Monrovia-It is what the Ministry of Commerce doing to stabilize prices on the market often on the lips of all Liberians. In offices, at homes, at market places and entertainment centers, the story does not change. Everyone blames the Ministry for not being in charge, for not putting foot down, for not controlling prices and for allowing businesses have their way. These concerns have hunted the ministry, his officials for years, not just this administration. They point to how citizens view the ministry in national governance architecture. But amid a declining exchange rate and hiking prices of basic goods, the cries are aloud. This is the task staring at Stephen Yekeson, Commerce Minister-designate. Appearing for confirmation, the Minister-Designate set out his agenda, promising strategic turnaround. The New Republic follows his presentation, and reports.
Commerce Minister nominee Stephen Yekeson has vowed fundamental policy turnaround to a more results-oriented approach at the Ministry of Commerce, promising that within his first 100 days in office, the Ministry of Commerce will publish, every week, the prices of rice, fuel, and cement in all fifteen counties of Liberia.
“You cannot protect a price you do not measure,” Yekeson told Senators Tuesday during his confirmation hearing, saying within a year, that list will grow to the forty commodities Liberian families depend on most.
Appearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Yekeson told Senators that he did not appear before them to ask for their trust, but to tell the Senate how he intends to earn it.
He told the Committee how he is abreast of the issues at hand as someone who has sat on both sides of the table, both in government as Deputy Commissioner of the Liberia Maritime Authority and Deputy Minister of Public Works, and in the private sector as Chief Financial Officer of South Atlantic Capital Group and President of Panchariya Group West Africa, where he structured transactions and raised finance for power generation.
“Judge me by what I deliver,” he said, explaining that the Ministry has one ultimate job, and that is to make sure goods and services reach Liberians, available when needed, of good quality, at a fair price.
He listed the players in that market as the farmer, the importer, the local manufacturer, the investor, the market women and petty traders, the keh keh driver, and the family buying a bag of rice.
All of them, he said, need a fair deal from the Ministry, including a fair profit for those who sell and value for money for those who buy.
“If business cannot make a fair profit, the shelves empty. If families cannot get value for money, trust breaks. My job is to hold that balance,” he said.
His vision, he said, is simple, to ensure that by 2029, Liberia should produce more of what it consumes, using more of its own labor, land, capital and enterprise, in line with President Boakai’s ARREST Agenda.
The Commerce Minister-designate said this means two things, including growing and making more of what Liberia now buys from outside, and ensuring that what Liberia produces carries more Liberian hands and is driven by Liberian entrepreneurs.
“Today our iron ore leaves as rock, our gold as dust, and our rubber raw. The value is added somewhere else, and the jobs go with it,” he noted.
He said working with the Ministries of Mines and Agriculture, government will start by ensuring mines and plantations buy food, transport and services from Liberian businesses through enhanced local content, and in the long term, pursue electricity and infrastructure to bring processing home.
Yekeson outlined three commitments, such as to put Liberia’s own spending to work for Liberians, stressing government, concessions and donors spend money daily, but too much buys foreign goods.
He pledged to enforce the Small Business Empowerment Act which requires at least 25 percent of qualifying public procurement go to Liberian-owned small businesses, with 5 percent for women-owned businesses, and publish agency-by-agency compliance.
Mr. Yekeson also vowed to enforce the Investment Act which reserves businesses like rice and cement retail, gas stations and sand supply for Liberians, but fairly.
“A Liberian name on a foreign business is not a Liberian business, so we will verify who truly owns what,” he said.
The second commitment has to do with building Liberian businesses that can win, saying that starts with money, to start, to grow and to stay open, through small loans and credit guarantees that do not demand land titles, run through banks not government, and by making government and concession contracts bankable.
He also said government and concessions must pay on time, promising to work with the Central Bank to open financing, make business registration fast in every county, and link employers with vocational schools to train youth.
Yekeson’s third commitment is cut the cost between the ship and the shop. According to him, cargo can take close to two weeks to clear the Freeport of Monrovia, plus duplicate fees, paper permits and costly transport to counties.
As Chair of the National Trade Facilitation Committee, he pledged to work with revenue, port and border agencies to cut clearance time, remove duplicate fees and move permits online.
He also said ECOWAS and AfCFTA turn Liberia’s five million market into a billion-plus market, stressing “Producing more at home must never mean paying more at home.”
For a narrow basket of critical goods starting with rice, fuel and cement, he will bring to Cabinet a Maximum Retail Price, not a number made in secret but a published formula of verified import cost, lawful duties, transport and a fair profit.
“When world prices or the exchange rate move, the price moves openly, and everybody can see why. A price set too low empties the shelves. A price set in secret invites abuse,” he said.
Inspectors will target hoarding, collusion, false invoices and short measures, Yekeson told Senators, adding that every inspection rule, fee and penalty will be published, with a right of appeal.
“Here is one promise this Committee can check. Within 100 days, the Ministry will publish, every week, the prices of rice, fuel, and cement in all fifteen counties. Within the year, that list will grow to the forty commodities Liberian families depend on most. You cannot protect a price you do not measure,” Yekeson said.
He promised to set up a delivery tracking unit and return to the Committee every quarter with numbers, not promises.”
Mr. Chairman, the President has asked us to love Liberia and build Liberia. In COMMERCE, that means “made in Liberia, bought in Liberia and across Africa, and built by Liberians,” he concluded.
The Commerce Minister-designate thanked President Joseph Nyuma Boakai for the confidence reposed in him.
Yekeson, who began his schooling at Cuttington Campus School and St. Martin’s Catholic School in Gbarnga and later at Ricks Institute, said he is the son of the late Dr. Stephen M. Yekeson, Sr., former President of the University of Liberia and Cuttington, and Mrs. Janet Yekeson.
“From them I learned that public office is a trust held for others, a fiduciary responsibility, and that it is measured by what you leave behind,” he said.
If confirmed by the Senate, Yekeson will become the third Commerce Minister in President Joseph Nyuma Boakai government since its inception.
He was appointed Acting Minister on September 11, replacing Magdalene E. Dagoseh, who the Executive Mansion said had been reassigned, but is yet to be appointed.
His appointment was part of a wider reshuffle announced by the Executive Mansion.
Yekeson’s professional background stretches across business development, strategic planning, entrepreneurship, management consultancy and infrastructure development.
Following his appointment, CitiTrust Liberia described him as a senior executive and business leader with more than 20 years of experience across those areas.
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