ON RESUMPTION OF TALKS WITH LISCR: "I think LISCR has done a phenomenal job with regards to how they have managed the program, itself. That is the best of what I can say. So it would behoove us to have a sit down with these individuals and  let’s talk about what’s in the best interest of the nation, what’s in the best interest of the ship owners – first and foremost and what’s in the best interest of the program." Binyah Kesselly, Commissioner, Bureau of Maritime Affairs, RL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monrovia -

 

ubbed as the most lucrative job in Liberia today, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Maritime Affairs in Liberia has seen a shared distribution of controversies. Viewed as a stepping stone to wealth for many past commissioners, the BMA has over the years, fallen prey to numerous scandals and allegations of corruption. The most notable came when the BMA was implicated in a scandal on the misdirection of US$800,000.00 of an account belonging to the International Maritime Satellite, Limited (INMARSAT). And during the civil war, the United Nations panel of Experts suggested that some of the revenues from the program were directed toward the purchase of arms and ammunitions by Dictator Charles Taylor. It didn’t help the BMA’s credibility, late last year when a chain of e-mails obtained by FrontPageAfrica appeared to dampen the credibility of the latest commissioner to land the lucrative post – Binyah Kesselly, who the communications suggest, was handpicked for the post as a political token to compensate the Unity Party government’s perceived debt to Kesselly’s legendary father, Edward, a former Defense Minister credited with being one of the founding members of the party. The perception has been so grave that in a bid to discourage corruption and wealth accumulation, FrontPageAfrica has learned that the current commissioner’s salary ranks in the six figure range in the tone of US$200,000 plus other benefits.

Beginning the month of March, the BMA faces its most crucial task to date as it recommences renegotiations with the agent, the Liberian International Shipping Registry, LISCR. Amid the many controversies to have clouded the bureau in recent years, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, in her State of the Nation address in January, suggested an increase in the revenue generated by the agent. Said Sirleaf: “In 2008, maritime revenue to government totaled US$14.6 million compared with US$13.5 in 2007. This performance reflects an increase of 10 percent in vessel registration, including 513 new vessels, from 2,665 at 82 million gross tons to 2,926 at 86 million gross tons.”

Sirleaf went on to note that her newly-appointed managers, “a group of capable and highly motivated individuals, have already moved the program a long way to more national partnership and control around a broader range of maritime services consistent with the path other registries have followed”. Of particular note, was Sirleaf’s assertion regarding the future of the relationship with the agent, LISCR. “They have been given the authority to explore all options for the future management of the program, being only concerned with that which avoids any possible conflict of interest and maximizes national interest and benefits.”

Thus, on the eve of the negotiations which was put off in the aftermath of the revelations of the chain of e-mails, FrontPageAfrica recently sat down with the current commissioner, Kesselly to discuss a wide range of topics dogging the BMA. In this interview, Kesselly addresses among other things, his strategy for next month’s negotiations with LISCR, what he expects from the new terms with the agent, the controversy surrounding the mention of his name in the e-mail chain, his obsession with returning Liberia to the number one status;  wrestling the top spot from the current leader, Panama and his views on ongoing speculations that, he is on a shortlist of candidates to replace Vice President Joseph Boakai on the UP ticket for the 2011 elections.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA:  Let’s first talk about the workforce of the Bureau of Maritime Affairs. In 2005, an audit by the British firm Moore Stephens recommended that among other things, the BMA was overstaffed and called for a massive reduction in the workforce considering the fact that most of the work is being done by the agent, the Liberian International Shipping Registry (LISCR) in Vienna, Va. What efforts are being done by the BMA to adhere to those recommendations?

BINYAH KESSELLY, COMMISSIONER, BMA:  The Moore Stephens Audit did call for a reduction in staff and in fact some efforts were made in that particular regard and we continue to look in that area to see whether or not it is a feasible or plausible thing to do, giving, one, the current structure and the current focus that we have as a Maritime program. And we also have to be forward thinking in making a decision.  Are we moving toward being a single source generator or are going to move in a different direction. But the strategic and proper thing to do is to think about what staffing levels should look like five years from now program compared to what it looks like today and what one particular group and one particular person’s opinion is or what functions is before everyone starts to think about it. 

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: So how many workers do you currently have on the books? 

ON KNUCKLES-GATE II SCANDAL

"With the exception of Mr. Knuckles -  I didn’t really meet the individual. I met him after the scandal – so to speak. So, it was a little interesting I guess, a little awkward to be linked to a quote-on-quote scandal and not knowing the key perpetrator of it."

KESSELLY: Well, we probably have about a hundred people but that includes the people that are at the National Port Authority (NPA) that do inspection of vessels as they come in. That includes security. We have a newly-trained security team that is helping out in a lot of areas. We have a facility out there that is about to be renovated. We have people here that are in both the technical, the legal and business development. So there are a lot of areas we are looking at. For us, it is about looking at a various positions and figure where Maritime is and where it is going.

 

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: I understand Maritime is currently offering assistance to the National Port Authority with security. How did that come about? 

KESSELLY:  Here’s what’s going on. There is a truth to that and then there is a real truth to that. You know recently there was a vessel here the MV Blue Atlantic which was caught by the French Navy. They were in our territorial waters, carrying out- I don’t know if they were selling contraband but they had contraband on board. They were seized and they were brought in. The vessel was then taken into custody. We intervened later in the year collaborated with the Ministry of Justice as is done internationally and the Bureau of Maritime Affairs took possession of the vessel. At that particular point, it was a new asset and we needed to protect it. Given the porous nature of security at the port, we deemed it necessary to put in place our own security team because our security team we actually had them trained at the National Police Academy through a specialized training course we developed. We had them placed on board that vessel to secure the vessel and I can tell you nothing got missing from that vessel since we placed our security there.

The second part of what you’re asking is whether Maritime is in charge of port security. I think you and I have talked about the International Port Security ISPS code and Liberia being on the black list. The Bureau of Maritime Affairs by recommendation of the U.S. Coast Guard has been appointed the designated authority for the country which means that we have the responsibility not only to oversee that it is flawlessly implemented at the port. The ISPS code is all about security, major hallmark is access control, control of people entering and leaving the port, control of cargo entering and going out, making sure that proper mechanism is put in place and are kept in place and to ensure that the perimeter and everything that is in that environment called the National Port Authority or in that particular architecture called the port is solidly protected and it meets international standards. So because we have that responsibility, there is a truthful side to what you are saying, Maritime is doing what it is supposed to do but we have the responsibility of revamping the whole security structure there. So we’re doing work with the LSP now where it is going to be a completely new structure, re-vetted, redeployed, retrained, world class security operation so we can deal with what’s going on.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: The BMA has had a shady past. A lot of former commissioners have reportedly attained wealth as a result of serving in this position. They have either been involved in corruption or connected to some theft. The Immarsat case for example remains one of the biggest scandals to rock the BMA in recent years.  You’re coming into this position, obviously very lucrative and there are I’m sure a lot of attention on you. What guarantee can you give to Liberians and the international community that you would not fall prey to the corrupt nature of the BMA culture?

ON WEALTH PERCEPTION AT BMA

"You know people have this natural gravitation toward it that it is this very lucrative place and that people tend to enrich themselves.  I can’t personally speak for others, but what I can say for me is that I have a singular focus and that is making this place number one."

KESSELLY:  I know that there has always been a concern of everyone and even when I first started, I think one of the first questions that you asked me, trying to verify whether I was going to be the next BMA commissioner, one of the questions you raised was given the interesting past of Maritime. And you know the fanfare around it. You know people have this natural gravitation toward it that it is this very lucrative place and that people tend to enrich themselves.  I can’t personally speak for others, but what I can say for me is that I have a singular focus and that is making this place number one. What drives me is the will to win.  I come from a background where I have been focused on beating the competition.  And right now, the competition for me is Panama and every other open registry that is out there.

If there is any other international shipping registry that offers some of the services we’re looking to offer. We’re well paid here. And that doesn’t mean that people who are well paid aren’t subject to things that go on in the international markets. I think I recently saw on CNN, there is a nine billion scam that went on and I guess that Central or Southern America, there’s another guy in New York with the Ponzi scheme for $50 billion so everything is subject to its own interpretation. I can only speak for myself. 

Not just me, but the bureau, the people in the bureau we try to do a better job of trying to get people better compensation and our intention is every six months to a year – depending on where we are or if not more, we will look to slowly get people incrementally up to a point where they are very, very well paid. If you want to incent people to do a good job and not to be tempted to do stuff, then you pay them properly and I can tell you that my folks are happy and my intentions as long as I’m here will continue to incent them as long as they are happy.  The average person just want to be able to put rice on the table, something to eat with that rice, put clothing on their kids back, get them to school, get them you know a little extra to carry through. If you can meet those needs and give people a little extra. It is a lot harder for someone to say you know I’m going to take $5 and look the other way when I inspect this vessel. He’s going to say “you know what I have a lot to lose if I inspect this vessel, give it a passing mark and it goes to the next port of call and it gets a failing mark and then it’s on me. Or when someone comes to register a vessel around the country and I am supposed to be caring for security and I just circumvent that particular thing. You would think a lot longer and harder before you do something  that crazy. So ours is hopefully to discourage many of those kinds of things. You know you reward and you pay for performance and you reward people appropriately. You know, would they be the best paid, hopefully we will get to the point where they will be the best paid but then again we hope that will bet the case for all of the institutions in our country because it is only in that particular point in time that things move in the direction where we do that as a nation that you will see a difference in these kinds of things.  In a nutshell that is all that I can honestly tell you. I’m not sit here and tell you I’m not going to do this or that because people tend to formulate their own opinion – and those are their opinions. I’ll speak for me. I know what my driving mandate is and for me it is the will to win and always being number one, we’re not so you can only imagine how I feel right now. But by the time we’re through, we’ll be there.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: This is a crucial year for the contract renegotiation with the shipping agent, the Liberian International Shipping Agent, LISCR.

KESSELLY: It is.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: What state are we at now and is there any possibility that we’re going to have a renewal or a termination of the contract?

ON SHIP OWNERS CONCERNS

"With regards to ship owners, we have to take into consideration, our first responsibility is not to the Liberian populace, and it is to the ship owners. I think you can agree. Our second responsibility is to the country."

KESSELLY:  There’s only so much I can discuss on this issue and I hope you can respect that. We are going to sit down and resume our negotiations with LISCR. The agent has done a great job with the program over the years. If you look at where we are, you know Liberia sits at the number two spot and this is not because they not do something. But it’s because we had a gruesome civil war and it is actually indicated in our annual report and my summary. Also because of the military coup and the gruesome thing that people saw on international television and the international news media. I mean when you parade people in the streets and put on the pole and shoot them on national and international television; it sends a clear signal to somewhere else that you are a savage. If you decide to behead people and stick it on a poll and utilize that to fend other people off. If you decide to glorify people in international media and you’re going to consume some parts of that – you’re going to scare people and when you scare people obviously you’re going to have massive flight of direct foreign investment or any other kind of investment. We lost a lot of vessels because of those particular parts of our past. And we have had some stabilizing force with the election of Madam Sirleaf. You know over the past three years,  now we’re in the fourth year, you can see a stabilizing effect, not only of the internal market but you can see it within the shipping world. Even in conversations that I have had with ship owners, they are a lot calmer in regards to what goes on in Liberia. We’re not there all the way but you can see to that effect and to be quite frank, put the personalities aside of what people may have and their thought process. I think LISCR has done a phenomenal job with regards to how they have managed the program, itself. That is the best of what I can say. So it would behoove us to have a sit down with these individuals and  let’s talk about what’s in the best interest of the nation, what’s in the best interest of the ship owners – first and foremost and what’s in the best interest of the program. 

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Let’s go back to the audits that were done. Moore Stephens called for annual review and for transparency sake to make those audits public. Do you have any plans to make those public? 

ON LUXURY, SPENDING, CARS

"I’d have you know that the vehicle I ride is five years old? It is Commissioner Slanger’s vehicle. I still ride that vehicle. . . And you know that if you are going to purchase vehicles. Even a vehicle that in the states would cost you $25,000, it is not unforeseen to charge $40,000 here.  So a hundred and forty thousand is what you say you read?"

KESSELLY: Well, it depends. It is an interesting thing when you’re dealing with the shipping world; there are so many elements of the shipping world that must remain confidential because it is just the nature of the business. Those things that must remain confidential as long as I am commissioner will remain confidential. Nothing is going to make us release that information. Things that we re supposed to share? You won’t even have to ask, we’ll share them. I think I mentioned this the other night when we spoke; your colleagues get a little shock because we actually provide information. If you look in the back of our annual report you will see our financials for the last nine years which shows you the fleet trends, which shows you the growth in terms of where we’re going and forecast. These are things that people have to know. Moore Stephens Audit asked for other things. Am I going to sit here and bad mouth or praise the Moore Stephens? I’m not going to be on either of those pages. I’m only going to give you my own perspective from the perspective of a person who is commissioner today. The Moore Stephens audit called for what it called for at that particular time because in their best view, that was the way the program should have gone. There is now a new management of the program, there’s a new vision, a new strategic direction, a bunch of new things that are being put in place to ensure that the best interest of ship owners are taken into consideration the best interest of our nation and that’s a careful balancing act between those two competing priorities.  So things that need to be public, we will make them public.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: I think the reason people are concerned about the numbers and making things public is that in 2005, the Moore Stephens Audit reported that then Commissioner Slanger’s budget was asking for some $375,000 toward the purchase of vehicles for the BMA. And that was cut down to about $240,000. And we have been able get a copy of the latest for the BMA, it seems that your administration is asking for $148,000 for purchase of vehicles. For a small bureau like this, is it really necessary to spend that much money on the purchase of vehicles? 

KESSELLY: So, first question. It is a little troubling that you would have a copy of our budget since it is quote-on-quote confidential document that wasn’t circulated so I am not going to comment on the amount that we have for vehicles. I’d have you know that the vehicle I ride is five years old? It is Commissioner Slanger’s vehicle. I still ride that vehicle. We have two new vehicles that are parked out there, two mini vans that were donated to us by Captain Nick Suttos, Consul General of Greece. My view is simple, until we can get new vehicles and you’ve been here and you’ve seen what happens with road conditions and etc. And you know that if you are going to purchase vehicles. Even a vehicle that in the states would cost you $25,000, it is not unforeseen to charge $40,000 here.  So a hundred and forty thousand is what you say you read? 

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: A hundred and forty eight(148,000). 

ON WHERE THE REVENUES GO

"I don’t know if you’re aware of this but we don’t touch the money. There was also a tenth of the amount that people used to get as operational spending – that in addition to spending on the government’s budget that used to come was repealed during the Bryant administration. So what happens is the money is collected, it is paid into the Central Bank Account in New York at the Federal Reserve and that money – on a weekly basis- is transferred to the Central Bank of Liberia account here and the government goes directly into the government’s budget. The money doesn’t come here."

KESSELLY:  I am not going to confirm or deny that but what I am going to say is that could easily be three vehicles.  So , are you sure that it is a bad thing to have that amount for a place where most of the vehicles are four, five, six seven years old knowing fully well that maintenance is at an all-time low in the country.

Even my Business Administration Manager Stephen Yekerson rides with me, he does not have a vehicle. That maintenance is at an all-time low, that road conditions are very bad and only recently, I’m glad that you are here – it is only recently that the roads are being worked on. In fact, in Mamba Point where you and I took a stroll the other night, you saw that the roads are only now just being done, thankfully, the women’s colloquium is coming so there is an even higher sense of urgency to get those things put in place. So, part of the problem, Rodney is when you see high numbers in some of the budgets, stop and ask the question the way you just asked it but the preliminary question should be, what does it cost to get a vehicle in here.  The vehicle I’m riding right now, if we were to purchase it in this country, it would probably run us into around $70K, so even if we did have $148K that would just be about two vehicles. It is the reality where we live.

You know, all those things change when we have different financial circumstances, we have better regulatory control over the pricing, we have better input and export controls at our ports and we put better security mechanisms in place that we’re working on. I mean those are the things that you’ll see.  It is the same with everything. Unfortunately, things that cost a little more here and so you’ll see prices that cost a little more here will cause you to open your eyes and say wow, why are they so high. It shocks the living daylights out of me as well. You might ask but why don’t you order them in the U.S. although you still have to bring them here and clear them. I think you’re about to bring machinery into the country to open your multimedia company, you’ll get a good sense of what it cost to bring stuff in very soon. 

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Let’s look at some comparisons. The most criticism of BMA is that the agent, LISCR has been doing most of the work or does most of the work and the staffing at BMA some say is too high and really not needed considering the agent is the one performing most of the functions. Do you really think the BMA needs such a high workforce? 

KESSELLY: That’s a very good question and I like how people say “LISCR does all the work for the BMA. LISCR does all the work for the registry. In fact it does the bulk of the work for the registry because it is our agent. And you fully comprehend the relationship. You get an agent to do things – historically, the Bureau of Maritime Affairs has really been this place where it is sort of a revenue collection if you will. What we will do and I’m glad that you’re doing this – a multi-part series on the origins of the Maritime on where it was, where it is and where it’s going. If I’m capturing your thoughts properly. When ever people say Maritime, they thing of the registry. I think we talked to you guys about the true dynamics of what is Maritime. What are we talking about here- global economics and ninety percent of it is cross-shipment on the ocean. Liberia sits in the number two spot, but Maritime is not just the registering of vessels, it is about your port system, it is about your water and eco-tourism, it is about your water transport, it is about hotel and luxury resort. It is about all these things working in concert making you truly a Maritime nation.

So when you ask the question, it presupposes that we should only focus on a registry. If that’s the case then you only need one person – and you have an agent. And that’s not the case at least in this new administration. We have a renewed vision, we have a renewed strategic plan, and we have a renewed direction. In fact you saw one of the things we started to take on and in fact you saw the beachfront and you see what it looks like, you saw in the newspapers. I mean it did look like a garbage cesspool. One of the things we have the responsibility of doing is to ensure that the beaches are clean because Marine environmental protection and pollution are things that we are supposed to oversee. We did not give that contract to LISCR, that’s a responsibility that we carry out as well.

ON POLTICAL SPECULATIONS

"I don’t have any Presidential ambitions. . . I have one ambition. I told you that long time ago, it is to make this program number one.  Look, My model right now is to beat Panama and beating Panama doesn’t mean that we’re going to get a billion dollars because Panama get a bunch of money from the Canal and other countries. But it is really beating them in the services – dollar for dollar in the service that we give.  So, we need to beat them in tonnage, we need to beat them in some of the other services and investigations."

So, there are so many dimensions to Maritime that we are now bringing out. When you have some time you should research the regulatory law or the legislation that created the Bureau of Maritime Affairs. Section 21 states that the office of the commissioner of Maritime Affairs itself has the responsibility for regulating and administering all foreign and domestic boating services for the republic. That is a very powerful place for us and for the framers when they put that in place. I don’t know what their vision was but for me, it appears that they had a sense there could be so many things that they could do, given our beautiful coastline 350 miles of beaches. Plus, we have several miles of rivers, streams and tributaries. 

There are so many things that we could do and so many resources that sit out there that we need to take advantage of. So can I justify having a thousand people or five hundred people absolutely. But you have to look at appropriate staffing levels for where we going as supposed to waiting until you have that need and then start staffing up. So do you start the training now or do you wait until five years from now, do you slowly stack up knowing that your new organization is going to carry out these twelve functions where registries become just this revenue stream. My, is the latter. It is looking at the organization of the future and saying that this is going to be one of several revenue streams, how do you appropriately justify your staffing levels to build that organization so that it works like a true organization and it really runs efficiently and fluently and you’re building more competency that we need and we desperately desire. So that’s where we are. 

We like the staffing levels we have – whether it goes up or down now is a whole different determination based on how we secure against this strategic plan right now. So in fact, it’s funny that you mentioned this. Before you leave I will show you a copy of my schedule with senior members of my team and everybody has a reporting structure to understand what’s their plan is for the year, where are they in that particular plan because we already have our overarching strategic plan, they need to have finalized their plans as you know this is the beginning of the first quarter. So show me where you are in the body of work that each of your functionality is carrying out. Because it is strategically important from a positioning stand point. -If I want to for example a search and rescue center - I think we sent you a news release when the President visited. I’d really encouraged you to pay a visit out there because we are now putting in the air conditioners in there along with furniture and stuff.

The IMO will soon be in with the equipment with the finalized training. But maybe we want to increase the number of personnel that would be at the MRCC since it is a sub-regional watch center. Let’s say we want to increase the workforce by ten people because the traffic that’s going by now has increased by 20 or 40 percent. I don’t want to find out that I need to increase it by ten people when after the traffic gets higher. I want to be able to start training and understanding that for the past five years, the volume that goes through from Guinea to La Cote d’Ivoire to Liberia to Ghana to Sierra Leone has been X, Y, Z the last couple of years. So maybe around the middle of the year you’d see a forty percent increase in traffic. So maybe we’ll say we’ll hire temporary help and you’ll see a bump in our employee statistics with the May, June, July and September timeframe and wonder why we got that high. It’s because we were proactively planning.

We needed to train the people and not just bring them off the street and stick them in there. You have to bring them in January and train them through April, release them in May to the center so that they are they to take that growth in the number of calls but then you slowly truncate to the end of the year because you don’t need them any longer but what happens if there’s a turn in everything and there’s a piracy and God forbidden it no longer go that way and come back this way. So those are the kinds of things, we need to be competitively agile and have to take our time to strategically empower ourselves to be able to see into the future.

For some of it it’s rolling the dice but for others it is really about trying to be as methodical as possible in how you roll out your resources.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: We have been analyzing the numbers for the Maritime program since 2000 and it seems that between 2000 to now, some 140 million have been generated or at least pumped into government revenues. However, no one knows how that money was spent or how it has been able to help impact the lives of Liberians. One key concern is the Deputy Commissioner’s Account (DCO). There are critics who say that when the President (past and present) announces in her annual message the total amount generate, no mention is made of the DCO funds.  Apparently, in the last three years since this administration came to office, some six million dollars have been pumped into the Marine Training school but no mention of that was made and the school itself has not been completed.  Where has the money gone?

ON AGENDA FOR LISCR TALKS

"The dynamics of the negotiations will remain confidential unless somebody who is in the inner circle decides to share that information with you – and I’m hoping that they don’t.  What I will tell you is that – whenever you have consistency, I mean if you were investing your hard-earned money mutual fund and you saw more inconsistent changes, you will take your money out. What the dynamics turned out to be – there are three things that will be at the top of our agenda: Better revenue generation for the country; a lot more participation in how the program is run. Not doing the work for LISCR, LISCR has done a phenomenal job. We’re not going to have that level of interference; we’re going to have greater participation, okay."

KESSELLY:  First and foremost, the money has not been left out. It is funny when people say the money has been left out.  The part you never hear is the heavy debt that this government acquired. There was a time at the regional Maritime University that we had about 43 people there and about 40 of them failed.  There are so many things that we could talk about that were acquired as a result of this new government coming in., that when you look at all this money that supposedly came in and then you look at the heavy debt that you had to pay off, I mean this is no secret and I’m sure you know most of this stuff. It somehow pales in comparison. So for every dollar that you’re pulling in you’re paying out a dollar or more to cover debt for tuition and other areas. You know we had to pay off the IMO dues and that’s what got us off the voting council in the first place. There was a hefty amount that should have been paid, we didn’t pay it. This didn’t happen in this administration by the way.  It was a prior administration. It wasn’t paid and that took us off the voting council. We’re the second largest registry in the world and we don’t have a voting voice. That should give you a sense of what was inherited.

So, if there was a profit. I’m going to address this part first and then go into the revenue as you asked. If there’s a profit that comes in that profit will be paid out as a dividend and will be paid out as appropriated in order to meet whatever obligations we may have. Now let’s come to the revenues. I think you appropriately said – it’s over a hundred million dollars over nine years. We have been averaging over 12 million so to speak. It could be higher or lower but I’m giving the baseline average. So even if you were to just look at it in the eight-year period or the nine-year period – and this will be the tenth year obviously, and if you just kept all things equal, it will be a hundred and 20 million on average.

I don’t know if you’re aware of this but we don’t touch the money. There was also a tenth of the amount that people used to get as operational spending – that in addition to spending on the government’s budget that used to come was repealed during the Bryant administration. So what happens is the money is collected, it is paid into the Central Bank Account in New York at the Federal Reserve and that money – on a weekly basis- is transferred to the Central Bank of Liberia account here and the government goes directly into the government’s budget. The money doesn’t come here.

Now, that should answer your question as to where the money goes. 

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: So what happens when the money goes into the Central Bank account? 

KESSELLY:  It goes in the bank as part of government’s expenditures. That’s the mystery, that’s the mystery demystified, that’s the full disclosure of where the money goes. Money goes from collection to the Government of Liberia bank account in the federal reserves to the Central Bank. Not to the BMA account but to the Central Bank and it gets injected into the government coffers. 

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: But why don’t the BMA revised the terminology of the budget to reflect the actual flow of the money. For example if the budget says X amount of money is going to DCO account for Maritime school and eventually winds up paying some unpaid bills, it leaves the impression that the money is not being used for what it was intended or something fishy is going on? 

KESSELLY:  No, No, No… I’m not going to get too in depth into this because some of this stuff we just shouldn’t be talking about. What I can tell you is that when you think about the operation center that covers our operations center.  So, what we do stems from there and it covers the entire basis and that is as far as I can go. 

FRONTPAGEAFRICA:  What about the BMA payroll. Does the money used to pay employees come from the DCO account or revenues generated by LISCR? 

KESSELLY:  First of all, let’s get one thing clear. LISCR doesn’t give us anything. LISCR works for us. 

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: I mean, they generate the revenues?

KESSELLY: Revenues are generated. Payrolls for all Maritime offices are paid for through monies that are generated as part of the general expenses. That’s in the existing contract. Not quite sure why it wasn’t adhered to before. Again, we can only speak for what happened from April – let me see because you had called me before she even made the announcement – it was April -  From April last year until now. We can only account for that period.

But as you’re doing the background stuff and talking with former commissioners, I’m sure they can provide some guidance on how that operated before. 

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: One intriguing final question. There’s lot of talk that Mr. Kesselly is on a shortlist of possible candidates for the veep spot on the UP ticket for 2011. Some even say that you are lobbying hard to be on the ticket. 

KESSELLY: Oh Jesus Christ, Rodney.  You shouldn’t do this to me because we had this discussion before and I told you I have no intention of going there.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Just an answer for our readers. There is a lot of intrigue here. 

KESSELLY:  Nobody has had that conversation with me. I mean some people jokingly say that, but there’s no truth to that. No one has said anything to me about that.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA:  But, do you have any Presidential ambition? 

KESSELLY:  I don’t have any Presidential ambitions, Rodney. Look, I have one ambition. I told you that long time ago, it is to make this program number one.  Look, My model right now is to beat Panama and beating Panama doesn’t mean that we’re going to get a billion dollars because Panama get a bunch of money from the Canal and other countries. But it is really beating them in the services – dollar for dollar in the service that we give.  So, we need to beat them in tonnage, we need to beat them in some of the other services and investigations. In fact we do a lot better in terms of quality and investigation and other services we provide. In fact we are the premiere provided. That’s where we have the number one spot. The tonnage thing still kills us in fleet size. The day we beat them, I’m thrilled. I can turn around and walk away at that point. Because for me, it is about winning and it is about winning in a dramatic way. It is about knowing that you’re taking something from a certain area and a certain perspective and moving it to another direction. Another thing about winning is the ISPS implementation.  I have every indication of doing everything we need to do collaboratively with our colleagues at the port; we get off the US Coast Guard blacklist. Failure is not an option.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Another important issue is the fact that this is a very crucial year for the on-again, off again contract negotiations with the shipping agent, the Liberian International Shipping Registry (LISCR). We’ve had discussions with some of the shipping agents and the head of the ship owners, Joe Ludwacik. One of the issues he raised is that if there is a break in the agent, it might affect the future of the program. At the same time you want to get the best deal for Liberia. Is this something you are thinking about going into the negotiations? How do you plan to approach this key stage in the BMA’s future? 

ON DCO ACCOUNT MYSTERY

"First and foremost, the money has not been left out. It is funny when people say the money has been left out.  The part you never hear is the heavy debt that this government acquired. There was a time at the regional Maritime University that we had about 43 people there and about 40 of them failed.  There are so many things that we could talk about that were acquired as a result of this new government coming in., that when you look at all this money that supposedly came in and then you look at the heavy debt that you had to pay off, I mean this is no secret and I’m sure you know most of this stuff. It somehow pales in comparison."

KESSELLY:  I think you already know the answer to that one Rodney. The dynamics of the negotiations will remain confidential unless somebody who is in the inner circle decides to share that information with you – and I’m hoping that they don’t.  What I will tell you is that – whenever you have consistency, I mean if you were investing your hard-earned money mutual fund and you saw more inconsistent changes, you will take your money out. What the dynamics turned out to be – there are three things that will be at the top of our agenda: Better revenue generation for the country; a lot more participation in how the program is run. Not doing the work for LISCR, LISCR has done a phenomenal job. We’re not going to have that level of interference; we’re going to have greater participation, okay. Because if you want to do the work, you don’t hire an agent. You hire an agent because you want somebody to take that headache of your hand and run it efficiently. Okay. So, greater revenue sharing, greater participation, more accountability and transparency- that’s the hallmark of our negotiations right there.

With regards to ship owners, we have to take into consideration, our first responsibility is not to the Liberian populace, and it is to the ship owners. I think you can agree. Our second responsibility is to the country. And when I say this I mean in a particular format. The ship owners are the ones that owned the vessels. We have to keep them happy because they will continue to invest in us as their assets manager if you will. If we keep them happy and they continue to invest in us, Liberia will reap the benefits because the gap between the two is that contract – and the terms and conditions that we put in place. So for us, it is about building a solid bridge over that gap that always transitions from happy ship owners to happy consumers. Happy consumers will be the Liberian people.  They will be the end stage beneficiaries. That is as much as I’m going to tell you about. We will sit down and renegotiate. There is no reason why we shouldn’t.

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Any final thoughts? 

KESSELLY:  You and your colleagues in the media can be very, very good marketers for what we’re doing for Maritime – and for other parts of the country by putting out a balance message. For areas where you see shortcomings, accentuate the positives, talk about the major strides that are happening and that are being made. Talk about the challenges of meeting some of these other areas because if you think about it, communication is all about how that message is received by the intended audience.  Your audience isn’t just Liberians. Your audience is everyone. Anybody who types in Liberia up pops FrontPageAfrica. You have a very high readership and whatever you say, whatever you write and whatever you do. And I’m saying you because yours is probably the most recognized internationally when it comes to Liberia and issues that affect Liberia. There’s a strong message that goes with that and I think I’ve said this to you before. With that level of responsibility, there’s much that’s been required. In fact, we have similar responsibilities at the particular point to see the growth of the program. So the message that we are trying to articulate- and I’m glad that you have a copy of our annual report because it will give you a sense of what it is that we see as a future of this particular entity.  Push that out. Areas where you think we have a shortcoming – by all means express that to us. Let us know so that you hold us accountable, too to delivering up to here. But I think that if you guys carry the message that there’s light at the end of the tunnel and it’s actually been strategically formulate, they have done these three things great but this one thing, there’s a problem or we got to figure out a better way to do it because this way isn’t going to work- you know. It’s a stronger message, it is message that says you know what, they’re not all screed up. They’re actually doing a great job but they need to improve in other areas. At the end of the day, what we all want is a better Liberia. I don’t think anybody in this country wants a worse off Liberia. It’s all semantics because my better Liberia may be worse off for you and your worse off Liberia may be better for someone else. But at the end of the day, we all want peace, stability, harmony. We want a new republic, we want economic viability, and we want the ability to have our kids come home. We want the ability to just normal things. You want a WALMART here. But the only way we can get there is if we hold each other accountable.  Your job as the media is to make sure that you give the message but the message has to be one that helps the growth. Chastised us appropriately by all means. But remember, we’re partners in growth first and we’re holding the country in the same fashion.  

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: On a personal note, the e-mail scandal dubbed Knuckles-Gate II where your name popped up in some derogatory terms. What was going through your mind during that entire ordeal?  

KESSELLY: Why the hell did I come home? I’d be lying to you if I said anything else. I had some of my colleagues from my former employers call to see how I was doing and say “why did you go home, dude”.  And I said you know, I’m getting my taste of politics. You know when I was in the U.S. and we saw things like this pop up, you go, wow, I wonder why that guy did it. Now I know how that guy felt like when that stuff was put out there.  But by the grace of providence, your entity came out and established that there seemed to be some funny business as regard to that stuff and you know at the end of the day, I don’t hold any malice toward anyone. It’s not worth it. 

FRONTPAGEAFRICA: Have you approached any others involved, including the prime player, Mr. Knuckles? 

KESSELLY:  Have I approached any one involved? I interact with most of the people that were included. With the exception of Mr. Knuckles, I didn’t really meet the individual. I met him after the scandal – so to speak. So, it was a little interesting I guess, a little awkward to be linked to a quote-on-quote scandal and not knowing the key perpetrator of it. So that was a little odd. For the first couple of days, I was a little concerned. This kind of stuff can ruin someone’s reputation completely. Whether it’s right, wrong, true, true false or indifferent. You know, the sensational stuff tend to stick a lot more than when it is recalled, when it’s recanted or when it is pulled back or when it is even moderated or modified. But I’m still here. No intentions of leaving until the job is done.  I said then and I say it now. It is untrue and at the end of the day people will sit back and make up their own minds and make a steadfast determination.