The legality of GTMS is under question as The Liberia Revenue Authority and the Ministry of Finance denied being part of the contract.
The Liberian Senate on Wednesday conducted a public hearing on issues arising from the Cargo Tricking Note operations in Liberia by Global Tracking Maritime Service(GTMS).
The Senate adhoc committee chaired by Gbarpolu County Senator Amara Konneh invited the Public Procurement and Concession Commission(P.P.C.C), Liberia Port Authority, Ministry of Commerce, Liberia Revenue Authority, the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, and the Global Tracking Maritime Service.
During the hearing, documents of legality of the Global Tracking and Maritime Service read by the committee’s chairman indicates that the contract was signed by the above mentioned institutions on July 11, 2018.
But the Liberia Revenue Authority commissioner general Dorbor Jallah openly denied his institution involvement in the signing of the Contract between the Government of Liberia and GTMS.
“We reviewed all of our files and realized that the LRA is in no knowledge of how this contract was consummated, the LRA was not a party to this agreement and has no knowledge of how funds collected from this arrangement has been disposed of”
“When we took over early 2024 we didn’t come across any document of our involvement in signing this contract” commissioner Jallah continues.
For his part, the Executive Director of the Public Procurement Concession Commission Bonjour Scott Johnson disclosed that he is not aware of GTMS and didn’t take part or receive any information about the procurement process.
When given the opportunity to speak the Minister of commerce Amin Modad said why it’s true the ministry is aware of the contract they did a review of the workings of GTMS and made a recommendation to President Joseph Boakai on April 1, 2024, but is yet to receive a response.
In his recommendation to president Boakai, the Minister of Commerce disclosed that his institution recommended the termination of the contract between the government of Liberia and GTMS on grounds that their operations pose a serious burden on the economy through the CTN service fees charged.
Also speaking, NPA managing director Sekou Dukuly affirmed NPA being a part of the deal, but has launched an investigation into the contract agreement of GTMS through a reputable auditing firm whose identity he has failed to disclose and is expected to report to NPA on June 15 of this year.
After listening to the various government institutions, the Gbarpolu County senator Amara Konneh requested that the Global Tracking Maritime Service provide convincing evidence of their legality in Liberia.
The managing Director of GTMS Aminata Bangura started by providing the history of her institution’s arrival in Liberia.
According to Madame Bangura GTMS came to Liberia in 2014 and started negotiating with the then Unity party Government headed by former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, for a permit to provide its services at the ports of Liberia.
“In 2016 we made a presentation at the National Investment Commission with the presence of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Port Authority, the Liberia Revenue Authority and the Maritime Authority”.
Madam Aminata Bangura Forder disclosed that the Government of Liberia sent a delegation to Sierra Leone to verify the workings of GTMS something she said was approved by the government through the National Investment Commission by a Memoridum of understanding between them and the government, for which the National Investment Commission turn the deal over to the National Port Authority for finalization.
She added that the Global Tracking Maritime Service was later invited by the National port Authority for a contract negotiation before finalization something she said was done and sealed in 2018.
“We came from Sierra Leone to Liberia and started the process from 2014 up to 2018 by following due processes we didn’t fall down from the sky” madam Bangura was quoted.
The controversial statements between the government institutions in regards to being a signatory to the contract between the government and Global Tracking Maritime Service hangs a dark cloud over the company’s legality and shows the lack of coordination between government entities under the Boakai-Kung administration.
