Undercover Investigation Reveals Illegal Logger’s Criminal Acts

March 27, 2024

Top: A poster showing the illegal logging activities by Michael Feika in Totoquelleh, Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/Rebazar Forte

By James Harding Giahyue

TOTOQUELLEH, Gbarpolu County – “If [it is a] container, I give you my price. You buy it from me in the bush,” Michael Feika, an illegal logger, told his new client.

Feika is a broker of kpokolo, squared, compact timber whose trade the government “banned” just over a year ago but has reemerged, with authorities yet to act.

Feika shared several of his past and present operations with Joemue Wortee when they met in Paynesville on March 8. The pictures were equally revealing as Feika’s verbal pitch to Wortee, the assumed client.

“I will bring [the kpokolo] to town. It is only left with you to pay me because I got the document,” Feika said as he tried to convince Wortee of a deal.

“This thing [is] my business from day one.”

In his late 30s and with a Sierra Leonean accent, Feika sent Wortee to his network in Totoquelleh in the Bopolu District of Gbarpolu County. There, Wortee saw Feika’s setup—production sites, an earthmover, timber and a gang of chainsaw millers and haulers.

But Wortee was no businessman. He was an undercover reporter whose mission was to uncover Feika’s illegal logging activities. The reporter’s mission set off as evidence of fresh kpokolo activities began in the western countryside.

The DayLight used undercover techniques because it appeared impossible that Feika would submit to an open probe, particularly after our previous report on the return of kpokolo. Also, such investigation in a forest best guaranteed the reporter’s safety.

‘Mikelo’

The DayLight’s undercover reporter under his assumed name traveled to Totoquelleh, some 62 miles north of Monrovia.

When the reporter arrived at the destination, Feika had already informed a member of his network about the assumed businessman’s mission. The undercover reporter did not know this so, he went asking the townspeople for the teenage member named only as Morris.

Just as Feika had said, everyone the reporter asked in Totoquelleh said they knew Feika and his operations. The people call him Mikelo, a play on the words “Michael” and “Kpokolo.”

Feika and Morris live in a mud hut from where the former serves as the ringleader for their wood trafficking network of over 20 operators. At times he hosts Sierra Leonean illegal loggers for months in Totoquelleh. Feika claims that he hails from Margibi County but his Facebook account lists Freetown as his home city. Other Feikas listed as his friends on Facebook also come from Sierra Leone. This means Feika is not even qualified to conduct small-scale logging activities in Liberia, set aside for only Liberians.

The undercover reporter went to Feika’s house in search of Morris. That search took him to the home of Abadulai Fofana, another kpokolo producer in the forest-enveloped community. It was here the reporter met Morris.

Up: Fresh kpokolo Michael Feika harvested in few months ago. Here: Old kpokolo Feika harvested in 2022. The DayLight/Esau Farr

The short, black teenager, who is also a motorcycle taxi driver, then took the undercover reporter on a guided tour of Feika’s kpokolo world.

As they took a footpath leading to a farm, Morris told the undercover reporter that they produced a lot of kpokolo in 2022. Their production has slowed down in the last two years and they only produce when a customer approaches them.

As they walked deeper, the undercover reporter saw some abandoned kpokolo on the floor of the dried, dim wooded area. Morris disclosed that it was one of the many locations where Feika worked.

Morris’ comments corroborated Feika’s account and that of the picture he shared with the reporter in Paynesville. Feika had said that he harvested the wood in 2022 but backed off after the supposed ban.

Feika’s new worksites in the pictures were too far for the reporter to venture even for a client. The reporter and Morris decided to head back to the town.

Nevertheless, the pictures already took the undercover reporter to Feika’s new locations. They show piles of kpokolo in the forest, felled logs waiting to be milled, targeted trees for harvesting and timber at a portable sawmill. One particular picture showed Feika posing for a picture next to another felled tree.

Logs cut by Michael Feika. Photo credit: Michael Feika

“The ones standing there, I [cut] one down before I could come to Monrovia,” Feika said back in Paynesville, referring to a gigantic tree. “This one is Iroko the white one,” he added, citing a first-class tree species scientifically known as Milicia excelsa, which kpokolo traffickers prefer.

‘It is easy’

About a 10-minute into their journey back to Totoquelleh, the reporter and Morris saw a score of 12-inch kpokolo that Fofana, Feika’s competitor, harvested.

Not far, lay five others in the middle of a dirt road close to the K.J. Village. The kpokolo appeared to have fallen off the vehicle transferring them from the forest. Tire impressions show clearly in the sunbaked mud.

Fofana had disclosed he kept more kpokolo in their conversation before the undercover reporter met Morris.

“The sizes are 50X50, 40X40 and 30X30,” Fofana said at the time. He meant the timber’s dimensions range from 30 to 50 inches in thickness, up to 25 times the authorized size.

“It was produced last month,” Fofana added.

“When somebody [has a] contract for me, I can do it. That business is a contract. It can come and we discuss it before we do it.” Fofana’s comments had confirmed Feika’s suspicion that other kpokolo operators in Totoquelleh would try to snatch the assumed businessman.

The leftover of a tree harvested by illegal loggers somewhere in Liberia. Photo credit: Michael Feika

Upon his return to Totoquelleh from his Morris-guided tour, the undercover reporter photographed an excavator parked near a truck in an open field.

“You see that car over there,” Fofana said, pointing to the excavator. “It is the one that can hook [the kpokolo and put them in the container].”

‘Not small money’

Thankfully, the pictures Feika shared with the undercover reporter show the entire container-packaging process. Several pictures show the wood being measured with a tape rule. One shows a crane shoving kpokolo into a container, while another reveals two men sealing it up.

“Some of the containers allow eight, 14, 16 and 20 pieces of wood to go in, depending on the sizes of the wood,” Feika said back in Paynesville. He revealed the kpokolo measuring three inches and four-and-a-half inches were the ones now in demand.

Feika said he had stopped producing larger kpokolo due to the ban but was open to cutting them once he got the right offer. “If you want [them]…, it is not small money you will spend,” he said.

The prices for a container filled with kpokolo are based on the class of the wood. Prices range from US$7,000 to US$12,000, including transportation to Monrovia, according to Feika. Feika’s favorite first-class species apart from Iroko are Afzelia (Afzelia spp), Ekki (Lophira alata), Lovoa (Lovoa trichilioides) and Niangon ( Heritiera utilis). These species are expensive and produce hardwood used for shipbuilding, railroad ties and outdoor construction.

If a client wants just one container, they must pay Feika at least half of their negotiated amount. If the client wants multiple containers, they pay for at least one container upfront. However, the client must pay the FDA US1,200 for an annual export permit, US$1,000 for the paper and the balance for paperwork, Feika said. Those figures are the same as the ones on the kpokolo permit the FDA issued before the so-called ban.

Once the container is filled and sealed, Feika makes phone calls to FDA rangers posted on the Bopolu-Monrovia highway via Klay. Feika would not share the rangers’ contact or say their names.

“When I reach the checkpoint, I will say, ‘Yes, I am the one [who has] the wood. Everybody knows me because I have a document from the FDA with a license number assigned to me. I will give them my container serial number and they check it and we pass.”

But Feika warned against double-crossing him to deal with rangers directly. He recounted the story of two Korean illegal loggers, the police commander and other accomplices who were arrested in Klay, Bomi County.

“If the [authorities arrest] you, you are finished because some FDA [agents] will tell you, ‘Come, I will carry [them] for you.’ If you depend on them, you will lose,” Feika said.

Ironically, Feika did not know he was speaking to a reporter of the newspaper that exposed the syndicate. The DayLight would go on to assist a police investigation that led to the men’s arrest and the dismissal of the police commander and an FDA ranger.

Feika’s contacts and influence do not extend to the Freeport of Monrovia but he offered some valuable information. Smugglers must acquire an export permit and find a customs broker at the Freeport of Monrovia to help export the timber. It costs US$1,200 to obtain the export permit certificate from the FDA—US$1,000 for the permit and the balance to secure the document.

Two illegal loggers closing a container. Photo credit: Michael Feika

Once they obtain the permit, they will have to pay the container’s owner US$200 per container and US$100 for each truck to transport them.

“Forget the shipment of the wood,” Feika reassured. “Once you get money, it is easy.”

His disclosure was not news to the undercover reporter. After all, The DayLight has published illegal permits, receipts and claims by kpokolo exporters in previous investigations. Those publications also revealed the mode of the illegal trade and its ringleaders.

Faika advised his presumed client to ship the wood to Turkey or Germany. “If it is Germany, I will be happy,” he said, “because I have some of my friends in Germany.”

This was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ). Funding for the story was provided by the Kyeema Foundation and Palladium.

At Least 10 Die in Mining Accident

March 26, 2024

0

Top: People gather at the scene of a mining accident that claimed the lives of at least 10 men in Cheo Town, River Cess County. Photo credit: S. Alberto Dixon, Sr.

By Aaron Geezay and Alberto Dixon

CHEO TOWN, River Cess – At least 10 miners died after a mining pit they were digging collapsed in a town in River Cess County.

“It has been confirmed that 10 bodies have been recovered, and search and rescue efforts are ongoing,” Minister of Information Cultural Affairs and Tourism Jerolinmek Piah told a news conference on Tuesday.

The miners’ bodies were recovered from the pit where they died, pictures and videos of the accident taken by the local media show.

The incident occurred between Cheo Town and Charlie Town along the Yarpah Town and Cestos highway.

The victims, townsmen from the region, were on a gold rush at the open goldmine run by the Development of African Commodities (DEVACO).

Isaiah Ziah 18, an eyewitness, said there were over 10 people in the pit. Ziah had just left the pit when the disaster struck.

“I left and carried my gravel bag before it happened,” he said.

The victims are both from Cheo and Charlie Towns where the gold mine is situated. The bodies of some of the victims have been identified as Tardeh Chapay, Richard Baryogar, Edwin Dennis, Alfred Dehdyu and Paul Zah.

Cooper Barney, a liaison officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said he had earlier advised the miners to leave but they did not listen.

“I even told them the Police Support Unit (PSU) was coming but they said ‘When the PSU come, we will stone them [off],’” Barney said. He added that the miners told him to “‘go and lie down.’” The DayLight could not independently verify those claims.

The fatal pit in which at least 10 miners died on Monday. Photo credit: S. Alberto Dixon, Sr.

DEVACO was awarded a medium-scale license in July 2021 and will expire in 2026, official records show. However, the company had abandoned the site for several months, according to locals.

This mining accident has added to several in the last five years. In 2020, two miners were killed in Grand Cape Mount County. That same year, four miners were also killed in a mine collapse in Jacksonville, Bong County. Earlier in 2019, 40 miners were buried alive in Nimba County, the worst mining accident since the No Way Camp disaster in 1982.

The United States Embassy in Monrovia provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over its content.

Researchers Warn Tribal Certificates Could ‘Corrode’ Customary Land

March 13, 2024

0

Top: A cleared farmland in Jacksonville, Sinoe County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By Emmanuel Sherman

MONROVIA- Researchers have called for an open process to transform tribal certificates into title deeds, warning it could “corrode” customary land in Liberia.

“Tribal certificates are semi-recognized documents used by individuals, families and community to privatize customary or public land,” say Ali Kaba, Baba Sillah and Dr. Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei in a recent report.

“There is no standard template or chain of custody for tribal certificates, the number in circulation is unknown but believed to be extremely high,” they add.

A tribal certificate is a legal document issued by local authorities mainly under the Public Land Law of 1956 to show interest in the land, not to own it. It was introduced by former President William V. S. Tubman to exert and expand the state’s influence in the hinterlands. Powerful chiefs and elders often awarded the documents without consulting the rest of their community.

In 2018, Liberia passed the Land Rights Act, a landmark legislation that recognizes customary land ownership. The new law mandates the government to work with communities and turn all tribal certificates into title deeds by 2020.

But more than five years after the new land law, tribal certificates are yet to be transformed into deeds, except for a few, which were issued illegally.

The researchers cite the lack of information, competing claims, social and material differences, and expertise as factors in the delay in transforming these documents into proper deeds.

“So, a community has 1,000 acres of customary land, and in that same community you have 1,000 acres of private land,” Kaba tells The DayLight in an interview.

“Those two things cannot exist in the same place. So, it becomes a corrosive instrument to undo customary land,” Kaba says.

To avoid that problem, the researchers are calling for a fair, transparent, and inclusive process and a grievance mechanism for converting tribal certificates into title deeds.

A 2015 survey conducted by the Land Commission now the Liberia Land Authority revealed there are over 1,500 tribal certificates in Bong County, averaging 250 acres per claim. The figure represents 15 percent of the total land area of the central county, which is just over 877,000 hectares.

“Validating tribal certificates at the community level must include diverse viewpoints and interest prioritizes the perspective of vulnerable groups such as women and youths,” Kaba says.

An elevated view of Quikon Clan in Kokoyah District, Bong County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

“This mechanism must be easily accessible to civil society and community members, who must clearly understand the procedures involved and the rights and entitlements of vulnerable groups.”

The researchers urge the Land Authority to create a tribal certificate guideline or regulation that would scale up the definition of “developed” land in the Land Rights Act.

Under the Land Rights Act, holders of tribal certificates are entitled to all of the developed portions of the land the documents represent. Kaba and co recommend that the developed portion should not be limited to fencing, surveying, and conservation but must include basic use and claims rights.

Stanley Toe, executive director of the Land Authority agrees with researchers about the risk the delay in transforming tribal certificates poses.

Toe, however, discloses the Land Authority is at 90 percent completion of the work. He says the regulation would address the definition and the vetting process of tribal certificates.

“So hopefully in the next two to three months we should be done with this particular process,” Toe says.

“A committee inclusive of civil society, community members and vulnerable groups will be set up to validate [tribal certificates] and the developed portion.”

Kpokolo: Illegal Logging Returns Despite ‘Ban’

March 11, 2024

0

Top: New pieces of kpokolo in Gbaryama, Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/Gabriel Parker

By Esau J. Farr and Philip W. Quwebin

GBARYAMA – People in Gbarpolu are secretly harvesting Kpokolo, a boxlike timber the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) said it banned last year.

In late January, The DayLight photographed newly produced kpokolo in Gbaryama, a town in the Gbarma District about 79 miles from Monrovia. Hundreds of fresh kpokolo were placed on an open field just outside the town.

Townspeople revealed smugglers, who reside outside of the town, hired a gang of chainsaw operators to harvest kpokolo. Once harvested, the woods are transferred by a crane to a pickup, which then brings them to a location. Thereafter, they are loaded onto a container truck at night.

“They can hide it and take it away at night so, people can’t easily see them in the day,” Armah Dukuly, the Town Chief of Gbaryama Town. “We don’t get that power to stop them.”

More than three weeks later, The DayLight revisited Gbaryama and found that the kpokolo had been taken away. Journalists photographed tire impressions matching the description of a truck on the now-cleared field. About 14 pieces of the illegal wood remained there. The illegal loggers had transported the rest.

There were other kpokolo in the forest. DayLight journalists took a 15-minute ride from Gbaryama on a motorcycle taxi to a forest footpath leading into the woods.

In the forest, reporters saw short round logs that were meant to produce kpokolo. Timber remnants could be seen on the floor of the forest. Loud vroom noise from at least four chainsaws buzzed at different locations.

Dukuly and other chiefs and elders told The DayLight the four men negotiate with farmers in Gbaryama, enter into a verbal agreement and start the harvesting. They said the operators pay the farmers up to L$550 for a piece of kpokolo, corroborating previous reports of locals’ involvement in the illegal trade.

People said the illegal loggers built tents made of tarpaulins in the forest to conduct their operations.

“Most of the time, they are in the forest.],” said Varsay Sirleaf, one of the oldest persons in Gbaryama Sirleaf.

A recent report by the US-based Forest Trends found that kpokolo threatens local communities, chainsaw millers and Liberia’s revenue. It uses the chainsaw milling subindustry to veil its activities, using the same workforce and timber sources, the report said.

But the difference between them is stark. Chainsaw-milled timber measures two inches and below, while Kpokolo can be up to five times thicker, or more.

A few kpokolo remained in an open field more than three weeks after The DayLight photographed piles of kpokolo there. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr

The kpokolo in Gbaryama were between two and four times the industry-accepted size of chainsaw-milled timber. The ones on the opened field were about six inches thick, based remaining ones there.

‘I felled few’

Four men conduct the kpokolo activities in Gbaryama, three of which The DayLight had previously investigated. The men are Saah Joseph (not the Montserrado lawmaker), one only identified as Sahyo, James Kelley and Richard Flomo.

Joseph has harvested kpokolo in Gbaryama for over two years, according to elders and chainsaw millers. Dukuly said Joseph recently resumed his kpokolo operations in the town after negotiating with some farmers.

The DayLight gathered evidence of Joseph’s illegal activities in December 2022. Locals said a pile of kpokolo in the middle of the town and the forest belonged to him.

“I think he has some in the bush and he is supposed to come for it,” said Molubah Korlubah, a kpokolo logger, who said he worked for Joseph in 2022.

“The FDA people don’t come here. They focus on the gate,” Korlubah added.

Sahyo is a more conning operator than Korlubah, the evidence suggests. Originally from a town called Supermarket in Bopolu District, Sahyo harvests kpokolo even without the consent of farmers. Dukuly said he had had an encounter with him the night before The DayLight’s third of four visits to the town.

“I asked him how he entered there to [harvest] kpokolo. And he only said, ‘I entered there, I saw kpokolo and myself [harvested] the logs…. I felled few.’

“Then I asked him, ‘Who [did] you ask?’”

“I stopped him,” Dukuly added.

Morris Kamara, a resident farmer, confirmed Dukuly’s account of Sahyo.

“This year, Sahyo [harvested] in my forest and produced kpokolo there and left,” Kamara revealed. “They have already transported it out of the forest to Monrovia.

“He is presently in another person’s forest producing but I don’t know where.”

Efforts to contact Sahyo and Joseph on their kpokolo operations were unsuccessful. Everyone The DayLight interviewed in Gbaryama said they did not have the duo’s contacts. Follow-up phone calls to other townspeople yielded no other results.

‘From one forest to another’

There were indications Kelley and Flomo were bigger operatives and more familiar with Gbaryama than Joseph and Sahyo.

Kpokolo townspeople said owned by Saah Joseph (not the Montserrado lawmaker) were seen in plain sight in Gbaryama in December 2022. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

Kelley lodged in a house in the town, where The DayLight interviewed him in December 2022. A middle-aged, light-skinned man, Kelley has been in Gbaryama since September that year, he said at the time.

Dukuly said Kelley asked him recently to harvest kpokolo on his farmland but he disagreed. Kamara and Moses Thompson, another elder, corroborated Dukuly’s account.

“Kelley is here among the [kpokolo operators] but I don’t know whose forest he is working in. They move from one forest to another in search of more woods,” Thompson added.

Kelley’s phone number did not ring when The DayLight tried to contact him. However, in that 2022 interview, he revealed that he had been involved with kpokolo since 2014. He produced kpokolo in Buchanan before coming to Gbaryama.

“Here in Gbaryama, our dimensions were 4X12X9.5 and 4X10X9.5,” Kelley said back in 2022. He meant four inches thick, 10 or 12 inches wide and nine and a half feet long.

But of all the kpokolo operators in Gbaryama, Flomo appeared to be the kingpin. Every farmer or resident The DayLight interviewed said they knew him. Even Kelley said in that 2022 interview Richard was his boss.

Dukuly said he called Flomo recently and informed him to halt the kpokolo operation but his order fell on deaf ears.

“He said, ‘Oh Chief, that one I just want y’all to give us a chance.’

“I said no. If I see it, you will lose it,’” Dukuly said. He added that Flomo tried to convince that it was the kpokolo operators that risked an arrest, not the townspeople.

Korlubah, the chainsaw miller, said he had harvested a container load of kpokolo for Richard in 2022. “There were 250 pieces of Kpokolo, 4X12 and 4X10,” Korlubah said then, confirming Kelley’s story.

“I worked for him in November. He paid me one piece for LD500.”

People said Flomo combed the region in this pickup in search of forest to produce kpokolo. They said it was he who introduced kpokolo to Gbaryama.

Efforts to contact Flomo did not materialize. No one in Gbaryama said they had his contact and Kelley had refused to share it back in 2022.

Molubah Korlubah, a kpokolo producer in Gbaryama, said he worked for Richard Flomo a kpokolo smuggler. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

‘There is no ban’

In February last year, said it had banned kpokolo. The unofficial pronouncement followed months of reports of widespread kpokolo activities involving the regulator.

Edward Kamara, the FDA manager for forest marketing and revenue forecast said kpokolo had become “prone to illegal exportation.”

The FDA has not published the ban or made awareness of it, except to discuss it in a meeting on Liberia’s timber trade agreement with the European Union last June. Forest Trends called on the Joseph Boakai administration to officiate, publicize and enforce the ban on kpokolo.

In Gbaryama, people are aware of the so-called ban but chiefs and elders find it difficult to keep the ban.

“If you ban kpokolo in someone’s forest, the forest owner will get vexed [at] you. That person will feel that you want to stop their family’s income,” said Dukuly.

Morris Kamara, the Gbaryama resident, blames the FDA for the illegal activities. “We are getting that information [about banning kpokolo] as rumors. I believe if the FDA banned kpokolo, they could not allow kpokolo to pass [through] their checkpoints.

The FDA has major checkpoints on Bopolu-Monrovia and Tubmanburg-Monrovia highways. There is one each at Sawmill, not far from Gbaryama, and Klay in Bomi—to name two.

“If the people [are] still passing with kpokolo, then it means that [there is no ban] on kpokolo,” Kamara said.

The FDA did not respond immediately to comments. The DayLight will update this story once it does.

[Additional reporting by Gabriel Parker]

This was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ). Funding for the story was provided by the Kyeema Foundation and Palladium.

EPA Shuts Down and Fines Firms for Violations

March 6, 2024

0

Top: Acting EPA Executive Director, Dr. Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo (Left). The DayLight/ Esau J. Farr

By Esau J. Farr

MONROVIA – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fined two companies and shut down another for violations of the Environmental Protection and Management Law.

East International Construction Company, which builds roads, got the lion’s share of the fines.

“East International is hereby fined US$55,000 to be paid in Government Revenue at the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) with an official receipt presented to the EPA,” Acting EPA Executive Director Dr. Emmanuel Yarkpawolo told a news conference on Tuesday.

An EPA investigation found East International operates under an expired environmental permit, Yarkpawolo said. Investigators also found the company liable for air pollution over its construction of the Roberts International Airport Highway.

“Some people reported respiratory problems such as coughing and asthma as the major health issues affecting them,” Yarkpawolo said. He ordered East International to follow the law.

The EPA shut down Fengshou International, an affiliate of East International.

Yarkpawolo said the company would remain closed “until a more sustainable method is approved by the EPA.”

The company unsustainably backfilled and was constructing a two-kilometer road on a portion of the Marshall Wetland in Margibi County, protected under a UN convention. The EPA also found that Fengshou extended its rock quarrying into the wetland and constructed a rock sale point there without authorization.

East International and Fengshou did not immediately respond to queries.

Wetlands

The EPA says it was taking wetlands’ protection seriously, and citizens closest to the mangroves.

“In the coming days, the EPA will conduct a thorough engagement with relevant institutions of government and other stakeholders to curtail the upsurge in the wave of wetland degradations,” Dr. Yarkpawolo said.

“Recent complaints and EPA field assessment reports have highlighted massive clearing of mangroves along the Police Academy SKD Boulevard, as well as backfilling activities, including Pago’s Island, New Matadi Fanti Town, Dixville, Jacob Town, etc,” Yarkpawolo said.

The EPA called on the media to help in providing public awareness and asked the public to cooperate with the agency in protecting wetlands.

“The EPA will be engaging with relevant law enforcement authorities to arrest all violators,” Yarkpawolo added.

The EPA fined Quezp Mining Company US$2,999 and ordered it to fund a US$12,999 restoration plan for two zircon-sand mines it operates in Brewerville and Royesville. The DayLight/Charles Gbayor

Earlier, the EPA ordered Quezp Mining Corporation Inc. to pay nearly US$16,000 for illegal sand mining activities in Brewerville and Royesville. A DayLight investigation showed that Quezp did not have licenses for the operations. The company’s mineworkers fled the area after the publication.

The EPA fined Quezp US$2,999 for mining without an environmental permit. It mandated the company to restore the environment it disturbed in the two communities with a US$12,999 plan.

Yarkpawolo said that the fines must be paid in three days after official communication with Quezp.

Terrence Collins, Quezp’s owner and CEO, did not respond to queries for comments on the matter.

EPA Orders Miners to Pay US$16K Over Illegal Acts

March 4, 2024

0

Top: The headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tubman Boulevard in Sinkor. The DayLight/Mark B. Newa

By James Harding Giahyue

MONROVIA – The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered a mining company to pay a combined US$15,998 for operating without an environmental permit, and a restoration plan for its mines.

Quezp Mining Company ran two mines in Brewerville and Royesville for nearly two years without the permit, the EPA said in a report following a preliminary investigation.

The investigation followed a DayLight publication, which showed Quezp had no license for a pair of zircon sand mines in the Montserrado communities.

The publication revealed the Brewerville mine had a plant where zircon sand was transported from Royesville with the involvement of residents.

The plant processed the zircon sand—a mineral used in the ceramics industry. Mineworkers placed the sand in 25-kilogram bags and then transported them elsewhere for export.

The company fled from the communities, just days after the publication.

EPA investigators found that Quezp also bought zircon sand from other places, including Banjor, a Montserrado sea erosion hotspot.

“The direct beach sand mining being carried out by the company and community has resulted in serious coastal degradation and sea erosion,” the EPA report found. “This has impacted many landed properties closest to the mining operation.

Remnants of a Quezp’s illegal mining activities in Brewerville. The DayLight/Charles Gbayor

“The company’s operation has seriously impacted the mangrove forest due to the improper disposal of its mine waste,” it said.

EPA fined Quezp US$2,999 for mining without an environmental permit. It ordered the company to present a US$12,999 plan to restore the environment where it worked, according to the report.

The report also found that the miners were less than a kilometer from the beach, impacting houses closest to its illegal operations. It said Quezp encouraged residents to engage in sand mining, outlawed since 2012 to curb countrywide coastline loss.

EPA investigators urged the agency to officially inquire about the status of Quezp’s mining licenses. The DayLight found that the company only has two zircon-sand prospecting licenses in Kpayan District, Sinoe County.

The Investigators called for mining and environmental awareness in communities across the country.

Terrence Collins, Quezp’s owner and CEO, did not immediately respond to queries.

Villagers Demand Benefits, as Bank Seizes Loggers’ Properties

March 4, 2024

0

Top: Sing Africa abandoned thousands of logs it harvested in the Bluyeama Community Forest. It owes Bluyeam US$165,000 and GT Bank US$3.5 million. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By Emmanuel Sherman

BALAGWALAZU, Lofa County – Alexander Sungo appeared shivered. A guard had informed him that the Guarantee Trust Bank (Liberia) Limited was sorting logs from his community forest to sell them.

The logs were harvested by Sing Africa Plantation Liberia Limited, a company that signed an agreement with Bluyema Community Forest in Lofa whose leadership Sungo heads.

“We want to send this as a caveat to any would-be partner to Sing Africa: our agreement is the mother agreement to Sing Africa,” Sungo said. We as a community, gave them the resources so, in that direction, anybody Sing Africa [signs a] contract with should look at our agreement.

“If not, you will not access the properties that are in our community until Sing Africa can pay our money,” Sungo added.

Sungo argued that the bank could not sell the logs as Sing Africa owed Bluyeama, his community. He protested the sales, referencing a forestry regulation on payments. The Regulation on Forest Fees compels companies to clear all their communities’ debts before selling logs.

That was the latest episode in a months-long rigmarole between Bluyeama and GT Bank over Sing Africa-harvested logs. They have been negotiating how the community can get its benefits and how the bank can recover its loan.

Sing Africa owes Bluyema thousands of dollars including land rental, harvesting fees and scholarship fees. It also owes the bank over US$3.5 million, according to court documents. Sungo said the amount had grown to US$4 million.

A US$3.5M Debt

Bluyema Community Forest in the Zorzor District and Sing Africa Plantations Liberia Inc., a Singaporean-owned company signed a 15-year logging contract in 2016.

Alexander Sungo, the head of the Bluyeama Community Forest. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

According to the agreement, the company promised to build schools, construct bridges, connect towns with road networks, construct clinics, and provide scholarships. In exchange for those developments, locals allowed Sing Africa to harvest logs in their 44,444-hectare forest.

Seven years on, Sing Africa has not lived up to those promises, and the timeframe set for the projects has expired.

All of the activities in the community are at a standstill. The community road is getting [worse]. The bridges the company built with [logs] are also destroyed,” Sungo said.

“Sing Africa didn’t fulfill any of the promises in the agreement.”

Sing debt to Bluyeama has accumulated to US$165,000 and counting, according to Sungo, The DayLight’s analysis of the agreement.

Sing Africa’s debt to GT Bank wallops that of Bluyeama. The court record shows that on June 14, 2021, the company borrowed US$3M from the bank with a 14.50 percent interest rate. That is a debt of US$3.5 million.

As a result, the Commercial Court in Monrovia authorized GT Bank to seize Sing Africa’s fixed and floating assets valued at over US$7 million, court filings show.

The Commercial Court has ordered GT Bank to auction Sing Africa’s properties. The DayLight/Harry Browne

The court had earlier authorized the bank to auction over 15,000 cubic meters of logs belonging to Sing Africa and Alpha Logging and Wood Processing Company, a company that also operated in Lofa and Gbarpolu.

One Family, Four Contracts

The Guptas, the family that owns Sing Africa, has two other companies and a combined four community forests, which, perhaps, explains Sing Africa’s struggles. The Singaporean family owns Starwood and Indo Africa.

In 2017, Starwood signed an agreement with the Matro Kpogblen Community Forest in District Number Four, Grand Bassa, covering 8,833 hectares. The company promised to build schools, erect clinics and provide safe drinking water but failed to do so. In 2021, Matro Kpogblen resolved to cancel the contract with Starwood.

“Starwood did not pay us a dime since the contract was signed,” said Yeaton Siahway, the head of the community forest. Siahway said the company owes locals US$29,000 covering land rental, scholarship, and medical. He said they abandoned more logs in the forest than they shipped.

Bondi Mandigo Community Forest also signed an agreement with Indo Africa in 2018 for 37,222 hectares of forest in Bopulu District, Gbarpolu County.

Like Sing Africa and Starwood, Indo Africa has failed to live up to the agreement. Bondi Mandingo is now seeking to cancel its contract with Indo Africa.

Korninga B, too, signed an agreement with Indo Africa for its 31,818 hectares of woodland. Similarly, Indo Africa did not fulfill the agreement. Last year, Korninga B canceled its contract with Indo Africa without the loggers cutting a single tree.

Sing Africa has a logging agreement with the Bluyeama Community Forest but has not lived up to it. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

The Community’s Interest

The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) shares the blame for the Bluyeama-GT Bank-Sing Africa situation. FDA failed to assess the technical and financial capacities of Sing Africa and the Guptas’ companies before it approved their contracts. It sanctioned new deals for the Singaporean family while it performed poorly with old ones.

Also, the regulator allowed Sing Africa to break the law with impunity. For instance, the FDA did not punish Sing Africa for harvesting some US$2M worth of logs between 2018 and 2021 outside of its contract area in Bluyeama. Instead, it glossed over the violation by replacing the ranger responsible for Lofa County without an investigation.

When Sing Africa abandoned 2,500 logs, including some it had stolen, the FDA also did not take any legal actions.

Back in Bagwalazu, Sungo is reeling from Bluyeama’s bad experience with Sing Africa and wants to end the contract.

“We are trying to put in for the cancellation of the Sing Africa contract. Either we give the forest out for conservation or we find another third-party contractor,” Sungo said. He added that Sing Africa’s abandonment of community has left the forest more vulnerable to illegal occupants.

But Sungo remains firm that Bluyema will get its benefit as he continues to engage GT Bank.

“The bank says there’s a group willing to buy the logs and they will give us some money to cover liabilities owed us,” Sungo said after he had a meeting with GT Bank in January. “The bank has said it will not overlook the community’s interest.

“Before anybody takes the log, the bank will sit with the community to discuss how the money will be paid,” he added.

GT Bank declined an interview because the case was still in court.

Sing Africa did not respond to WhatsApp queries for comments on its issues with Bluyeama and GT Bank.

This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).

Funding for the story was provided by the Kyeema Foundation and Palladium. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over its content.

Monthly Archives: March 2024

Podcasts

ABOUT US

FOLLOW US