The_Open_Door_deel1

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The rubber pricing system is one of the most inscrutable mysteries
connected with Firestone's operations in Liberia and the company
prefers to keep it that way. It is reluctant to provide Government
officials or other investigators with sufficient and relevant
information, which is kept in Akron, while the fluctuations in the
amounts of deductions used by Firestone, due to changes in costs,
further complicate an analysis. The Liberian Government has
tackled this rubber pricing policy more than once but is plagued
by the problems of a shortage of staff, a good filing system (79),
and a lack of co-operation - if not outright obstruction - which
characterizes Firestone's attitude. The latter withholds
information asked for by the Government while providing excuses
such as
"(,,.) which we have not been alle to locate",or, "Ue
have searched our records, Lut (I) do not have complete
details of these transactions,"'(80)
These are hardly reliable statements by a large multi-national
company whose efficient operation largely depends on the
availibility of any type of information at any time.
Not only the Firestone officials are to be blamed for this
attitude though they bear first and full responsibility for such
unacceptable and insulting behaviour. Lack of a firm stand and the
absence of tough disciplinary measures on the part of the Liberian
Government will doubtlessly have encouraged them to ignore
repeated requests (see Annex 6), (81)
The fact that Firestone for a long time refused to accept the
Liberian Government as a serious (business) partner can only be
explained by the political coverage which the company enjoyed in
the country,a protection which started with the hiring of
prominent Liberians as lawyers and counsellors and which was
reinforced by the interest important Government officials acquired
in the production and the subsequent sales of rubber to Firestone
(see Chapter.13)« The obvious conflict which resulted from the
Liberian desire to maximise income from rubber sales through
political actions against the company had already been won a long
time ago by the Firestone Company as under the 1926 Planting
Agreement or any of its numerous Amendments it had no obligation
to buy rubber from Liberian farmers. This laid the foundation for
the deteriorating trend in Liberian Government - Firestone
relations and at the same time provided the basis for the
ambivalence which became the major characteristic of the official
position towards the company. As from the 1960's the latter
adopted a "low profile policy" in Liberia, as a defensive measure
against a public opinion which increasingly resented it, its
pricing policy, its exploitation of labour, and its apparent
omnipotence.
Liberian Government officials, thus conniving at Firestone's
pricing policy, are partly responsible for depriving Liberian
rubber farmers and the national Treasury of millions of dollars.
The magnitude of the financial loss will be difficult, if not
impossible to establish. Some isolated attempts were undertaken
by employees of the Concessions Secretariat of the Ministry of