- US government indicts the Liberian government on the poor performance of the LEC
- Says the government is often behind on payments to the LEC
- Calls for stricter punishment for vandals
The United States Ambassador to Liberia, Michael McCarthy, has indicted the Liberian government in the poor performance of the state-owned Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC). In a news conference in Monrovia, McCarthy stated that the Liberian government, cartels of highly placed officials and poor business practices had negatively impacted the performance of the utility company.
“It’s not enough to say that the power theft situation is complicated or that it’s hard to fix,” McCarthy stated. McCarthy further lamented the lack of prosecutions for energy theft and the poor judicial approach to the rising cases of power thefts. He called for a systemic change in the judicial system to deal with energy theft to protect investments in the power sector.
“This needs to be a systemic focus – nothing will improve without a strong response across the judicial system, supported at the highest levels of the Liberian Government,” McCarthy noted. “If LEC can’t solve this power theft issue, it will continue to weaken financially, become even more dependent on government funding, and reduce reliability in operations”, he cautioned.