The Ministry of Transport is calling on national security agencies to investigate the Liberia Traffic Management (LTM) for the alleged illegal production of license plates.
The Liberia Traffic Management is a Lebanese-owned company that is claiming to be working with the Ministry of Transport to produce license plates, drivers’ licenses, and carry out other road safety activities in Liberia, a claim that the Ministry of Transport vehemently refuted.
According to the MOT, on June 15, 2020, it contracted a Liberian-owned company, the Modern Development and Management Company (MDMC), through a competitive bidding process, to produce license plates, drivers’ licenses, and carry out other road safety activities in Liberia, in contrast to the claims of the LTM.
The Director of Communication at the Ministry, Lemuel Kleeme, explained to a news conference that driver licenses and license plates are produced with key security coding and other features that allow the Ministry of Transport and security apparatus in the country to track crimes by monitoring vehicles, and having a company without the legal rights to perform these tasks poses security threats to the country.
Kleeme maintained that the Modern Development and Management Cooperation (MDMC) was legally hired by the government of Liberia and charged with such responsibilities of producing plates, and the company has performed and lived up to the agreement up to present.
He said, “As part to ensure road safety inspections, the MDMC has brought into the country six tow trucks for vehicles, keh-kehs, and motorbikes, while a Lebanese-owned company, Liberia Traffic Management, with assistance and supported from some individuals in the corridors of power, have been professing to be the concession company hired for the production of plates, driver licenses, and road safety activities.”
He stressed that the transport sector is mostly concerned that the LTM is producing the same brand and design of plates that the MOT is issuing without legitimacy, questioning, “Who gets the feedback of revenue generated from the fraudulent act?”
“There is a need for national security investigation, considering that vehicle license plates are security-related instruments that deal with coding and security features to assist police investigate traffic crimes, to include hit and run traffic situations, armed robbery, and others,” he said.
Kleeme disclosed that the MOT has been affected over the years with research showing that the act that established the Ministry is being violated by the fraudulent activities of the LTM.
Director Kleeme told journalists that the Ministry of Transport, which is a legitimate functionary of government, has been affected over the years with the Act that created it.
He said the absence of key staff at the MOT has negatively impacted and incapacitated the Ministry, and at certain levels, the government at large.
“For example, the Ministry should have a Deputy Minister for aviation, Deputy Minister for Legal Affairs, and Deputy Minister for Maritime Affairs, but all of these functions were extracted, limiting the leadership structure to a Minister, Deputy Minister for Administration and Insurance, Deputy Minister for Land and Rail Transport, who are all supported by line Assistant Ministers and Directors.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport is informing the public about the January 8, 2024 fire incident at its head offices that resulted into the burning of some basic office equipment such as printers, desktops, monitors, desks, and chairs, among others, but not to the extent or degree to disable the Ministry for accessing its system servers to process its programs and services.
Lemuel Kleeme added that the system is quite safe and the vault for the storage of vehicle number plates are also intact, while the printers and punching machine that got damaged as the result of the fire have been replaced to continue service delivery.
He said the Ministry has been cooperative with the Liberia National Fire Service since the incident, and has submitted copies of separate statements from the security guards and management of MDMC to aid the investigation, so as to establish probable cause of the fire outbreak.
“It is our ardent anticipation that the National Fire Service will do everything in their power to establish the cause of the fire to enable the Ministry take the necessary precautionary steps to avoid reoccurrence,” he noted.
The Ministry of Transport was established in 1987 with the statutory mandate to produce vehicle license plates, as well as driver licenses, and perform other transport-related functions of government.
