Residents Against Legislative Abandonment Demands Six-Year CSR Account From Monrovia Breweries

MONROVIA — Pressure is mounting on Monrovia Breweries Inc. to account for its community investments in New Kru Town after a local group presented a 12-count petition demanding details of the company’s corporate social responsibility activities from 2020 to 2025, while the borough’s governor separately called for greater investment in education, jobs, sanitation and infrastructure.

Residents Against Legislative Abandonment, or RALA, presented the petition Wednesday during a peaceful assembly at the company’s facility on Bushrod Island, describing the action as a community accountability and engagement initiative.

Reading the petition, RALA Chairman Kelvin Eben Reeves said the group is not seeking to diminish contributions the company may have made elsewhere, but wants consolidated and verifiable information showing what it has specifically done for New Kru Town over the six-year period.

“We therefore respectfully request that the company provide a comprehensive account of its CSR activities specifically benefiting New Kru Town during that period,” the petition said. “This petition is intended as a constructive call for transparency, documentation, dialogue and stronger community-company relations, and not as an accusation of wrongdoing.”

Among its demands, RALA is seeking information on community development projects, donations and investments, including their beneficiaries, financial or in-kind values and evidence of implementation.

RALA Chairman Kelvin Eben Reeves reading petition with members around him

The group also wants records covering health assistance, sanitation and hygiene programs, environmental management, scholarships, internships, apprenticeships, vacation employment, vocational training and other youth-development opportunities.

RALA further requested information on recruitment opportunities for residents, engagements with community leaders and company-supported infrastructure involving schools, health facilities, water, roads, drainage and public spaces.

“Please provide, where legally permissible, information regarding the company’s efforts to recruit, train and develop qualified residents from communities surrounding its operations, including New Kru Town,” Reeves read.

The group ultimately wants a comprehensive written CSR report covering Jan. 1, 2020, through Dec. 31, 2025, including annual reports, expenditure summaries where legally permissible, monitoring and evaluation records and details of projects specifically benefiting New Kru Town.

Representatives of the company’s senior management team and human resources department received the petition and said it would be forwarded to senior management for review and discussion under the company’s procedures.

Management said the review would consider existing CSR agreements and initiatives involving sanitation, drainage and community development, after which a formal response would be provided. The company also indicated that its formal community engagement is generally conducted through recognized community chairpersons.

Following the presentation of the petition, The Liberian Investigator contacted New Kru Town Borough Governor Robert Teah, who called on companies operating in the borough, particularly Monrovia Breweries, to increase their contributions to communities in areas such as education, employment, sanitation and infrastructure.

Teah alleged that despite the company’s long-standing operations in New Kru Town, he has not seen what he considers significant community development projects benefiting residents.

“Before I became Governor, I had not seen beer factory have any significant project in the Borough of New Kru Town,” Teah said.

He cited the absence, in his view, of initiatives such as a public library, scholarship program, sustained educational support and significant employment opportunities for residents.

According to Teah, his office has held several engagements with the company, during which management has pointed to its payment of taxes to the national government.

The governor, however, argued that fulfilling national tax obligations should not prevent companies from investing directly in communities hosting their operations through corporate social responsibility initiatives.

He said companies that have operated within communities for decades should help improve residents’ living conditions through targeted investments in education, employment, sanitation, infrastructure and other community priorities.