Dismantling Shady Empires!

MONROVIA -NOVEMBER 3, 2025: As alarm bells ring incessantly over some fraudulent and/or non-performing contracts (deals), including concessions and other business arrangements in government, the current Board of Commissioners of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), has added speed to the implementation of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s public sector reform agenda, after paving the way for the suspension of one of the most problematic and controversial contracts given to a private entity.

Amidst growing concerns over the what, when, where and how about the International Traffic Monitoring Services Contract between the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) and the Telecomm International Alliance (TIA), President Boakai has, through Executive Order No. 154, suspended the deal.

The President, on October 31, 2025, issued Executive Order No. 154, immediately suspending the Telecommunications Traffic Monitoring contract with TIA, following what the Executive Mansion termed as damning audit and investigation reports from the General Auditing Commission (GAC) and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), both of which found serious irregularities and evidence of fraud in the award and execution of the contract.

The findings show that the contract was awarded to TIA against the recommendations of the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC), in violation of Section 32 of the PPCC Act of 2010. It was further revealed that TIA was established in the State of Delaware, USA, only four days after receiving the bid documents, and was later incorporated in Liberia nearly ten months after being awarded the contract.

The LTA has therefore, been directed to cease all further implementation of the TIA contract, while the Ministry of Justice is instructed to pursue the matter in accordance with the Penal Code and the rule of law.

“Recognizing the national security and financial implications of telecommunications traffic monitoring, President Boakai has directed that the LTA and PPCC immediately engage a qualified service provider in compliance with procurement laws to ensure continuity of service,” the Executive Mansion release added.

The Executive Branch will also notify the Legislature and seek appropriate legislative action to de-ratify any prior enactments relating to the suspended contract.

The intervention of the GAC and LACC followed a resolution passed by the current Board of Commissioners of the LTA, which called for the review of the TIA Contact and its subsequent repeal by the Legislature.

The LTA Board, headed by former Lofa County Representative and former Chair of the Committee on Investment & Concession, Clarence K. Massaqoui, based its resolution on the outcome of a review process which found that necessary legal processes, including procurement laws, were ignored and violated in awarding the contact to TIA.

The LTA Board of Commissioners has repeatedly raised questions about the validity, legitimacy and compliance status of the contract, with many other stakeholders and industry experts also fearing that Liberia must have been, or is being grossly cheated in what is now being described as fraudulent procurement and other processes and arrangements leading to the award of the contract to TIA.

According to incontestable records, including revelations from the intervention of the GAC and LACC, as well as sources in the Telecommunications sector, in 2011, Global Voice Group (GVG), the Spanish company and CONNEX Liberia, a Librarian company, were jointly awarded a 5-year BOT contract to establish telecom traffic monitoring system for the LTA. The contract was extended for additional two years – ending June 2018, at which time GVG handed over to the LTA, all equipm.