Montserrado County, Monrovia City-Wednesday, March 26, 2025-Monrovia: The Minister of Mines and Energy, Wilmot Paye, has urged aggrieved residents of Ben-Ben Town in Mount Coffee Township, Montserrado County, to disengage and discourage all forms of violence but embrace peaceful coexistence while they await the Ministry’s resolution of a mining dispute which has since engulfed the area leading to the deaths of two persons and destruction of properties.
Meeting two groups of residents from the Town on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at the Mines and Energy Ministry, Minister Paye assured the residents that an amicable resolution to their differences will be reached soon.
He informed them that the Ministry is deeply concerned about the divisions which led his administration to placing a moratorium on all mining activities in the town and its environs in November last year. The Minister said, government’s obligation to protect lives and properties necessitated the decision to temporarily ban mining operations in Ben-Ben Town.
Having listened to separate accounts of the conflict from the two groups, Minister Paye stated that their surprised gathering at the Ministry seeking redress to their dispute came on the heels of the Ministry dispatching a delegation to the town, headed by the Deputy Ministry for Operations, William Hines. Deputy Minister Hines’ fact-finding visit, according to the Mines and Energy Minister was meant to gather relevant information vital to the Ministry resolving the standoff.
Minister Wilmot Paye used the Wednesday meeting with residents of Ben-Ben Town to assure the public that at all times, his team of administrators will ensure that the Ministry of Mines and Energy as the only regulator of the Mining Sector in Liberia remains impartial in settling all conflict situations arising amongst miners and residents of mining sites or towns. “If we had a side in your conflict, will we have placed a ban on mining activities in the area,” he stated.
Also attending the crisis-resolution meeting were the Deputy Minister for Operations, William Hines, Assistant Minister for Mines, Carlos Edison Tingban, Director of Mines, Alwell Aloysius Carr, and the Deputy Inspector-General of the Ministry, Adolphus Gleekia.
Edited :Jesefu Morris Keita| Editor-In-Chief
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