LPRC Fuels ‘UP’s Economic Terrorism’ -Koijee Still on GoL’s Back for Petrol Tags Adjustment

MONROVIA – As if his serial opinion pieces on the recent policy measure taken by the ruling Unity Party to radically adjust taxes on petroleum products were not adequate to put the administration back in check, Jefferson T. Koijee is not letting a day come to pass without taking his anger and disappointment to the public. In his latest article, a similarly venomous critique of the government and its “cannon fodder”, the Liberian Petroleum Company (LPMC), the Coalition for Democratic Change Secretary General sees what he called “economic terrorism”, not only against sector stakeholders, but also the suffering masses of Liberia. The full text of Koijee’s criticism is on page 7 of this Edition of THE ANALYST.     

By Jefferson Tamba Koijee

What Joe Biden’s FBI did in America to intimidate political opponents like Charlie Kirk is the same exact playbook Joseph Nyuma Boakai and his brutal Unity Party regime are using here in Liberia. Instead of governing and addressing the real issues that are crushing our people poverty, joblessness, police brutality, and the climbing down on peaceful University of Liberia students. Mr. Boakai has chosen to weaponize state institutions against his opponents.

Through Amos Tweh, his party’s Secretary General and current Managing Director of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC), Boakai is unleashing a campaign of economic terrorism, targeting Musa Hassan Bility while suffocating Liberia’s private sector. This is not leadership. This is intimidation. This is dictatorship dressed in the false clothing of rescue.

Amos Tweh has brazenly violated Article 34(d) of the Constitution by taking out a US$9 million loan from Ecobank without seeking legislative approval. This is not only unconstitutional, it is an outright abuse of power and a dangerous usurpation of the Legislature’s authority.

Breach of Procurement Law

He has also violated the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission Act by turning LPRC into both regulator and importer of petroleum products. This is a blatant conflict of interest that erodes transparency, undermines fairness, and corrupts the very foundation of our economy.

Predatory Pricing as Economic Terrorism

Amos Tweh has gone further to issue a new pricing structure, reducing storage fees from US$0.35 to US$0.20 but applying this reduction only to private importers. LPRC’s own imports are exempt. This is deliberate economic sabotage, designed to cripple private operators, force them out of business, and monopolize the sector under state control.

This is not stabilization as John Maynard Keynes once argued in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. This is domination. It is predatory pricing, condemned by economists like Joan Robinson and Friedrich Hayek, who warned that such practices distort competition and destroy the neutrality of markets.

Professional Voices Ignored

Even respected professionals like Gweh Gaye Tarwo and Alieu Fuad Nei have raised alarm about these actions. They rightly point out that assumptions about private tank owners’ profits fail to include operational costs like salaries, maintenance, insurance, taxes, and compliance. Yet the Boakai regime ignores these voices, proving that their intention is not reform but destruction.

Betrayal of the ARREST Agenda

Boakai himself told the Liberian people that his ARREST Agenda would build a private sector led economy. But how can the private sector thrive when the government itself acts as both referee and player, suffocating competition through state monopoly? How can Liberia move forward when institutions are weaponized to silence political opponents?

This fight is not only about Musa Bility. It is about every Liberian entrepreneur struggling to survive, every young student brutalized for daring to speak, and every family praying for relief from hunger, high prices, and joblessness.

Mr. Boakai must stop targeting opponents and focus on the real issues confronting our people. He must stop the police from brutalizing peaceful University of Liberia students. He must stop weaponizing state institutions to silence dissent. And he must stop using the LPRC as an instrument of economic terrorism.

We must not remain silent. This dangerous abuse of power must be resisted. Liberia must separate the regulatory and commercial roles of LPRC. Countries like Namibia and South Africa have shown that state-owned enterprises can compete fairly under independent oversight. Why can’t Liberia?

Fellow Liberians, let us not be deceived. What we are witnessing is not governance. It is betrayal. Liberia deserves leadership anchored in truth, justice, and accountability. We deserve leaders who will build institutions to serve the people, not to destroy them.

The time has come for us to rise above lies, propaganda, and economic terrorism. Our democracy cannot flourish on falsehood. Our future cannot be built on intimidation. Liberia must reclaim the path of justice, fairness, and integrity.

CC:

European Union

U.S. Embassy Monrovia, Liberia

African Union

Ecowas – Cedeao