ultimately answers to President Boakai, then the President cannot remain detached from a controversy that increasingly demands executive attention.

President Boakai came to office promising transparency, accountability and responsible stewardship of public resources. Those commitments are tested not when everything is going well, but when officials serving under his administration face serious questions about their conduct.

Presidential silence under such circumstances risks creating an impression, fairly or unfairly, that accountability is selective. That perception is damaging to public confidence and inconsistent with the standards the administration says it wants to establish.

We are not calling on President Boakai to prejudge anyone. Neither should allegations be treated as proof of wrongdoing. What we are demanding is transparency and an independent process capable of establishing facts.

President Boakai should therefore ensure a credible and independent investigation into the issues surrounding the International Gateway Monitoring System, the NMBTEL arrangement and related financial and contractual questions at the LTA.

The relevant authorities should also make public, subject to legitimate legal and commercial limitations, the ownership and contractual status of NMBTEL, the basis for its engagement, the revenues involved and the mechanisms being used to account for those revenues.

If an investigation establishes wrongdoing, those responsible should face the consequences prescribed by law. If the allegations are unfounded, the officials and institutions involved deserve to have their names cleared by credible evidence rather than repeated denials.

Either outcome is preferable to silence. President Boakai should understand that this controversy is no longer merely about the LTA. It is increasingly becoming a test of his administration’s commitment to the transparency and accountability it promised the Liberian people.

The questions are already in the public domain. What is missing are authoritative answers. The President should help provide them.