—–Says ‘Unpleasantry with some Mineral companies Cause his removal ‘
Former Minister of Lands, Mines and Energy, Wilmont Paye has given for the first time an hint over what led to his removal as Minister of Mines and Energy .
Addressing the Clara Town Intellectual Center on National Trending Issues, Paye stated that peiod to his removal as Minister, the Ministry of Mines and Energy recently verified reports from one company in Monserrado county , specifically the in Arthington area with the discovery of huge deposit of gold.
The former Mines Minister stated that upon the discovery, the Ministry’s technical team submitted its report from the exploration, and I maitaineed they meet the standrads set by the ministry of Minies and Energy but there was opposition to this.
‘ So, you have another mountain project, Hummingbird Resources, and then this other one comes up. So, you’ll be talking about, I don’t know how much you’ll be talking about. Of course, you have the Dugbeh gold project, those of you from the southeast.
Money, gold, resources, team, we have your team, a mineral development agreement, concessional agreement in 2019. That concessional agreement, nothing was being done. The company decided, because they have projects in Mali, they have projects in Guinea and somewhere else.
But then they left the Arthington project and focused on those. So, when we took over, we engaged them. Why did you acquire our asset to keep it? And then they said, there are projects in Guinea and Mali.
So, you could take risks in Mali, where there is a military administration, where there is political instability. But then a country like Liberia, which is one of the most stable places in Africa, guarantee your investment. You decided to keep our asset, our gold, and then you do that.
Now, we are giving you, we want you to come back to us in a short period of time with your proposal, your plan. Because you have to do feasibility study and give us your plan, your development plan. That company started working on that.
Of course, all of them were not happy with that because there was a leadership that was pushing them. We’re not doing that because we hate companies. No.
But it’s our country. It’s our country. And if you enter the Mines and Energy, you will see a quotation from the president that he made in 2023 December after the election.
Those quotation, we put it up with our own quotation so that every time we went to work in the morning, it would remind us that, hey, we have to work towards resource custody. There can be no sovereignty. Sovereignty can be meaningless without custody over your resources.
Sovereignty is meaningless without custody over your own resources. And nobody will come from anywhere to build this country for us. Who is it like to build it? And nobody should deceive you.” Former Mines and Energy Minister Paye asserted.
On the issue of technical capcity which most often become reason for hiring eexperts, Minister Paye stated that Liberia do not have technical deficit as spculated.
“We don’t have lack of capacity, technical capacity. I will cite one instance. The World Bank, in fact, we had this management services contract for LEC.
And the LEC had CEO, COO, CFO, all of that. Some of them were foreigners. But then, so much.
And the idea was Liberians did not have the capacity or they could not find the technical capacity in Liberia to be able to run the Liberian Electricity Corporation. Well, we took over and said no. That’s not true.
We had. So, the president came to them with his support and approval. We decided to restore the Liberian Electricity Corporation to its statutory structure.
We started a vetting process that we chaired at the Ministry of Mines and Energy. We chaired a recruitment process last year. And then we received about 70 applications from professional, Liberian professionals, both at home and abroad.
Today, I am proud and we are excited that there is a very dynamic management team at the Liberian Electricity Corporation that the country is celebrating. It didn’t happen by accident. It happened with determination from the leadership that was truly committed.
Man what he said and said what he meant. That’s how you transform a country. By being intentional.
By being realistic. By being honest. Because you see, in order to continue to serve your country, you should be able to trust what you say, what you do in a particular time.
So, my dear people, the energy potential, I haven’t even touched the energy potential of our country. We have the hydro potential. And those who are in the power aspect, do you agree with me? That our hydro potential, so far, the only potential we know about our hydro potential, the only information we have through feasibility study, is about the Simpon River.
But when we talked about it, we said no. We can’t just focus on one river when we have so many rivers in the country. So, let’s know the potential of those other rivers.
So, we were able to push for a pre-feasibility study to be done along the St. John River. And as I speak to you, that pre-feasibility study has discovered that, has revealed that, along St. John River alone, there are four possible sites for hydro projects. And we have situated, Guinea just recently installed, they just commissioned a 300 megawatt hydro power plant.
So, what can we do? What can we do to see? We can do that. We are capable of doing that. All we need is that commitment, that genuine commitment.
So, I can go on to, again, I will continue to emphasize, please read our handover of speech. Please take interest in it, read it, because it’s intended for us to have a genuine national conversation. Yet, it’s time for us to be realistic about our country, and in focus, this country can become what it was established to become.
And I’m not pessimistic about that. I’m very optimistic about that. This country can fulfill the purpose of its creation.
Liberia can be a great nation. Liberia can be richer than all the countries around us yet. Liberia can achieve financial and economic independence.
Liberia can be a rich country without hesitation. Why do you think people are rushing here? Why do you think foreigners come here? We need to do that, and we need to push so that our country can achieve its purpose. So, I would want this to be a conversation.
So, having made the introductory comments, based on the question you asked, somebody asked. I mean, the question, I mean, I asked, I hope I answered that. You said, why, where, this, this and all of that.
I don’t have to ask the president why he desires to tell me to go sit down. I mean, let’s be realistic. Only one person was voted in 2023 for six-year term.
So, he asked me last year, we will go and spearhead these two sectors and win them. If his judgment is not right, I think right now he can go sit down. So, why should I ask the president why he wants me to go sit down? Eh? When I didn’t negotiate for it? So, please, this is not to ignore your question, important though as it is.
But I thought you wanted to answer that. The only answer I can give is that it is not how long one stays in office. It’s what you have done or what you did while you were in that office.
And a liar in our typical Liberian way, a liar can say, my win is way across the whole river. My win is right here. You can verify everything we have said here, you can investigate that.
And the employees of the ministry, they are also there. Those who are stakeholders in the industry, in the energy sector, they too are the ones who can say that. So, you know, you can’t evaluate yourself. Former Mines and Energy Minister Paye told members of the Clara Town Intellectual forum.
It may be recalled, President Joseph Boakai dismissed Wilmot Paye from his position as the Minister of Mines and Energy in late October 2025.
The dismissal was part of a broader cabinet reshuffle, which the President’s office stated was an effort to strengthen governance, improve institutional performance, and ensure accountability.
However, speculation has pointed to other potential reasons for the dismissal:
Reports suggest that Paye advised the President against signing controversial agreements with certain U.S. and oil firms, including Oranto Oil and Ivanhoe Atlantic-HPX.
Wilmot Paye’s wife posted on social media praising her husband for “choosing integrity over wealth,” which many interpreted as athe circumstances surrounding his departure.
The Executive Mansion did not provide a specific reason for Paye’s dismissal beyond the general aim of improving efficiency, which has led to public debate and speculation.
Paye, a former chairman of the ruling Unity Party, was replaced by R. Matenokay Tingban.
