Power Theft Persists

Flashback: United States Ambassador to Liberia, Michael McCarthy speaks at press conference at the US Embassy in Liberia

-- U.S. Ambassador McCarthy hopes government officials involved in the act can also be prosecuted.

As power theft in Liberia continues apparently unabated, the United States Ambassador to Liberia Michael McCarthy has reiterated that the issue of power theft represents one of the greatest threats to Liberia’s development.

Moreover, Ambassador McCarthy said, the criminal act contributes to the Liberia Electricity Corporation’s commercial losses, and prevents the utility from conducting preventative maintenance and installing new connections, which also raises the price of electricity for Liberians to one of the highest tariffs in the world.

The U.S. Ambassador, who spoke at a round table media discussion on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, indicated signs of improvement, noting that “it is encouraging to see the government of Liberia, law enforcement agencies, and the LEC start to take serious steps towards addressing the issue of power theft in the country.” 

These include increased arrests for those violating the law, and commitments from officials ensuring investigations, prosecutions, and other disciplinary actions will proceed without interference. 

But in reality, there is reason to believe that these ‘encouraging’ signs might be somewhat cosmetic. 

On Friday, October 15, LEC staff, directed by their worker’s union leaders, staged a protest at their head office at Waterside. The angry workers decided to boycott all work for that day in demand for the immediate release of three of their colleagues who were jailed at the Monrovia Central Prison. 

According to the workers, a day earlier, their three colleagues were on a field patrol, attempting to take down illegal power connections on Bushrod Island. During that exercise, the protesters narrated, the field patrol came to an entertainment center that was illegally connected to the power grid. When the proprietress was questioned about her illegal connection, she claimed that she had submitted a letter to LEC requesting a meter, but the company had yet to supply her a meter. 

In response, the LEC field patrol asked her to produce a copy of the letter, but she could not. It was then that the leader of the field patrol gave the order to disconnect her business from the illegal connection. 

A male associate of the woman, who happened to be present and identified himself as a ‘Counselor-at-Law’, started to make phone calls that resulted in the arrival of a squad of officers from the Liberia National Police on the scene, who arrested the three LEC patrol workers. 

The three men spent that very night in jail. 

Such reports of police officers being used to harass LEC patrol staff who try to clamp down on power theft are not isolated. Another woman in the rehab community, not far from where President George Weah lives, called the police on another LEC task force member and that person was also jailed for a night. 

“While we are trying to enforce the law against power theft, there are people higher up in government or close to those who are higher up in government who are profiting from power theft and have the audacity to arrest and jail our colleagues,” the protesting LEC staff said.  “And those who are prosecuted for power theft are the people way down the line, not the big-big [influential] people.”

“We hope to soon see actions including judicial prosecutions under the power theft law, and legal sanctions against those within the government and the LEC known to be facilitating this crime,” Ambassador McCarthy said. “With many thousands of Liberians faithfully paying their metered bills, and others patiently waiting to be connected to power, by not punishing those who break the law, the government is punishing those who follow it.”  

According to him, prosecutions are one key way of measuring that progress.

He said, “Finally, on a more positive note, I was happy to learn that the LEC board has requested that President Weah and the World Bank approve a six-month contract extension for the international management team that is currently working at LEC. That team’s departure is currently scheduled for January, but the recruitment for new management is moving well behind that schedule, which suggests to us that this proposal has real merit. Keeping the current team in place long enough to ensure a smooth transition will be critical to consolidate the important progress by LEC and the government, as well as to safeguard our enormous investments in this sector.”

Meanwhile, in August of this year, Ambassador McCarthy toured the LEC’s Bushrod Island facilities in order to better understand how U.S. assistance in the power sector has been used, and what the challenges are to the sector today.  

Earlier this year, the U.S. Embassy and Liberian Government officials celebrated the end of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact, a US-funded, US$257 million, 5-year effort, which was primarily focused on rehabilitation of the Mt. Coffee Hydropower Plant, the largest source of power in the country and Liberia’s most valuable fixed asset.  

During his visit, the Ambassador learned that commercial losses (theft and unpaid bills) account for over 50 percent of the electricity produced by LEC, seriously threatening the financial viability of the organization.

He challenged the Liberian Government to take seriously the fight against power theft and endemic corruption in the country, emphasizing that the Biden-Harris Administration named corruption a core U.S. national security interest and the US is acting on this priority.

In order for public facilities and businesses to work efficiently, the Ambassador said it will take a commitment against corruption and power theft from each and every Liberian “... from the government down to each of you.  We urge you to do what is right.”