Liberia: Alex Grant PPCC Nomination Draws Scrutiny Over Record

Published: September 3, 2026

MONROVIA — President Joseph Boakai has nominated Grand Gedeh County Superintendent Alex Chersia Grant to help oversee integrity in government contracting, selecting an official whom the Liberia Land Authority accused of signing an unauthorized 500-acre land agreement, whose claimed university degree the named institution says it never awarded and whose County Council has accused him of withholding public financial records.

By Gibson Gee and Lennart Dodoo

The law governing the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission says its commissioners must be “persons in good standing and of unimpeachable character.”

Grant now goes before a Liberian Senate that confirmed him as superintendent in April 2024 despite petitions questioning his academic credentials. This time, senators must consider not only those earlier allegations but also controversies over land and financial transparency that arose during his administration of Grand Gedeh.

The Executive Mansion described Grant in its Wednesday announcement as having been appointed a PPCC commissioner. Legally, however, he remains a nominee.

Section 6(1) of the Amended and Restated Public Procurement and Concessions Act says the commission’s seven members are nominated by the president and appointed and commissioned only “with the consent of the Senate.”

Grant has not been convicted of any crime. The Liberian Investigator found no indictment, Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission finding or General Auditing Commission report against him. He has denied allegations of academic fraud and offered explanations for the land and financial disputes.

The question before the Senate is therefore not whether Grant has been found criminally liable. It is whether his public record satisfies the broader character standard imposed on those chosen to oversee public procurement and concessions.

Grant is a former representative of Grand Gedeh County Electoral District 3. He entered the House of Representatives in 2012 and served two terms before losing his reelection bid in 2023. Boakai later nominated him as superintendent, and more than 20 senators reportedly voted to confirm him in April 2024.

His most recent controversy grew out of a 30-year agreement the county administration signed in October 2025, granting Burkinabé businessman Boubou Sebu the right to cultivate cocoa on 500 acres in B’hai Administrative District.

The agreement was valued at approximately US$600,000 over 30 years and contemplated an initial payment of US$150,000 to the county.

Residents and traditional leaders said they were not consulted before Grant signed the agreement. Rep. Jacob Debee, whose district includes the affected land, said he had not been informed and described the transaction as unauthorized.

The land was claimed by surrounding communities as customary land. Under the Land Rights Act of 2018, communities own customary land by operation of law. Transactions involving more than 50 acres require general community consensus reached through the community’s recognized land-governance structure.

Grant later acknowledged that residents had not been informed before the agreement was signed, describing the failure as a procedural error. He said he believed district authorities had consulted the community.

“I regret that the locals were not informed by the district’s authorities,” Grant told reporters at the time. “I think it is a procedural error.”

Grant defended the agreement as an attempt to protect the land from illegal activity, resolve disputes among cocoa farmers and generate revenue for Grand Gedeh.

County Attorney Wilkins Nah announced the cancellation of the agreement on Oct. 28, 2025, after the minister of justice ordered county authorities to halt the transaction. Nah cited several irregularities, including the failure to obtain the consent of the affected communities.

The Liberia Land Authority subsequently revoked the development grant deed connected to the transaction.

In a public statement, the authority accused Grant and Grand Gedeh County Land Administrator Paye Freeman of misleading the agency and bypassing procedures required for the issuance of the deed. It said Grant had acted unilaterally and without authority to negotiate or dispose of the land.

The agency suspended Freeman and County Land Dispute Officer David Togbasie pending an investigation.

A subsequent investigation by The DayLight found that the Land Authority itself played a central role in producing the flawed deed.

The outlet obtained the document and reported that Land Authority Chairman Samuel Kpakio signed it on July 8, 2025, while a presidential moratorium on public land transactions remained in force. The restriction was not lifted until July 31, more than three weeks later.

The DayLight also found that the surveyor signed the deed on July 10 — two days after Kpakio — although the survey should have been completed before the chairman approved the document.

The outlet reported that the surveyor was licensed to survey private rather than public land and that it found no record of the required survey notices, competitive bidding or public consultation.

The deed identified the recipient as the “Grand Gedeh Local Government Reserved Farmland,” an entity The DayLight reported did not legally exist.

A separate review by The Liberian Investigator found that the document also named Moore Agro Inc. in the clause purporting to transfer ownership. Gyude Moore, a co-owner of the company and former public works minister, said he knew nothing about the transaction.

The findings showed that the irregularities extended beyond Grant and included actions taken by the head of the Land Authority, even as the agency publicly placed responsibility on Grant and its county employees.

Kpakio did not respond to questions from The DayLight or The Liberian Investigator about his role.

A separate dispute concerns money B’hai Jozon residents said they gave Grant while trying to secure a deed for their ancestral land.

The DayLight reported in January that Jimmy Kinyea, spokesman for the B’hai Jozon Land Management Council, said community leaders gave Grant about 4 million CFA francs, or approximately US$7,111, to use his office to help them obtain the deed.

Grant acknowledged receiving money from the community but disputed both the amount and its purpose.

He said he received roughly half the amount claimed, in installments, and used it to pay for a land survey and efforts to resolve a dispute between competing cocoa farmers. He denied accepting money in exchange for obtaining a deed.

The DayLight said it could not independently verify either figure.

The community never received the customary deed it sought. Instead, the disputed land was placed under the development grant deed issued to the county and included in the 30-year agreement with Sebu. Both instruments were later canceled or revoked.

Grant said a separate draft deed had been prepared for the community but had not been approved by the Land Authority. He did not provide the document to The DayLight despite promising to do so, the outlet reported.

Questions about Grant’s academic qualifications predate his appointment as superintendent.

Grant has claimed a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. In May 2021, the university said he did not graduate from the institution and was never awarded the degree.

Petitioners later alleged that Grant used the disputed credential to gain admission to graduate programs at the University of Liberia and Cuttington University.

The Center for Media Studies and Peace Building reported in July 2021 that journalist Aryee Davis received threats after reporting that the University of Liberia had expelled Grant from a graduate program over allegedly false undergraduate credentials.

Grant has denied committing academic fraud and described the controversy as a political distraction.

The Liberian Investigator has not independently obtained the University of Ibadan verification letter, the academic credential Grant submitted or disciplinary records from the University of Liberia or Cuttington University. No court has ruled that Grant falsified his credentials, and no criminal charge has resulted from the allegations.

The issue was raised during Grant’s 2024 confirmation proceedings, but the Senate approved his appointment as superintendent.

A third controversy emerged this year when eight of the nine members of the Grand Gedeh County Council accused Grant of financial mismanagement, budget secrecy and failure to provide records required for the council’s oversight work.

In a complaint to Local Government Minister Francis Sakila Nyumalin, the council members and civil society organizations said Grant had failed to submit the county’s 2026 draft budget and its 2025 budget-performance reports despite repeated requests.

They also accused him of refusing to provide the county’s 2025 bank statements.

The complaint raised additional questions about a reported US$400,000 agreement with Libernergy for the management and expansion of electricity services in Grand Gedeh.

The complainants said the money came from the county account under a council resolution, but Grant had not provided them with the agreement or disclosed its terms.

The Ministry of Local Government acknowledged receiving the complaint. No audit, administrative ruling or public response resolving the allegations has been released.

Grant is now nominated to join an institution responsible for enforcing some of the same principles at issue in the controversies surrounding his county administration.

Section 4 of the procurement law tasks the PPCC with ensuring the economic and efficient use of public funds and making certain that procurement and concession processes are fair, transparent and nondiscriminatory.

Under Section 5, the commission monitors compliance with procurement law, reviews procurement and concession documents, inspects records, investigates violations and debars companies that break contracting rules.

The commission also hears procurement complaints and advises the government on public-contracting policy.

Grant’s land transaction and the County Council’s complaint involve questions about authority to contract, competitive procedures, public disclosure, access to records and the management of public money. The academic dispute raises a separate question of credibility under the law’s character requirement.

Section 6(6) prohibits a commissioner from simultaneously serving as another government officer or employee, except for a Justice Ministry lawyer designated to sit on the board. The Executive Mansion named Christopher Ben Bailey to replace Grant as Grand Gedeh superintendent.

If the Senate confirms Grant, Boakai may formally appoint and commission him to the PPCC board. The law allows the president to remove a commissioner for specified reasons, including proven misconduct, conviction of an offense involving fraud or dishonesty, failure to disclose a material conflict of interest or persistent failure to perform the duties of the office.

Grant will have an opportunity during his confirmation hearing to answer the allegations and defend his suitability for the commission.

The Senate will then decide whether a record containing no criminal conviction or formal audit finding — but several unresolved allegations involving land, credentials and public finances — meets the law’s requirement of “unimpeachable character.”