{"id":6562,"date":"2025-10-15T10:11:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T10:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=6562"},"modified":"2025-10-15T11:58:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T11:58:50","slug":"fact-checking-spoon-talk-concession-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2025\/10\/15\/fact-checking-spoon-talk-concession-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact-checking Spoon Talk Concession Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: A drone shot of a Greenville, Sinoe County beach. The DdayLight\/Derick Snyder <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By <\/strong>Varney Kamara<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MONROVIA \u2013 Recently on Spoon Talk<\/a>, Moriah Yeakula-Korkpor, an executive of the Alternative National Congress, claimed that President Joseph Boakai signed several bogus concessions while serving as vice president during the 2000s and 2010s. Ambulah Mamay, another panelist on the show, disputed Korkpor\u2019s claim, prompting this fact-check. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Ellen Johnson Sirleaf government, with Boakai serving as Vice President, signed 66 bogus concessions, heavily criticized by the public. He signed them,\u201d said Mrs. Korkpor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Mamey disagreed. \u201cThere have never been 66 bogus concession agreements in Liberia, and there are no bogus concessions signed in Liberia,\u201d he said.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To fact-check both comments, The DayLight analyzed Korkpor\u2019s claim by breaking down her use of the phrase \u201c66 bogus concessions\u201d into two parts, using official documents. First, we fact-checked whether the figure was correct as it constituted a significant part of her claim, and then looked up the remaining phrase \u201cbogus concessions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We determined whether Mrs. Korkpor\u2019s claim could be traced to any public or official records, an essential principle for fact-checking. After a thorough search, we found that her statement was based on an audit report<\/a> by the London-based Moore Stephens (now Moore Global), commissioned by the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI)<\/a> in November 2012<\/span> and published in May 2013.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The audit covered the forestry, agriculture, mining, and oil\/gas sectors between 2009 and 2011, assessing the legal compliance of the processes through which the contracts were awarded.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did we find<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our fact-check found Korkpor\u2019s claim that two out of 66 concessions were \u201cbogus\u201d to be incorrect. The audit report established that 68 concessions, contracts, and licenses were awarded. Of that number, only six were compliant, 25 were partially compliant, 35 were non-compliant, and two had limitations of scope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore Stephens defined \u201cCompliant\u201d where it \u201cdid not note several instances of non-compliance.\u201d It defined \u201cpartially compliant\u201d as \u201cwhen the instances of non-compliance encountered were not material to the extent that the whole process was deficient.\u201d It defined non-compliant as \u201cmajor departure from relevant legislation,\u201d and \u201climitations of scope\u201d where Moore Stephens did not receive documents on the award process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"
A sand mining site in Sinoe County. The DayLight\/Derick Snyder <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Those findings establish that Mr. Mamey\u2019s counterclaim against Mrs. Korkpor is correct.  There were 68 contracts, not 66; and six compliant contracts, not two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, Mr. Mamey\u2019s rebuttal of Mrs. Korkpor\u2019s claim of bogus concessions was factual. In fact-checking this, The DayLight researched several references, including the Black\u2019s Law dictionary<\/a>, a world leader in legal terminology. It defined \u201cbogus\u201d as \u201canything phony or fictitious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That definition did not align with Moore Stephens’ descriptions of \u201cpartially compliant\u201d and \u201cnon-compliant,\u201d the phrases relevant to the debate. Though the audit was conclusive about 64 problematic contracts, it does not necessarily mean they were bogus. For a concession, contract, or license to be declared bogus, there must be strong evidence of fabrication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top: A drone shot of a Greenville, Sinoe County beach. The DdayLight\/Derick Snyder By Varney Kamara MONROVIA \u2013 Recently on Spoon Talk, Moriah Yeakula-Korkpor, an executive of the Alternative National Congress, claimed that President Joseph Boakai signed several bogus concessions while serving as vice president during the 2000s and 2010s. 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