Liberia-Monie R. Captan has exited the Liberia Electricity Corporation as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) following the official expiration of his tenure on November 30, 2024.
Captan, a former Foreign Minister of Liberia during the regime of Ex-President Charles Taylor, was appointed in July 2022 by former President George Weah, but has since endured mounting criticism for failing to address Liberia’s chronic electricity challenges effectively, despite managing substantial government and international funding.
There have been mounting calls of recent on President Joseph Boakai to relieve Captan of his position following revelation of alleged wrongdoings and huge salary intake of over $15,000 monthly, although he denied any wrongdoing and provided lengthy report on LEC current standing.
As CEO, his responsibilities included tackling the country’s defective electricity supply and infrastructural issues.
The LEC largely faltered despite receiving momentous funding, including $314 million from the International Development Association (IDA), $103 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB), and $257 million from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
There have been ballooning calls for greater financial accountability and public dissatisfaction over power outages and persisted high electricity costs.
Recall that the Chairman of the Liberia People’s Party J. Yanqui Zaza on many occasions criticized Mr. Captan handling of the LEC, and even demanded the release of LEC’s audited financial statements for 2015–2023, using Liberia’s 2010 Freedom of Information Act as reliance.
According to him, Liberians need to know the detailed account of how funds were managed, and emphasized that without financial clarity, the public could not assess whether resources had been used effectively to address the nation’s energy crises.
Besides the LPP chairman’s critique of Captan’s stewardship, Senator Edwin Snowe, who chairs the Senate’s Hydrocarbon, Energy, and Environment Committee, expressed frustration with LEC’s lack of transparency, and criticized Captan for bypassing Senate oversight when proposing a tariff increase to the Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC).
However, the former LEC boss defended his records, highlighting several achievements, including restoring thermal generators at Bushrod, which added 28MW to Liberia’s energy supply, and securing an agreement with Côte d’Ivoire’s CIE/CI Energies for 27MW during the 2023 dry season. LEC’s total energy supply reportedly increased from 56MW in 2022 to 107MW by mid-2023, with energy production reaching over 460,000MWH in 2023 compared to 275,000MWH in 2022.
Financially, LEC reduced its annual losses from $27.2 million in 2022 to $18.3 million in 2023, with projections of further reductions in 2024. Revenue also grew, rising from $24 million in 2022 to a projected $68 million by the end of 2024, driven by measures such as reducing commercial losses and tackling power theft. Despite these improvements, high operating costs and reliance on expensive imported energy continue to strain LEC’s financial stability.
