By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor
Liberia is not poor. It is being robbed. That was the thunderous message delivered by former Mines and Energy Minister Wilmot Paye over the weekend, when he dropped a bombshell revelation to students in Charleville, Margibi County.
In late 2025, he was removed from his role in the ruling Unify Party Alliance government after serving for less than two years over disagreement in cabinet regarding management of the country’s mineral riches.
In the closing week of May he told students Liberia’s problem is the absence of a government that will adequately protect it natural riches to lift the nation’s estimated 5.5 million people from poverty.
This statement effectively renders the current Joseph Boakai administration that was voted on the platform of economic governance incompetent to steward the country’s wealth.
His words have ignited a storm of debate across the nation, shaking the foundations of Liberia’s political and economic narrative.
According to Paye, Liberia sits atop unimaginable mineral wealth — multi‑trillions in resources that could transform the lives of every citizen.
He claimed that iron ore alone amounts to a staggering US$1.7 trillion, a figure so vast it defies comprehension. “That is not a typo. It’s trillion with a T,” Paye emphasized, underscoring the scale of riches buried beneath Liberian soil.
But the numbers get even more uncomfortable. Paye revealed that a single mining operation in Grand Cape Mount County — six underground mines — is extracting roughly US$31 million worth of gold every week. That equates to more than US$1.6 billion annually. And yet, Liberia’s share of that fortune is less than US$50 million a year. The rest vanishes into foreign coffers while hospitals remain without medicine, roads crumble, and young people languish without jobs.
Though Paye did not name the company, public commentators have pointed to Bea Mountain Mining Corporation as the likely operator. The silence from official quarters has been deafening. “Nobody has denied it,” Paye noted, leaving the public to grapple with the implications.
Liberia currently hosts more than ten active mining companies. If one alone is siphoning billions annually, what does that mean for the combined output of the rest? The arithmetic is chilling. Liberia’s mineral wealth — iron ore, gold, diamonds, fertile land, oil — surpasses that of many neighboring states. Yet decade after decade, ordinary Liberians wake up to poverty while foreign corporations count their billions.
Paye’s remarks carried a personal edge. He disclosed that he became a target for refusing to back down, suggesting that entrenched interests sought to silence him. His defiance, however, has now become a rallying cry. “Wake up, speak up, and demand better,” he urged Liberians, insisting that no outside savior will fight for the nation’s resources. “The wealth is there. It has always been there. The only thing missing is a government with the backbone to make sure it stays home.”
