Liberia's Transport Minister: Nothing Fishy about RIA Hotel Bid; But “That’s a Lie” Says Liberian Hotelier

Minister Nagbe insisted that there was nothing fishy about the hotel deal

The government of Liberia has finally broken silence on what, for several months, remained what many responded to as top secret. No one seemed prepared to utter a word about, almost as though nothing less than the ‘kiss of death’ awaited any that dared say a word about the bidding and awarding of the mysterious contract for the redevelopment of the country’s lone airport hotel, the RIA Hotel.

Nothing Fishy

Transport Minister Eugene Lenn Nagbe has vehemently denied a behind the scene “hand” manipulating the bidding process only to award the contract to build the RIA Hotel to a Lebanese national, George Abi-Jaoudi.  

Addressing a news briefing at the Ministry of Information yesterday in Monrovia, Minister Nagbe dismissed the involvement of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s older sister, Jenny Bernard; he insisted that the process was transparently and responsibly carried out.

“It is not true that the contract was awarded to Abi-Jaoudi following a telephone call by the President’s sister,” he said, as he began addressing news-gatherers.

“In February 2008, the Management of the Roberts International Airport (RIA) instituted an international competitive bidding process. The RIA Management advertised a request for the expression of interest (EOI) with a submission date of March 24, 2008.

“This international competitive bidding process was advertised in three local dailies as requested by law: Daily Observer, Inquire and The News. On March 24, 2008, the EOI was received and evaluated by the RIA procurement committee.

“The bidders were Ola Kleen, Bashir Brothers, Abi-Jaoudi, La Cour and Krystal Oceanview Hotels. Three were short-listed (Krystal Oceanview, La Cour and Abi-Jaoudi) and were on April 11, 2008, requested by management to submit detailed plans and drawings relative to the hotel’s construction,” he narrated.

According to the Minister, while that process was ongoing, the government of Liberia was negotiating with an American firm, Lockheed Martin, to manage the RIA; that process brought to a temporary halt, the RIA Hotel bidding process.

“After the American firm was granted the concession to take over the management of the RIA, the [Hotel bidding] process was restarted and the submissions were evaluated in the presence of the three shortlisted bidders, La Cour, Krystal Oceanview Hotel and Abi-Jaoudi. 

“The new RIA management then requested the bidders to submit a business plan including a forecast of the construction cost and validity period. This time, only two of the bidders responded, including Abi-jaoudi. Crystal Ocean View did not respond. In spite of several written reminders to Crystal Ocean View, they did not respond,” according to Minister Nagbe.

Minister Nagbe was adamant that all of the documents were reviewed and evaluated by the RIA procurement committee and based on the strength of the submissions, the bid was then awarded to Abi-Jaoudi.

"But that's a Lie"

But, in a swift response to the Minister’s claims, Samuel M. Gibson, the CEO of Krystal Oceanview Hotels, not only denounced the Transport Minister’s claim that Krystal Oceanview failed to follow through with the bidding process, he termed it “a lie”.

Speaking briefly with the Daily Observer yesterday, the Liberian hotelier said he won the first bidding process, “but these people knew who they wanted (intended) to give it to.”

“I won the bid the first time around and then it took them an entire year before coming up to say we should re-bid. I was not informed about that. I only heard about it from someone. I was not formally informed. There was no formal communication sent to me, informing me about the re-bidding process,” Mr. Gibson said, not without displaying some emotions. 

Also contacted yesterday by the Observer, was the-then Transport Minister, Jackson E. Doe. It was during Mr. Doe’s tenure that the first bidding process was undertaken. However, the former Transport Minister said he could remember little, as it had been a while since.

“I cannot recall anything. It’s being a good number of years now. So, I can’t remember, except we go check the Transport Ministry’s records to get the right information,” he concluded.

Independent Probe Shows
  

However, investigations conducted by the Daily Observer, Liberia's oldest and first independent local daily, several months ago showed that none of the government agencies set up to vet such a transaction knew anything about the RIA Hotel deal: the National Investment Commission (NIC) and the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC). 

The current NIC Chairman, O. Natty B. Davis, and the former NIC Chairman, Richard Tolbert, both said they knew nothing about the RIA Hotel transaction. The PPCC Executive Director, Madam Peggy Varfley, also told this newspaper she knew nothing of the transaction, nor had it been referred to her Commission for vetting.

But Transport Minister Nabge only disclosed yesterday in his address that the-then Minister of Transport, Willard Russell, Justice Minister Christiana Tah and the-then Acting Minister of Finance, Francis Tarpeh, signed the lease agreement for government with the Abi-Jaoudi Corporation in May 2011, kicking off the construction of a five-star hotel at the RIA.

Senior officials at the Ministry of Justice, in an apparent attempt to justify the absence of NIC or PPCC involvement in the transaction, earlier had reduced the transaction to a mere “lease of land.” But when the Daily Observer put it to that official that the transaction was specifically to rebuild the RIA Hotel---a major national asset that should have commanded the most meticulous vetting process possible---that official disclaimed knowledge of the hotel aspect of the agreement.         

Morris Saytumah, one time Minister of State for Economic Affairs and a powerful figure in the Executive Mansion, was said to have taken the contract to the Justice Ministry for signing.  When contacted recently, Mr. Saytuma said he remembers taking the document to Justice for the appropriate signature.  But he declined to comment further, citing “certain very powerful individuals involved.”

Despite these disclaimers, at least one powerful individual, not in government, broke ranks and admitted (owned up to) being influential in ensuring that the Lebanese got the contract, she confided to the Daily Observer.

Top RIA sources would in quick succession follow suit and corroborate (confirm, back up) the Observer’s own conclusion that interactions surrounding the RIA contract had been kept under “a web of secrecy (concealment, silence) by some higher airport executives” and by powerful individuals in or close to the ‘corridors (passageway, hall) of power.’ ”

The above notwithstanding, Transport Minister Nagbe made it plain that he prefers a shift to what he called “the positives, instead of trying to tarnish every activity. The argument that other investors should have been given the opportunity is (baseless) because they were afforded the opportunity,” he concluded.