Top: New leaders of the National Benefit Sharing Trust Board in group photo following its elections on Thursday. The DayLight/Varney Kamara
By Varney Kamara
MONROVIA – Representatives of the group responsible to manage communities’ forest benefits have elected a new corps of officials for the next three years.
The National Benefit Sharing Trust Board (NBSTB) on Thursday elected Nora Bowier, chairman; Solomon Peters co-chair, Isaac Kipi, secretary; and Witherspoon Emmanuel, treasurer.
Bowier retained her position as chair of the board, while Peters, Kipi and Emmanuel replaced Mathew Walley, Joseph Koon, and Eliza Kronyan served as co-chair, secretary, and treasurer, respectively. They are expected to oversee the spending of payments that logging companies pay to communities as land rental fees. The fund is intended to carry on development across towns and villages affected by logging operations licensed by the Forestry Development Authority (FDA).
“I am even more energized to work harder in serving communities,” said Bowier, who is a campaigner at the Sustainable Development Institute, said after her victory on Thursday. “This shows that we have been working and people have seen our effort. Building on our collective efforts, we need to push harder and ensure that communities are better served.”
With 13 members from civil society, logging-affected communities, traditional leaders, private sector and the government, watchdog that manages the communities’ portions of land rental fees companies pay to the government. The National Forestry Reform Law of Liberia gives 30 percent of all land rental fees (the product of US$1.25 and the size of forests in hectares) to communities for development purposes. The board also ensures government complies with legal payment terms.
Last year, it joined a protest that pushed the government to pay communities US$200,000. Within the last three years, it approved 34 projects across 11 counties and organized the first National Forest Forum meant to improve forest governance and management. The government owes communities US$5.5million in benefits, according to a report by Forest Trends last year. The board is still pushing the government for the payment.
“Moving forward, we are going to strengthen community policies and programs,” Bowier said. “We need to hit the ground running. We need to press the government to make payments. We also need to ensure that logging companies are fulfilling their part of the commitment to communities.”
Top: Women protest for land rental fees in Monrovia. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By Emmanuel Sherman
MONROVIA – Women have been called upon to take up their legal space in community forest leaderships ahead of their elections this year.
Letla Mosenene, team leader of Multi-stakeholder forest Governance and Accountability Programme (MFGAP) urged women to consider their role in forest management key, as they are mentors of their families and are primary users of forest resources.
“Nobody’s going to give them space; they have to take it themselves,” Mosenene said as MFGAP turned over a vehicle to the National Union of Community Forests Development Committee (NUCFDC). The NUCFDC comprises all 11 CFDCs, established by law to represent the interest of communities in the governance of over a million hectares of forestland across the country.
Women are guaranteed at least a seat on community forest development committees across the country under the National Forestry Reform Law of Liberia. However, that has not been the reality. Of the 230 members of the leaderships of communities affected logging permits awarded by the government, just 52 or 23 percent are women, according to the National Union for Community Forest Development Committee (NUCFDC). Only one community leadership is headed by a woman, Ruth Milton. Just two other women Betty Tarwoe and Tupee Zolue are co-chairpersons of their respective leaderships, while four communities do not have a woman in their leadership.
“We are aware that there will be lots of elections taking place this year and instead of them hiring vehicles to participate they have their vehicle now,” Mosenene said as she handed the keys of the Toyota Hilux pickup to the NUCFDC at a short ceremony at her Sinkor office.
Letla Mosenene, team leader of the Mult-stakeholder Forest Governance and Accountability Programme hands over a Toyota Hilux pickup Vincent Doe, president of the National Union of Community Forest Development Committee. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
“All they need to do is to service it correctly, put in gasoline and take off to supervise the elections,” she added.
Vincent Doe, president of the NUCFDC said the gesture was timely and will ease the transportation difficulty of the union. “We have been facing a lot of difficulties in terms of transportation to meet other affected communities. Today, that we have gotten a raw [vehicle] from our partner that is always there, is a plus for us,” Doe said.
The vehicle was donated to the NUCFDC by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) UKaid, through MFGAP, its forest-governance implementing partner in Liberia.
Top: A village in Kongbor, adjacent to the Gola National Park. The DayLight/Rudolph Gborkeh
By Varney Kamara
TUBMANBURG, Bomi County – Park managers in Gbarpolu and Lofa Counties have created a system to store information that will help them effectively manage the Gola National Park and the Foya Proposed Protected Area.
The Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool (IMET) would enable park managers to gather information across the two forests that relate to biodiversity, natural resources, and habitats. It will also assist rangers to track the level of involvement of the government and communities in the parks’ management.
“This will include assessment of weaknesses, strengths, challenges, and prospects,” said Nzigiyimpa Léonidas, an IMET trainer at the close of training for the wardens in Tubmanburg, Bomi County recently. “Not only that, it is going to put decision-makers in the position to make the right decisions as far as forest governance is concerned.”
“We expect this baseline training to enhance the capacity of managers for effective monitoring and evaluation of the different activities in the Gola National Park,” said Michael Tarie, program manager of the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL), which organized the IMET event.
IMET was introduced in 2002 and since recommended by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Liberia joined more than 20 countries across the world in November last year to have introduced the system in its quest to protect its forests. The country has made a commitment to conserve 30 percent of its forest, some 1.5 million hectares.
Since its introduction, members of the IMET coaching team have closely worked with conservation groups to manage the Gola Park and other protected areas across Liberia. The creation of the information baseline serves as a catalyst for continued donor support to conservation activities across the country, organizers of the training say.
Gola National Park and Foya Proposed Protected Area are biodiversity hotspots.
Situated in northwest Liberia, and created by law in September 2016, the 88,000-hectare forestland is home to endemic and endangered plant and animal species, including pygmy hippopotamus, African forest elephant and Diana monkeys. It provides a habitat for thousands of villagers, according to a UNESCO World Heritage report.
Located in northwestern Liberia, Foya Proposed Protected Area is the largest of the proposed protected areas and is believed to be several thousand hectares. It consists of wet green forests.
Top: One of the controversial projects highlighted in the report. Photo Credit: The Bong Accountability Project
By Varney Kamara
MONROVIA – Officials of Bong County misappropriated over US$2 million of the county’s social development funds (CSDF) between 2018 and 2020, a new report has found.
The report unearthed the project management committee (PMC) awarded contracts without competitive bidding, allotment of funds to contractors without proper documentation, huge financial discrepancies, overstated expenses, granting of multiple projects to individual companies, lack of project implementation, poor supervision and monitoring, among other violations.
It recommends an investigation of financial discrepancies to be led by anti-graft institutions and the office of Bong County Attorney, and the freezing of the County’s development accounts.
“We are calling on President George Weah and the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission to consider bringing those mentioned in the report to justice,” said Moses Bailey, project coordinator for the three CSOs that produced the report. “We want those recommendations taken seriously and implemented by the relevant authorities. Implementing these recommendations will open a positive chapter in the management of public funds in Bong and across Liberia.”
The Bong Accountability Project report was produced by the Media and Civic Education Rural Liberia (MACE-Rural Liberia), Foundation for International Dignity (FIND), and the Development Education Leadership Training in Action Human Rights Foundation (DELTA-HRF), civil society organizations working to promote accountability and development. Funding for the report was provided by ForumCiv, a Swedish nongovernmental organization working with 170 civil society and human rights organizations across the world.
CSDF is a combination of funds from the National Budget and fees paid by concession companies meant to develop counties where natural resources like iron ore, gold, diamond, are being extracted. In March 2020, the Liberian House of Representatives amended the Public Financial Management Act, which calls for greater accountability and transparency in the administering of the CSDF. Penalties range from administrative to criminal.
Bong County receives US$200,000 from the Government of Liberia, US$1.75million from China Union, US$500,000 from ArcelorMittal and US$12,000 from MNG Gold.
Another of the controversial projects. Photo Credit: The Bong Accountability Project
A total of 30 construction contracts were awarded to 11 companies across Bong County’s seven districts, with a focus on health, education, and agriculture. Some companies received six different contacts, the investigation uncovered. PMC JAEMCO Construction received US$45,000 to implement five projects, including construction of Commissioner’s residence in Kokoya, Behwe Elementary, Malonkai Elementary School, a clinic in Ula Town, and the Superintendent Compound in Gbarnga. However, only US$15,000 of the amount was expended, according to records of the payment. The PMC financial report failed to provide details on payment.
Between January 2019 and February 2021, PMC said it transferred US$41,295 and LD288, 000 as a three-month honorarium for late County Engineer Marcus Berrian but the deceased’s widow Etta Berrian informed investigators that she only received US$6,900 and the full Liberian Dollar payment.
In total, US$2,297,759.08 was apportioned for the different projects. Of this amount, US$1,537,379 was expended on new development projects without contract-based information, the report said.
The PMC awarded companies up to six projects without a competitive bidding process, a contravention of the Code of Conduct Act, which calls for the protection of the integrity of public service and guides against conflict of interest by public officials. Multiple granting of contracts to individual companies without a competitive also violates the Public Procurement and Concession Commission Act of 2006, which guarantees efficient use of public funds. The amended PPCC regulation of 2010 mandates companies to submit original and updated versions of the approved procurement plan, bidding documents, minutes of bid opening, memo constituting evaluation panel, evaluation report, minutes of the meeting of procurement committee, draft contract, among other requirements. Companies that were granted contracts did not provide those documents, the report said.
It blamed poor monitoring and implementation of projects for the multiple awarding of contracts and criticized Bong County legislators for not providing oversight of the fund as required by law. Bong County Caucus Chairperson Moima Briggs Mensah denied that criticism, promising to make an official response to the groups’ findings at a later date.
The report urged Bong citizens to petition the Legislature for the restitution of the allegedly squandered funds. It called on citizens of the county to file a petition against companies and the PMC and the restitution of funds that have not been accounted for.
Other recommendations include the freezing of Bong County’s development accounts pending the implementation of the Local Government Act and a committee for project appraisal. “More than US$3 million could be lost to corruption and mismanagement if the government fails to reform the governance of development funds contributed by mining companies,” it warned.
Stephen Mulbah, PMC Chairman, denied the civil society investigators contacted the committee, though sections of the report showed that Mulbah was contacted but declined to comment at the time. “They are telling lies against us,” he told The DayLight in a mobile phone interview. “This is not a report to trust.”
Top: Trainers and trainees of the Tonglay Community Forest Inventory training. The DayLight/Varney Kamara
By Varney Kamara
BOPOLU, Gbarpolu County – Two dozen villagers in Gbarpolu have started training on the collection of information on how they will manage their community forest.
Leaders of the Tonglay Community Forest in the Kongba District of Gbarpolu County on Tuesday began gathering data on the soil, timbers and landscape, and animals in their 19,000-hectare woodland. After the weeklong, event they would go on to take stock in the forest, which will inform their decision on how to manage the forest.
“This thing will make us to learn how to properly look at our forest,” said McGill Wulleh, Paramount Chief of Tonglay Clan. “It will help us to reduce illicit activities in our bush.”
One of 47 authorized forest communities in Liberia, Tonglay is a major corridor between Gola National Park in Liberia and Sierra Leone, home to different endemic and endangered plant and animal species. The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) approved Tonglay’s request after completing legal requirements provided in the Community Rights Law of 2009 with Respect to Forest Lands.
“This will enhance the effective management and protection of the community forest,” James Mulbah of the Society for the Conservation of Nature Liberia (SCNL), a nongovernmental organization that guided the community obtain community forest status, and is conducting the training.
“The outcome of this data collection process will determine whether or not the community will engage in legal commercial activities such as logging, mining, or even ecotourism business,” Mulbah added. “We expect the capacity of community members to be fully developed to ensure that they are best placed to monitor activities across their vast forestland.”
Top: A community in the Yarmein Clan in Nimba County the Land Authority has issued a deed, according to a new report. The DayLight/William Harmon
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA – Before the Land Rights Act of 2018, chiefs and elders across Liberia issued thousands of tribal certificates to individuals as a kind of title to lands in towns and villages. But in many cases, the chiefs did not consult other members of the communities, among other things, making tribal certificates arguably the most troublesome subject in Liberia’s land reform process.
To address this problem, the law requires tribal certificates to be legally processed into deeds with the involvement of full membership of communities—men, women and the youth—that own the lands for which the documents were issued. The Liberia Land Authority (LLA) is yet to formulate regulations for the implementation of the law, including the vetting of all tribal certificates.
But the LLA has issued tribal 11 deeds to individuals and a community in Bomi and Nimba from tribal certificates in the absence of regulations, a new report by a conglomerate of civil society organizations has found.
In their report late last month, the Civil Society Land Reform Working Group (CSO-LRWG) revealed that the Land Authority has issued 10 deeds to people in the Yarmein Clan of Nimba from tribal certificates and one each to Lowah Town in the Klay District of Bomi County.
Several provisions of the law call for the Land Authority to formulate regulations for the “effective implementation of the act.” The law reads in its 12th article, “The right to the ownership and use of Land is not absolute but is subject to reasonable regulations.” The LLA said last year it had begun the formulation of the regulations but has not completed it, more than three years after the passage of the law.
“The Land Authority is violating the very law it was created solely to implement,” said Daniel Krakue of Social Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development (SESDev), one of the organizations that published that report.
The report urged the LLA to nullify all deeds it has issued from tribal certificates, halt the processing of the documents until it completes the regulations, and restitute fees communities and individuals have paid. It called for an inquest into fees being charged for customary-land surveys as well as the prosecution of culprits.
The report comes at a time when 170 communities are awaiting the LLA to conduct its confirmatory survey to get their ancestral land deed.
The LLA said it would respond to the report at a later date.
In its investigation, CSO-LRWG said it interviewed townspeople of the two communities in the counties, held workshops for 47 people in two weeks in December last year. Other than the relevant tribal certificates, it said it reviewed several documents related to the communities, such as deeds, receipts and letters. Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), an international nongovernmental organization that focuses on land tenure and forestry, funded the report. CSO-LRWG comprises 33 local groups, which campaigned for the passage of the historic law, hailed across the world for its recognition of ancestral land rights.
Tribal Certificate Amid Moratorium
Having processed without any existent regulations, the tribal certificate from which Lowah’s deed was granted was issued to the community in 2019 amid a moratorium on the sales of all public lands across the country, the report said. The deed, seen by The DayLight, was signed in October last year by Atty. Adams Manobah, chairman of the Land Authority, covering 1,777.1 acres of land in the Mannah Clan. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf issued the moratorium in 2013 as land crises spiraled out of control, and the ban has not been lifted.
Varney Jallah, land administrator of Bomi County signed a tribal certificate issued to Lowah Town in 2019 amid a moratorium on the sale of public land. Photo credit: CSO Land Reform Working Group
‘“The validity of tribal certificates shall be determined by a rigid validation process involving the community conducted by the Liberia Land Authority,”’ the report said, quoting a provision of the Land Rights Act. “It reminds unclear on what condition the Liberia Land Authority issued a customary statutory deed to Lowah Town.”
Varney Jallah, the land administrator of Bomi County, who signed Lowah’s controversial tribal certificate, admitted to that but said it was not official, and that he had signed the document under pressure from the townspeople.
“Our people get problem. When they came for the tribal certificate, we told them that ‘Even if you have a tribal certificate, it will just be for formality,” Jallah told The DayLight in a mobile phone interview on Thursday. “Even if we give you this, it is not by law. I was clear with them but they said no.
“If you are working in a community, especially traditional communities, you will explain some things, you will go up and come down, they will say X, Y, Z,” Jallah said, adding that the Lowah’s tribal certificate was nullified and still made to go through the legal steps provided in the law before obtaining its deed. Communities first identify themselves as landowners and organize and create bylaws, demarcate their boundaries with neighboring communities.
The report also criticized the Land Authority over its “astronomical” fees for the survey. Lowah paid L$132,900 (approximately US$700 in 2019) for its survey, captured on the community’s deed. Lavekai, another town in the same district, paid US$2,000 in September for the same purpose, according to the receipt of that payment.
CSO-LRWG had in June last year disapproved the Land Authority’s proposal to charge communities an “appropriate, reasonable facilitation” instead of a fixed affordable charge to avoid corruption. The report said the Land Authority was yet to get feedback on their recommendations.
“Customary communities are paying huge prices just to secure full ownership rights to their customary land, support their livelihood and sustain their cultural heritage,” the report said.
The report said the 10 people in Nimba County who received deeds already had a lease agreement with ArcelorMittal, based on their tribal certificates, some of which The DayLight has seen.
Eddie Beanjar, Sr., the land administrator of Nimba County, denied that the deeds had been issued, clarifying that the individuals were at the verge of getting legal claims to their respective plots of land.
Top: Winners Ojuku Kangar and Emmanuel Sherman pose with their certificates. The DayLight/Varney Kamara
By Varney Kamara
MONROVIA – The DayLight has clinched two of this year’s Forest Media Awards for journalists who report impactful stories on the forestry sector.
Emmanuel Sherman, an editor at the DayLight, won Best Report in the newspaper/online category, while Ojuku Kangar, scooped second place in the same category. Sherman walked away with a brand new motorcycle, and Kangar a laptop.
Aaron Geeplay, the station manager of the Liberty Broadcasting System in Sinoe County, sealed first place in the radio category, also taking home a motorcycle.
Henry Gboluma took second place in the broadcasting category, and, like Kangar, was awarded a laptop computer.
Aaron George of the River Cess Broadcasting System (RBS) and Eric Opa Doue of the Bush Chicken, completed the winning six in the third places for the radio and newspaper/online categories, respectively. Each walked away with a mobile phone.
“This is an encouragement for journalists covering the sector. We are being motivated by this award,” an excited Sherman told the award ceremony at the City Hall of Monrovia on Friday evening. “This shows that The DayLight and others are making a great impact in the forestry sector.”
Forest Media Award is a collaboration between the Liberia Media Center and the Multi-stakeholders Forest Governance and Accountability Program (MF GAP), with funding from the United Kingdom. It is an endeavor meant to improve and increase the frequency of quality news reporting in the forestry sector. Last year, three journalists received the inaugural awards, which were increased by three and extended to journalists outside the Liberia Media Center’s network.
“Highly qualitative, investigative, and well-researched stories will ensure the protection of forest revenue and promote sectoral resilience,” said Neil Bradley, British ambassador to Liberia. “The exercise will create opportunity and support for sustainable agribusiness in Liberia.
“It will lead to transparency and accountability in the sector, including the protection and restoration of forest resources,” Bradley added.
The Stories that won the Awards
Sherman’s winning story highlighted challenges women face in their participation in forest governance ahead of this year’s elections in communities affected by logging contracts.
British ambassador Neil Bradley flanked by four of the six winners. The DayLight/Varney Kamara
The piece that won the award for Kangar, a former reporter with The DayLight, uncovered a bogus memorandum of understanding between a community in District Number Two, Grand Bassa County, and a logging company. In the agreement, county and local officials sanctioned the company to extract logs in the area in exchange for a 75-kilometer dirt road without the approval of the Forestry Development Authority. James Harding Giahyue, the director/managing editor of The DayLight, broke the story in FrontPage Africa as a contributor in 2020.
The four other winning articles were equally interesting. Geeplay’s investigation focused on illicit occupants at the Sapo National Park. Gboluma, who also affiliates with The DayLight, reported a financial scandal involving leaders of the Korninga A Community Forest, who are now on trial for theft of property. Doue reported about the failure of logging contracts on rural communities in River Cess. And George’s story exposed the indebtedness of a logging company to a community in River Cess, showing the impact of the failure of the company to live up to its agreement in the lives of locals.
The DayLight Incorporated, a nonprofit, environmental online newspaper, was established in 2020 and began publishing in May last year. Throughout its short existence, it has published a number of investigative stories mainly on the logging industry, human rights, and land rights.
The awards were the institution’s first.
“This is very big news for The DayLight and all stakeholders involved in the forestry sector,” said Giahyue at the end of the ceremony. “As a young institution, we are honored to be recognized. This is a motivation and a justification for the sacrifices we are making.
“Those who want to win these awards in the future will have us to contend with,” he added.
Top: A pile of logs in Zorzor, Lofa County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Varney Kamara
MONROVIA – President George Weah sidestepped the extractive sector in the State of the Nation Address last week, the biggest contributor to the government’s revenue envelope.
The extractive sector is expected to be the chief contributor to Liberia’s projected economic growth rate of 3.6 percent, according to the World Bank.
But in his speech to the Legislature, lasting for more than two hours and thirty minutes and dominated by infrastructural projects, Weah spent barely five minutes talking about agriculture and energy. There were no mentions of mining, forestry, or oil/gas.
The extractive sector accounts for the largest share of Liberia’s gross domestic product (GDP) annually. It accounted for US$79.6 million in 2018/2019, according to Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) in its latest report. Mining contributed US$42,596,473 or 53.49% to the economy, followed by the agriculture US$26,009,261 or 32.66%, forestry US$8,148,559 (10%) and oil/gas US$2,878,411 (3%).
Weah spent most of the time of the speech on the economy. “Although the state of our economy is challenged, the fundamentals remain sound and strong,” he told lawmakers, to huge applause. “The state of our economy is stable, and the nation is peaceful.”
The President inaccurately cited the World Bank’s report on the country’s economic growth projection. The Bank made a projection of 3.6% growth but not an actual growth as he told the nation. He apparently deliberately left out the grim portion of the World Bank’s estimate.
“Liberia’s economy is rebounding after contracting for two consecutive years. Real GDP growth is projected at 3.6% in 2021, allowing per capita GDP to increase for the first time since 2016,” the bank had estimated at the close of 2020. “Nevertheless, poverty is expected to slightly increase as per capita consumption continues to contract, with the growth being driven by export of commodities.”
By Ambulah Mamey, International Agricultural Development Practitioner
Key Messages:
Liberia still produces less than half (0.2) cup of rice per Liberian, per day after spending hundreds of millions on projects to be self-sufficient in rice production.
Almost half of a billion (437.02 million USD) accounts for financial flow to Liberia’s agriculture sector- specifically the crop-subsector between 2018 and 2022.
The African Union has consistently ranked Liberia “NOT ON TRACK” to transforming its agricultural sector. Liberia failed 22 of 24 progress indicators in AU latest report.
96% of farmers in Liberia relied on informal market as the main source of seeds, fertilizers and other inputs because agricultural market is not functional. The World Bank says Liberia is the worst place for farmers to operate their business.
Cocoa, farmers in Liberia received 69.79% less average yield/hectare than farmers in Cote’ d’Ivoire, 69.22% less than farmers in Guinea, 65.6% less than farmers in Sierra Leone and 66.6% less than farmers in Ghana. Rice farmers are experiencing almost the same.
No poor country in the world has ever reduced poverty without increasing agricultural productivity. If Liberia should move out of poverty, it must prioritize the transformation of its agriculture sector and improve agricultural productivity!!
Liberians must sit up, shine their eyes, and begin to demand real sustainable results from stakeholders in the agricultural sector- especially NGOs and the Government.
Liberia produces less than half (0.2) cup of rice (its staple food) per Liberian, per day. But on average, a Liberian need a little over 1cup of rice per day. The rice per capita deficit is happening after decades of multiple donors and government projects- costing hundreds of millions of United States Dollars- that promise to make the country self-sufficient in rice production.
Most recently, from 2018 to 2022, almost half of a billion (437.02 million USD) accounts for financial flow to Liberia’s agriculture sector- specifically the crop subsector. This amount does not include financial flow to other subsectors including a 40 million committed to the fishery subsector and several other millions spent on “improving” Liberia’s agricultural sector by an army of NGOs deployed across the country. Of the 437.02 million, 145.9 million (33%) was committed before 2018, but only 18.6million was spent before 2018; leaving the remaining 127.2 million available for the current Administration to spend. The 437.02 million is in the form of grants 172,118,287.9 (39%), FAO’s projects 7.84M (2%), Government of Liberia’s budgetary support to agriculture 19.01M (4.35%), loans that Liberia will repay with interest, 185.6 M (42%) and 52.4 M (12%) from other sources including beneficiary and private sector contribution to donor projects, and the Government of Liberia’s indirect support that includes tax waivers.
Data are scarce in Liberia, and when they are available, they tend to be incomplete. Hence, the data collated and presented above- may not be the most accurate but present a good picture of agricultural spending and commitment between 2018 and 2022. The anecdotal estimate has it that- before 2018- over a billion was spent to make Liberia self-sufficient in rice production. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Bank, African Development Bank (AFDB), USAID, and FAO were and are currently the major donors or lenders. There is also an “army” of agricultural NGOs working to improve Liberia’s agriculture sector.
Except for three of the current projects that are scheduled to last for 4-6 years, funds from these organizations are spread across short-term (2-3yrs) projects, implemented piecemeal across Liberia. The projects are designed a bit differently with unique acronyms to match, but all projects work practically towards the same goals: to enable smallholder farmers to improve productivity and increase production and to improve agricultural markets. The projects also seek to increase farmers’ income, reduce poverty, and food import and improve food security and nutrition. For example, the AFDB and the Global Agriculture and Food and Security Program (GAFSP) say their “Smallholder Agricultural Productivity Enhancement and Commercialization Project” and “Smallholder Agriculture Development for Food and Nutrition Security (SADFONS) are being implemented to “Increase farmers’ income through crop intensification, value addition and market development and to improve food and nutrition security and reduce poverty; respectively. The World Bank says its “Rural Economic Transformation Project (RETRAP)” is aimed at “increasing productivity and market access for farmers and agri-enterprises” while IFAD’s Tree Crop Extension Projects have been seeking to improve the incomes and climate change resilience of smallholder cocoa producers.
Short-term agricultural loans, grants, and projects promising pathways to food self-sufficiency, and poverty alleviation have old footprints and are not new in Liberia. The AfDB’s first agricultural project was implemented in Liberia in 1968 and it sought to increase rice production. Later in 1977 the FAO entered Liberia and has been working to revitalize the agriculture sector. IFAD came in 1981 with its first smallholder rice seed project to increase rice production and has not left- except during the war. But previous and current interventions- costing billions of dollars- have not been able to transform Liberia’s agriculture to deliver what the country desperately needs and what its agricultural sector holds the key to provide: strong economic growth, food, and nutrition security and sustained rural poverty reduction and jobs for urban youths.
NOT ON TRACK to Agricultural Transformation: 15 years of Poor Agricultural Productivity, Low Production, Increased Rice Import, and Poor Nutrition Outcome
The “NOT ON TRACK” is consistent with many situations in Liberia and the following highlights of the agricultural input market- especially for seeds and fertilizers- are revealing. Agricultural Input Markets are among the first set of structures required to ensure the adequate supply of improved inputs (seeds, fertilizers, insecticide, and technology) to farmers, to boost productivity on their farms and increase production. But in Liberia, the market remains largely informal, disorganized, and hence, continuously failing to provide the quality and quantity of farm inputs the farmers need.
Up to 2017, about 96% of farmers in Liberia relied on the informal and unregulated market as the primary source of inputs. This informal market features traders from neighboring countries who supply mostly counterfeit/uncertified seeds, and fertilizers that contribute to low production quantity and poor quality that has kept many farmers in recurrent financial losses, and food deficit after months of hard labor. The number of farmers that use certified seeds in Liberia for the major crops (including rice and cassava) is just 8,137 (4%) of the approximately 203,442 farmers because the input market is nonfunctional and there is less attention directed to developing and enforcing policies that increase confidence for private investment. The dire situation with Liberia’s agricultural market is further explained in the “Enabling The Business for Agriculture (EBA)”, a World Bank study that examines to what extent governments make it easier or harder for farmers to operate their businesses. The EBA ranks Liberia the worst (101 out of 101 countries studied) in its overall 2019 ranking; revealing thatfragile countries, including Haiti, Mali, Sudan, and Iraq, scored better than Liberia in the overall ranking for enabling agricultural business. On a scale of 0 to 100 for registering fertilizers and supplying seeds, Liberia scored 0 for registering fertilizers and 7.4 for seed supply.Something very disturbing about the World Bank’s EBA report is that Liberia’s miserable performance is reported after another unit of the World Bank, USAID, AFDB, the Swedish Government and other NGOs have spent at least 200 million on no less than six projects (1, 2,3,4,5,6) that are focused- in a significant part or whole- on “developing agricultural market”, reforming agricultural markets”, “improving market access for farmers and agri-enterprises”.
These poor outcomes are further revealed in the trend and status of the productivity and production of major crops in Liberia, food imports and their attendant cost, and nutrition outcome -especially food-related non-communicable diseases. For the past 15 years (2006- 2020) the average yield per hectare for rice, cassava, and cocoa farmers in Liberia was significantly lower than their counterparts in neighboring countries (See Figure-2).
Cocoa, farmers in Liberia received 69.79% less average yield/hectare than farmers in Cote’ d’Ivoire, 69.22% less than farmers in Guinea, 65.6% less than farmers in Sierra Leone and 66.6% less than farmers in Ghana. Rice farmers in Liberia received 50.2% less average yield/hectare than farmers in Cote’ d’Ivoire received; 13.1% less than farmers in Guinea, 20.2% less than farmers in Sierra Leone and 45.8% less than farmers in Ghana. Rice is Liberia’s staple food, and almost every past and current leader in Liberia (President, Senator, Representative)- has promised to make Liberia self-sufficient in rice production. But after 15years of uninterrupted peace and spending billions to increase rice production, Liberia remains a food deficit country with a 15 years (2006-2020) average rice (milled) production of 181,411.13 metric tons; 568,588.87 metric tons or 68.17% less than the 750 thousand metric tons Liberians demand every year.At the current average production (181,411.13 MTH) and the current population of 5.058 million, Liberia’s rice value chain provides less than half (0.2) cup of rice per Liberian per day. On average, a Liberian consumes over 1cup of rice per day. Instead of taking bold but evidence-baked action to increase rice production and address the per capita rice deficit, Liberia finds comfort in importing rice. As the population grows, the rice deficit increases, and the import quantity and cost to import rice grows. Over the last 15years, rice import has gone north: from 210 thousand metric tons in 2006 to approximately 400 thousand metric tons in 2020; costing Liberia at least 200million on average.
The stark underperformance of the sector is influencing diet-related non-communicable diseases and other poor nutrition outcomes among Liberians as many revert to inadequate or low-quality food because of the unavailability and unaffordability of their required diet. Except for child wasting and stunting, Liberia is either off course or experiencing worsening conditions for the remaining 11 global nutrition targets. Particularly stark is Liberia’s limited progress towards reducing diet-related non-communicable disease.
Do We Still Need the Army of NGOs and Short-Term Multilateral Projects to Transform Liberia’s Agricultural?
The state of agriculture in Liberia could be worst without the NGO and multilateral projects, but Liberia’s agricultural sector will not get significantly better by relying on NGOs and multilateral projects as we do now NGOs have very important roles to play. They are good at diagnosing and “treating the symptoms” of agricultural development problems but have no good record of “curing” those problems. Liberia’s chronic agricultural development problems need an urgent cure, and because the country’s policy makers’ longstanding conviction in NGOs’ and multilateral short-term projects has proved naïve, it is time for a structural reorientation of the approach to agricultural transformation.
Such reorientation demands a lot; but to begin with, Liberians need a strong showing of their government in the agricultural sector as a strategic and major participant with predictable interventions and as an effective enabler of private capital flow and functional agricultural markets. “Political will” must be manifested in increased agricultural spending, but only on evidence-informed, outcome-based, and impact-focused interventions that are intentionally designed to be rigorously assessed for progress, challenges, and new lessons. Obviously, the current purchase and untargeted distribution of mineral fertilizers to farmers- without knowing the nutrient needs of their soil- is not one of the interventions.
For the army of NGOs and multilaterals, they will need to retreat faster than the current snail pace to doing what the evidence shows is the best ways to use their resources: facilitate, encourage, and support locally owned and managed initiatives and enhance the responsiveness of government services. Most importantly, Liberia needs Liberians, the media, and project beneficiaries or participants to sit up, pay keen attention, and begin to demand transparency and accountability from NGOs and the government for funds they receive, projects they implement, and what they promise those projects would deliver.
A well-functioning agricultural sector is the fastest and most equitable “forklift” to lift and keep Liberians out of poverty. Absolutely nothing other than agriculture can be a more reliable source of food security, jobs for rural and urban youths, foreign exchange, savings, and sustainable economic development for Liberia. From Asia, Europe, the Americas, it is growth in agriculture- for the most part- that enabled countries to record remarkable economic transformation and improve living standards. In Africa- closer to Liberia- the impressive economic transformation across Africa (South of the Sahara) beginning in the 2000s was driven mainly by the agriculture production growth rate. With all that has happened over the past 15 years ( 2006-2020), it is urgent that every Liberians sit up, shine their eyes and begin to demand real sustainable results from stakeholders in the agricultural sector- especially the NGOs and the Government.
Author: Ambulah Mamey is an International Agricultural Development Practitioner. The views expressed in the article are personal and do not represent any of the institutions he works with, or the DayLight.
Top: A worker labels logs in Akewa’s log field in the Beyan Poye Community Forest, Margibi County. Photo credit: Akewa via Facebook
By Emmanuel Sherman and James Harding Giahyue
Editor’s Note: This story is the first of a two-part series on Akewa Group of Companies’ operations in Liberia, focusing on the lapses of the Forestry Development Authority. The second part will emphasize the shortcomings of communities in which the company has operated.
VARGUAY, Grand Cape Mount – In 2019, Gola Konneh Community Forest signed a logging agreement with Akewa Group of Companies. The parties agreed that the company would log in to the community forest for 15 years and pay the community fees for the use of the land and the felling of timbers. The company promised to build schools, clinics and roads.
But nearly three years after, the deal has not worked as the community had expected. None of the projects have been conducted despite it felling over 4,615 cubic meters of logs in the 49,179-hectare forest, according to documents we obtained. Akewa owes the villagers US$86,081 in land rental and log-harvesting fees.
“Nothing is going on,” said David Wiazamuah, an elder in Varguay, the headquarters of Gola Konneh community forest leadership. Wiazamuah and other villagers were hopeful that the deal was going to help develop the district.
“I feel bad,” Wiazamuah told The DayLight in an interview.
Gola Konneh is one of three communities Akewa—owned and run by Nigerian businesswoman Abigail Funke Odebunmi— has signed agreements with and has failed to live up to. It has an agreement with the Beyan Poye Community Forest in Margibi County, and another with Compound Number One B in Grand Bassa County as a part of a logging contract, known across the industry as timber sales contract area three (TSC A3). Akewa owes all three communities a combined land rental and a timber-harvesting fee of US$159,526, dozens of social development projects, and thousands of United States dollars connected to their respective agreements over a period of nearly 14 years, according to available, official data.
In March 2017, two years before its Gola Konneh deal, Akewa signed the agreement with Beyan Poye, which covers 33,338 hectares of forestland in the Gibi District, promising to build roads, schools, clinics and handpumps. Since then, it has not implemented a single project, except a handpump. It owes the community US$63,749 in land rental and log-harvesting fees for four years. Throughout this period, the company has only paid the community US$2,900 for logs it has felled there. However, Akewa exported 3,506 cubic meters of logs in 2018 from Beyan Poye, according to the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI). That means it should have paid the community US$7,888.50 on that shipment alone, according to the agreement.
Mrs. Funke Odebunmi at Akewa’s log field in the Beyan Poye Community Forest in Margibi. Photo credit: Akewa via Facebook.
Following nearly five years of rigmarole, the community leadership has decided to go to court to nullify the agreement.
The situation with Compound Number One under TSC A3 is even worse. (In Liberian forestry, the FDA awards TSCs and companies are required by law to sign a social agreement with villagers who manage the forest). Akewa signed the social agreement with the community on June 27, 2008, but has only paved a stretch of dirt road, leading into its contract area. The company owes villagers in the Compound Number One area US$9,696 for at least 11 years. Meanwhile, Akewa did not pay any fees for harvesting, according to locals. The DayLight could not independently verify this and other claims due to the FDA’s refusal to grant our request for Akewa’s official payment records and log-shipment dataset, public documents under the National Forestry Reform Law and the Freedom of Information Act of 2010. Paradoxically, C. Mike Doryen, FDA’s managing director, is the chairman of the board of directors of the LEITI, established to publish payments in the extractive sector. We have written the Board of Directors of the FDA for redress and will update this story once we get the information we seek.
Akewa’s failure to comply with forestry laws and regulations would not have been the case if the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) had exercised its functions as the regulator of the sector. The DayLight’s investigation into Akewa’s track record in the industry, dating as far back as 2008, shows the FDA watched it flout various provisions of laws and regulations with impunity across all of its agreements. Ignoring legal requirements, FDA repeatedly approved a new agreement for the company, despite the firm’s poor record with a previous one.
The irregularities associated with the company’s operations have denied the three rural communities much-needed benefits from their forest resources, a key component of Liberia’s postwar forestry reform agenda.
“The company lied to us,” said Oretha Dargbeh, a member of the community forest development committee (CFDC) of TSC A3 in Compound Number One.
Compound Number One Violations
Primarily, Akewa majority Nigerian shareholding violates the National Forestry Reform Law of 2006. Under the law, a company with a timber sales contract—covering at most 5,000 hectares—must have at least 51 percent of its shares held by Liberians. The law even mandates the FDA to report to the Legislature once in five years on the impact of that portion of the statute on the Liberian economy. All of Akewa’s shares are held by Nigerians—Odebunmi 60 percent, Chief Kenneth Amazeika 20 percent and Timothy Odebunmi 20 percent. Furthermore, its 2021 business registration reflects it is Nigerian. It was unclear whether the company met that requirement when it obtained TSC A3 in 2008, as Akewa’s article of incorporation does not show its initial shareholders. Nevertheless, the company’s current ownership status indicates Akewa was barred under the “Liberianization” clause of the law. The FDA should have canceled the contract at least as early as 2010, the year Akewa first amended its article of incorporation, leaving it a majority-Nigerian-shareholding corporation. The company initially registered at the Liberian Business Registry on June 29, 2009, proving it did not have a business registration certificate when it obtained TSC A3. That is a contravention of the Business Corporation Act of 1976.
In the first place, Akewa’s TSC should not have lasted for more than five years. Legally, a TSC runs for three years and can be extended by two. That means all 11 TSCs, including Akewa’s, which covers a combined 50,000 hectares, overstayed their legal periods. A report by the Civil Society-led Independent Forest Monitoring Coordination Mechanism found logs worth nearly US$2.5 million were harvested outside an adjacent contract area, with the FDA taking inadequate actions against the companies involved. It was only in September last year that the FDA halted logging operations in all TSCs, according to Andrew Zelemen of the National Union of Community Forest Development Committee (NUCFDC), who attended a stakeholders’ meeting in November, where it was announced.
Beyan Poye was Akewa’s second ill-fated spell in Margibi County, though. Back in 2012, it was involved in the infamous Private Use Permit (PUP) Scandal, in which some 2.5 million hectares of forests, or 23 percent of the country’s landmass, were illegally awarded to logging companies. Ironically, Beyan Poye covers 22,163 hectares of Akewa’s illegal PUP. Then-President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf signed an executive order canceling all PUPs after an official inquest, and the moratorium has not been lifted. That investigation found that the people of Gibi did not consent to the company’s use of their land, the Akewa PUP overlapped with a private property and was never resolved. The company did not have a business plan—a major prequalification requirement that provides information on companies’ financial and technical capacity.
Beyan Poye Violations
Amid its involvement in the scandal, coupled with outstanding payments and failure to live up to the social agreement in connection with TSC A3, the FDA approved Akewa’s agreement with Beyan Poye on March 25, 2017, breaking, once more, a number of provisions of forestry laws and regulations.
Workers sit on a pile of logs in an Akewa log field in Compound Number One, Grand Bassa County. Photo credit: Akewa via Facebook.
And while Akewa remained hugely indebted to Beyan Poye, the FDA has continued to sanction the company to ship timbers from that community forest. That is a breach of Forestry Development Authority Ten Core Regulation (107), which calls for firms to be clear regarding all forest-related dues before export. In fact, that was sufficient ground to terminate the agreement per the National Forestry Reform Law.
Gola Konneh Violations
The FDA repeated its shortcomings in the Akewa-Gola-Konneh deal, ignoring Akewa’s debt to Beyan Poye and Compound Number One. FDA has approved two shipments from the forest—one each in November last year and another earlier this month. Being clear of all forest-related fees is not only a pre-shipment requirement but also a pre-qualification requirement for a new contract as per Resolution 103-07.
But now Akewa was about to heighten its notoriety.
In February 2019, just a month before the FDA’s approval of the agreement, Odebunmi was accused of using a fake tax clearance to bid for the 49,179-hectare forest. A Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) inquiry later found her guilty as accused. “I am pleased to inform you that the LRA having reviewed all of the tax clearances presented, found Akewa Group [of Companies] liable of issuing fake tax clearances and to the effect that the tax clearances issued were not LRA’s original tax clearances,” Varfee Holmes, LRA’s communication, media and public affairs officer, said in an emailed reply to The DayLight. We had filed a freedom of information (FOI) request for findings of that investigation, which had not been made public.
There was no evidence that the LRA took any actions against Odebunmi. A lawyer, who spoke to us on condition of anonymity, said LRA should have fined her under the Revenue Code.
Having used a fake tax clearance, the FDA should have denied Akewa from participating in the bid under Regulation 103 – 07, which disqualifies representatives of companies convicted or penalized for forgery, or unfair competition. Instead, Akewa went on to defeat five other companies—Greenwood Resource Company, Auzy International Limited, Master Loggers and Sing Africa Plantation Liberia Limited—and won the bid. A month later, the deal was in full swing, giving the company a year grace period to pay land rental fees and four months after harvesting logs there. The FDA ought to have issued a fine or inform the Ministry of Justice for a possible lawsuit against the company as per logging laws. Forgery is a criminal offense under the New Penal Law of Liberia.
The Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) found Akewa used a fake tax clearance to bid for the Gola Konneh Community Forest in Cape Mount but did not penalize the company. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Revenue over Rightfulness
While communities have struggled to get their just benefits from Akewa over the years, it has paid the government with ease. The company paid the government US$1,618,960 between fiscal years 2009/2010 and 2018/2019, according to The DayLight’s breakdown of the LEITI’s reports of those periods. The forestry sector generated US$8,148,559, the third-highest revenue (10.23%) in the fiscal year 2018/2019, according to the latest LEITI report.
Civil society actors criticize the FDA for downplaying communities’ benefits while ensuring companies pay the government’s taxes and royalties.
“The FDA is grossly negligent, prioritizing the central government above communities,” Jonathan Yiah, a lead forest campaigner at the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) told The DayLight in an emailed statement. “It is not forthcoming with accurate information about extraction by logging companies, which the companies are mandated to provide in order to assist communities to determine arrears of the companies.
“The FDA should improve its mandated oversight responsibilities by equally prioritizing government’s collection of fees and taxes along with communities,” Yiah added.
Efforts to get the FDA’s side of the story and other issues did not materialize. Following several failed visits and phone calls for an interview, The DayLight wrote a letter to Joseph Tally, its managing director for operations, on January 6 with queries. We attached a three-page questionnaire on all our concerns. We were scheduled for the interview on Tuesday, January 11 at 10:30 am but Tally rescheduled it to an indefinite date. We again visited the FDA headquarters in Whein Town, Paynesville but Tally insisted the entity’s commercial department would get back to us at their own time. We had first contacted William Pewu, the head of that department, on the matter as early as in December last year.
Akewa did not respond to any of our queries for comments. Odebunmi initially agreed to speak with us on December 11—after many failed attempts—and then declined a formal interview when we finally met her. We emailed her our questions as she had requested but she still did not respond.
This story is a part of The DayLight’s Forest Accountability and Transparency Reporting Series.
