Top: Dr. Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo, New Acting Executive Director, EPA: Picture credit Yarkpawolo’s Library
By Emmanuel Sherman
MONROVIA – Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo, a renowned environmentalist, is now the Acting Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Yarkpawolo was appointed over the weekend by President Joseph Boakai. He replaces Wilson Tarpeh, who held the post since 2020.
Tarpeh had wrongly claimed he was entitled to a seven-year tenure. However, the tenure only works after the formation of a National Environmental Policy Council, according to the EPA Act. Appointed by the President, the council comprises various ministries and vets the executive director, and ensures a seven-year tenure same as the council members.
Yarkpawolo will serve as Acting Executive Director until the council is formed to approve the mandatory tenure, according to the law.
Yarkpawolo holds a PhD in environment and resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in 2018 in Wisconsin, USA. He is a professor of environmental science and leadership at the Everglades University in Florida, USA.
Yarkpawolo brings a wealth of experience to the Job. He has worked in the environmental sector, mainly land, agriculture and education, for more than 10 years.
Key amongst Yarkpawolo’s contributions to national development is the passage of the new Land Rights Act of 2018, a landmark law that recognizes customary land ownership.
As a former Country Representative for Landesa, an international NGO working on land rights and climate resilience, he worked with lawmakers, government officials and civil society to promote land, environmental and agriculture legislation and policies.
In 2016, Yarkpawolo worked with Gregg Mitman, a US professor, to create “Land Beneath our Feet,” a documentary of Firestone’s land grab in the 1920s and its implications today. He won many awards, including outstanding leadership in advocating for Land reform in Liberia.
Yarkpawolo was the running mate to Tiawon Gongloe of the Liberia People’s Party in the 2023 elections.
‘Not a place to steal’
The new EPA boss declared his assets on Monday morning at the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) before taking over at the EPA at midday. He has a net asset of over US$200,000, his affidavit shows.
“The law is not preventing public officials from acquiring wealth,” Yarkpawolo told his takeover ceremony in a reference to the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, which has been violated over time. “It is to ensure that wealth public officials acquire commensurate with their earned incomes in a just and justifiable way.
“A better Liberia is possible if and only if the government becomes a place to serve and not a place to steal.”
Gongloe urged Yarkpawolo to work transparently as he steers the affairs of an agency that can transform Liberia.
“You are the first person from the LPP so ‘Think Liberia, love Liberia and build Liberia,’” Gongloe told the ceremony in an allusion to President Boakai’s mantra.
Tarpeh did not attend the ceremony.
Yarkpawolo comes at a time when the environmental sector of the country is in shambles, with violations of the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia rife. Extractive companies are skipping an environmental impact social assessment (EISA), impunity for polluters, disregard of the rights of local communities and the widespread misuse of wetlands.
Yarkpawolo also comes at a time when Liberia is preparing to trade on the international carbon market. Last year, the George Weah administration failed in their attempts to sign a deal with Blue Carbon of the United Arab Emirates.
Top: Coveiyalah’s majority and minority shareholders have been in court for about two years, staling the company’s agreement with Korninga A Community Forest. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Emmanuel Sherman
GIANKPA, Gbarpolu – Villagers celebrated when Korninga “A” Community Forest signed a logging contract with Coveiyalah Investment Enterprise in March 2019.
“Within the next five years, I am hoping to see the community prospering when it comes to roads, sanitation, education and healthcare,” said Armah Johnson, a member of Korninga A’s leadership, at the time.
In the agreement, Korninga A leased Coveiyalah 48,296 hectares of forest in exchange for development. There is even a provision for a wood science college, which campaigners criticized for being “unrealistic.”
Nearly five years on, Johnson and other villagers find themselves longing for even the realistic projects, common to community forest deals. There are no latrines, concrete bridges, health facilities and—obviously—wood science college.
For the last two years, the shareholders of Coveiyalah have been embroiled in a fierce lawsuit, leaving the community without their benefits.
In 2022, Anthony Urey, Coveiyalah’s 10 percent shareholder, sued Lu Li, the company’s 90 percent shareholder, according to a court document.
The DayLight saw a notice from the Commercial Court in Monrovia at Coveiyalah’s camp in Giankpa, halting its work. The company’s log yard and personnel lodge were all overtaken by bush.
Levi Laban, a former liaison officer with the company said the company left many logs in the bush due to the case.
The court filing posted on an earthmover at the company’s sawmill shows Urey petitioned the court for an indemnity bond and his partner objected. An indemnity bond ensures a remedy against a partner in a contract if that partner fails to uphold their obligations.
Efforts to get the case file did not materialize as the matter is still before the court. Attempts to get it elsewhere proved unsuccessful.
Two years in court has been two years of wait, lack and frustration for Korninga A.
Korninga A Community Forest, which covers 48,296 hectares, signed an agreement with Coveiyalah Investment Enterprise in 2019. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
“There have been no payments done, land rental, [harvesting], or scholarships,” said Emery Ciapha, the head of the community leadership of Korninga A.
Coveiyalah constructed two toilets but the community rejected them. Our reporter who visited Giankpa said grasses overran the facilities due to abandonment.
“That is not what we want,” Ciapha said. “They are not the modern toilets we agreed upon.”
Urey told the community leadership that they would make the payment after the case, according to Ciapha.
It was unclear how much Coveiyalah owes the villagers as Ciapha said he did not have the information. However, an analysis of the company’s previous payments, the agreement, and records of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) places the amount to at least US$66,407 in land rental fees, US$55,058 in harvesting fees and US$30,000 in scholarships. That is US$151,465 in total.
Emery Ciapha, the head of an ad-hoc leadership of Korninga A Community Forest in Bokomu District, Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Urey did not respond to The DayLight’s inquiries on Korninga A and the case with his partners.
The case is the latest of Korninga A’s nightmares. In 2022, the leaders of the forest misused US$76,000 and were jailed for it.
With the case still not being finalized, the FDA and civil society conducted an election in which Ciapha was elected head of an interim committee in September last year. It has a six-month mandate.
The community must review the agreement with Coveiyalah in May. In forestry, the community has the right to sign a 15-year agreement with the FDA to comanage its forest. Thereafter, villagers can sign a third-party agreement with a logging company of their choice with the FDA’s approval. Then every five years, they are required to review the third-party agreement.
Ciapha said Korninga would push to cancel the contract with Coveiyalah.
“Time is about to elapse for the revision of the document, which is May 25,” Ciapha said. “We are not thinking about the renewal of their contract after review because implementation is poor.”
Top: Gbarquoita is one of the affected communities of Bondi Mandingo Community Forest, which wants to cancel a logging agreement with Indo Africa Plantation Liberia Limited. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By Esau J. Farr
FARWHENTA – A community forest in Gbarpolu wants to cancel its logging contract with Indo Africa Plantations, a Singaporean-owned company.
Bondi Mandingo Community Forest signed a 15-year agreement with Indo Africa in 2018 in anticipation of development in their area. However, five years on, the company has not honored the agreement.
It owes Bondi Mandingo over US$400,000 in land rental and harvesting fees, and mandatory development projects, barely exploiting the forest.
“We are now pushing to cancel the contract,” said Darkanel Gbarto, the chairman of the Bondi Mandingo forest executive committee. “There has been no progress on the side of the company.”
Bondi Mandingo’s contract covers 37,222 hectares with Indo Africa, one of four contracts held by a Singaporean family, the Guptas.
The company agreed to pay the community US$46,527 as annual land rental fees. It promised to make an annual payment of US$35,000 as a scholarship fund and US$25,000 for yearly support to community healthcare.
Additionally, Indo Africa promised to recondition roads, construct modern latrines, a youth center and a paramount chief office in affected communities.
But Indo Africa did not live up to the agreement. It only began work in late 2021, nearly three years after the agreement, a violation that is a ground for termination. It harvested 7,183 logs, according to the company’s production records.
Protest
In late 2021, after several failed efforts to get their benefits, Bondi Mandingo youth protested, setting up roadblocks in the contract area. They demanded the company settle all of its debts to the community. They called off the protest after local authorities intervened and the company paid US$5,000.
Indo Africa began work in the Bondi Mandingo Community Forest in 2021, three years after it signed an agreement with the community. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
In early 2022, Bondi Mandingo passed a resolution, calling Indo Africa to pay 60 percent of their social benefits before transporting logs out of the forest.
Indo Africa paid US$65,000 for land rental and harvesting fees and promised to make regular payments as of April 2022.
But that would be the last time the community received a payment from Indo Africa. Bondi Mandingo has exerted several unsuccessful efforts for its benefits.
As it stands, Indo Africa owes Bondi Mandingo over US$400,000 in harvesting fees, scholarships and medical funds. It also failed to provide any of over a dozen mandatory projects.
It informed the FDA about their plight. The agency requested a breakdown of the debt, which locals did. “The company failed all of the social responsibilities. Therefore, we are kindly asking you to give us your technical advice…,” the community wrote the FDA in a June 2023 letter.
Indo Africa shut down, with Mukesh Gupta, its CEO and owner, leaving Liberia and has not returned for nearly two years now. The family also owns Sing Africa and Starwood, which have contracts with Bluyeama and Matro Kpogblen community forests in Lofa, and Grand Bassa respectively. Another community is Korninga B which cancelled its contract with Indo Africa last year over non-compliance issues.
All community contracts are subject to a five-year review under the forestry reform law of Liberia. Bondi Mandingo forest contract with Indo Africa was expected to be reviewed last December but failed due to the absence of representatives of the company in Liberia.
Gupta did not respond to questions The DayLight sent to him. However, in a previous communication, Indo Africa blamed the delay in its payment on the coronavirus pandemic.
“The global economic slowdown and lockdown of the markets declared by several countries have adversely affected our cash flow situation,” the company said at the time.
Those comments are not backed by facts. None of the Guptas’ companies, including Indo Africa, declared a force majeure during the pandemic.
Sing Africa was active as the pandemic took its toll. Between 2019 and 2021, Sing Africa produced 2,166 logs in Bluyeama, according to the FDA’s records. The DayLight saw WhatsApp message exchanges between Mukesh Gupta, CEO of Indo Africa, and Mark Dennis, the chief officer of Bondi Mandingo.
Mark Dennis is the chief officer of the Bondi Mandingo Community Forest. The DayLight/Harry Browne
Last September, who runs the business of Bondi Mandingo, sent Gupta a citation for a meeting.
“Mark Dennis… I will be coming back after the elections in Liberia. I will settle community dues and other obligations,” Gupta replied. “Requesting you to have a meeting after the election. Thanks.”
“Chairman, we have waited for so long and never [heard] from you,” Dennis said. “Presently, we have embarked on court actions.”
In October 2023, Gupta replied to Dennis saying, “We are ready to pay land rental. I will be coming back to Liberia after Christmas.” Gupta, however, did not return up to writing time.
The agreement between the parties calls for the process of arbitration before cancellation in a dispute arising from performance and other things.
To cancel their agreement, Bondi Mandingo must inform Indo Africa about its decision, according to the document. Then both parties are required to present one arbitrator each, with another from the FDA. The three arbitrators will preside over the exercise, hear both sides and make a final decision.
Gbarto told The DayLight that the community started the arbitration but the process did not go through as Indo Africa “cannot be found.” He said there were issues with the FDA arbitrator and the venue of the process. The FDA did not respond to queries for this story.
Gbarto said the community would consult a lawyer on the way forward with the cancelation.
Other communities have embarked upon terminating their contracts with Guptas. Bluyeama in Zozor, Lofa and Matro Kpogblen in District Number 4, Grand Bassa, have also considered cancelation of their contracts with Sing Africa and Starwood.
Bondi Mandingo Community Forest covers 37,222 hectares in the Bopolu District of Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Last year, Korninga B, a neighboring community, terminated its contract with Indo Africa over non-compliance.
Given their experiences with Indo Africa, locals now prefer conservation to commercial logging. The Community Rights Law… gives them the right to make that choice with the approval of the FDA.
“The community has now shifted its initial plan from logging to conservation,” Dennis said. “They are looking at the benefits of conservation to the environment.”
Bondi Mandingo has decided to distribute US$65,000 they received from Indo Africa among all six affected communities for projects, according to documents seen by The DayLight.
Totoquellie and Farwhenta selected a maternity center and auditorium, while Sappima, Loloma, Guyanta, Gbarquoita chose a guesthouse each.
Top: Rudolph Merab, the new Managing Director of the Forestry Development Authority. Picture credit: The Liberia Timber Association
By James Harding Giahyue
President Joseph Boakai over the weekend nominated Rudolph Merab as Managing Director of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA). Merab is an illegal logger and a critic of regulations and conservation efforts
Merab and ex-President Charles Taylor were business partners. Militiamen and ex-combatants guarded Merab’s Liberia Wood Management Corporation (LWMC) in the early 2000s, according to Global Witness
Bopolu Development Corporation (BODECO), another company Merab is associated with, participated in the biggest postwar logging scandal
Merab is an outspoken cynic of regulation and conservation, things the FDA was established to enforce and promote
Boakai has known Merab for over 50 years and served as chairman of the board of directors of one of Merab’s companies
MONROVIA – President Joseph Boakai has appointed Rudolph Merab—a wartime business partner of ex-President Charles Taylor, whose company participated in Liberia’s biggest postwar, logging scandal—as the Managing Director of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA). Merab is an outspoken cynic of conservation and postwar regulations, key pillars of forestry reform.
Boakai, who was inaugurated last month with a promise to fight corruption and uphold the rule of law, appointed Merab on Saturday following a month of speculations.
It is unclear whether Merab meets the legal requirements to head the FDA due to his well-documented illegal logging activities during Liberia’s deadly civil wars between 1989 and 2003. His company, Liberia Wood Management Corporation (LWMC), was the subject of international reports and was an issue during ex-President Taylor’s war crimes trial.
FDA’s Regulation on Bidder Qualifications partially debars wartime businesspeople such as Merab, who held a forestry contract before 2006, from conducting logging activities.
The regulation requires wartime loggers to file a sworn statement with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), admit their illegal activities and cooperate with the FDA to recover funds the government lost due to their illegal activities. However, the regulation is silent on whether or not a wartime logger is eligible to head the agency.
Also, Merab, who has a degree in physics, does not meet the educational qualifications for the job. The FDA Act requires the head of the agency to be “professionally educated in forestry.”
Campaigners had called on Boakai to respect that clause in the FDA act as part of his expressed quest for respect for the rule of law.
Rudolph Merab (standing behind President Joseph Boakai) and other alumni of the College of West Africa. Picture credit: Facebook/Ernest Bruce
“At this present state of Liberia’s forestry industry, it needs someone with the necessary skills, contact, and connections… to turn the forestry sector around… beyond mere logging,” communities affected by logging contracts said in a statement last week.
“The sector is at a critical juncture, as numerous initiatives have failed to meet expectations over the past six to 10 years,” the statement added.
Boakai’s relationship with Merab goes way back. They met at the College of West Africa, with Boakai graduating in 1967 and Merab five years thereafter. Boakai later served as chairman of the board of directors of LWMC, sources, including Boakai’s campaign website, show.
Merab declined an interview with The DayLight.
Merab, the wartime logger
LWMC was founded in 1988 with Merab’s 10 percent share among a list of shareholders that included his late brother Edward Merab. It held a contract for Grand Cape Mount and Lofa. By the end of the Second Liberian Civil War (1997 – 2003), LWMC valued between US$500,000 and US$1 million and had about 300 workers, according to international investigators.
LWMC’s properties in then-Lower Lofa, Bomi and Grand Cape Mount Counties were protected by ex-combatants and armed militiamen, Global Witness reported. Within the first six months of 2000 alone, LWMC exported 12,810.062 cubic meters of logs, according to FDA records.
In 2001, Merab told an American publication that LWMC shipped small Liberian timber to the United States. Oriental Timber Corporation (OTC), the forerunner of Taylor’s timber and arms trafficking syndicate, exported to the United States.
Between 1999 and 2003, LWMC owed the government over US$1.3 million, according to a report by the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI). The Taylor regime waived the amount, according to an email thread linked to the Ministry of Finance. Then Minister of Finance Nathaniel Barnes told a legislative inquiry that the regime had waived Merab’s arrears “to save 300 jobs.”
Rebels of the Liberia United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), which had launched an armed incursion against Taylor, attacked LWMC’s premises in Gbarpolu in the 2000s.
The rebel told United Nations personnel they wanted to discourage Merab from doing business with Taylor, according to a 2001 UN Security Council report. The UN would sanction Liberian timber adding to a string of arms embargoes against the country.
A review of the forestry sector in 2005 found, “At least 17 logging companies either supported militias in Liberia, participated in, or facilitated illegal arms trafficking, or aided or abetted civil instability.”
The review found that all forestry concessions, including LWMC’s, had been illegally awarded. This prompted President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to cancel all the existing forestry contracts in 2006. Her administration awarded new contracts, a precursor for the lifting of the UN sanctions that same year.
At his war crimes trial in 2010, prosecutors at the Special Court for Sierra Leone cross-examined Taylor on an accusation that he channeled money through Merab to rebels in Sierra Leone. Taylor denied the accusation but was eventually found guilty of running arms and smuggling diamonds with the Sierra Leonean rebels. He is serving a 50-year sentence for his role in that war, which killed some 70,000 in Sierra Leone.
An estimated 250,000 people died in Liberia in wars that were fueled by a scramble for logs and other natural resources, the TRC said. Unlike Sierra Leone, Liberia has yet to address crimes committed during its wars.
Merab’s Postwar Illegal Deeds
Bopolu Development Corporation (BODECO), another company Merab owns, was involved in the Private Use Permit (PUP) Scandal of 2012 in which 2.5 million hectares of forestlands were illegally awarded to logging companies.
A government-backed inquiry found that BODECO was awarded 90,527 hectares in Bopolu District, Gbarpolu County, the fifth-highest area of the 66 illegal permits.
Locals in Henry Town, a popular mining community were among several whose hopes were dashed by BODECO in the PUP Scandal. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
BODECO did not have the financial and technical capacity to conduct logging in Liberia, the inquiry found. The permit was issued in BODECO’s name while the Korninga Chiefdom had submitted the application.
BODECO and the FDA also violated requirements of the permit. The permit is issued only for forests on private lands. However, investigators found that Bopolu was communal land, not private.
“Both FDA and BODECO knew or should have known that they were executing a contract with material falsehood…,” investigators said.
Following the inquiry, BODECO’s and the other 65 permits were revoked and a moratorium imposed on the forest contract remains in place. Moses Wogbeh, the FDA Managing Director who oversaw the scandal, was dismissed and prosecuted.
BODECO failed to provide a school, roads, harvesting and land rental fees, and a clinic, leaving hundreds of logs to rot.
George Ballah Sumo, the Paramount Chief of Korninga Chiefdom blamed Merab and other BODECO executives for dashing the hopes of locals.
A cynic of regulations and conservation
Wartime logging and the PUP Scandal aside, Merab is an outspoken critic of forestry regulatory regime and conservation. Forestry has the most regulations in Liberia, while the conservation is one of the pillars of the sector’s reform agenda.
BODECO left hundreds of logs it harvested with its illegal private use permit (PUP) Gbarpolu County to decay. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Merab’s appointment comes at a time of rising violations of forestry laws and regulations. Illegal logging, unsustainable harvesting practices and disregard for communities’ rights are commonplace. A recent review of the sector found 11 concessions illegal and the FDA complicit in the illegalities.
In a 2015 interview with the African Report, Merab said sustainable logging had not been achieved due to “taxation and restrictive legal regime.”
“Since the new logging restrictions, most of the rural economy has ceased, impoverishing the rural areas,” Merab said in the interview.
Merab also criticized a deal between Liberia and Norway in which Liberia received US$150 million to halt deforestation. Merab argued that the agreement hurt investors, businesspeople, and logging employees. He promised to campaign against it on grounds that loggers were not consulted, comparing it to the Sirleaf administration’s decision to cancel his and other logging contracts back in 2006.
“We Africans got to think outside the box,” Merab, the president of the Liberia Timber Association up to his appointment, told FrontPage Africa in 2017. “The neo-colonial issue cannot continue to affect us,” he said. “You got to learn to stop letting people fool us. They’re the ones exploiting us, especially Norway.”
[Additional reporting by Charles Gbayor and Esau J. Farr, Sr.]
This story is a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Logs EJ&J Logging Company abandoned in the Ziadue & Teekpeh Community Forest. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
By Esau J. Farr
ZAMMIE TOWN – Villagers in River Cess County have made efforts to cancel a contract it has with a logging company over unpaid benefits and unfulfilled promises.
EJ&J Investment Corporation signed a 15-year contract with Ziadue & Teekpeh in 2018. However, five years after logging in the 24,649-hectare forest, the company has failed to live up to the agreement.
“The community said [it is] not willing to work with EJ&J again and therefore has decided to cancel its contract,” said Philip Tarweah, chief officer of Ziadue & Teekpeh’s community forest management body (CFMB).
EJ&J owes the community more than US$72,000 for land rental, harvesting, scholarships and clinic support funds, according to our calculations as of November last year.
EJ&J failed to construct 16 handpumps and pit latrines each within major towns of the Kploh Chiefdom, where the forest lies. It also did not construct the two schools it promised the community.
In the last three years, Ziadue & Teekpeh has made several failed attempts to get their benefits.
In a June 21, 2021 letter obtained by The DayLight, the community sought a meeting with the company the following month. However, EJ&J did not honor the invitation, according to the townspeople.
The parties finally met three months after and the company promised eight handpumps in five months but has not delivered for more than a year.
Stanley Whilzar, EJ&J’s general coordinator, blames his company’s failure on the coronavirus outbreak.
“When it comes to the pit latrines, the elementary schools…, when we entered the first and second years [it was] when we experienced the COVID-19,” Whilzard said. “We couldn’t lay our hands on those projects.”
Whilzar’s remarks are not backed by facts.
Records of the FDA show EJ & J, harvested 2,150 logs or 13,275 cubic meters of logs from 2020 to 2021, during the height of the pandemic.
There is no evidence that EJ&J declared force majeure to suspend its operations and debts. No logger company did.
‘…More logs in the forest’
The DayLight photographed several large piles of logs EJ&J abandoned in the forest for more than two years. The logs were scattered on both ends of the grassy road that leads to the community forest.
Abraham Wizard, a member of the leadership of Ziadue & Teekpeh Community Forest in River Cess. The DayLight/Carlucci Cooper
A former worker of the company, who asked for anonymity for fear of reprisal, pointed at several locations in the forest where he said logs were. Villagers corroborated the ex-worker’s story.
“They have felled more logs into the forest, more than 10,000 logs. They are just wasting there,” said Abraham Wizard, a forest leader in Ziadue & Teekpeh.
EJ&J production records appear to support Wizard and other townspeople’s comments. Not one of the 2,150 logs it harvested during COVID-19 has been exported, the records show.
“We have been informing the company and FDA but they are not doing anything about it,” Wizard added.
The FDA did not respond to queries on the issue. However, the agency announced last November it would begin the process of auctioning abandoned logs across the country. It had made that pronouncement at least two times in the past and failed to take any concrete actions.
The FDA shares the blame for what has happened with Ziadue & Teekpeh.
FDA ignored the recommendations of a government-backed report in 2012 by approving EJ&J’s contract with Ziadue & Teekpeh.
Investigators of the Private Use Permit (PUP) Scandal had asked the FDA to set up a panel to assess EJ&J’s financial and logistical capacities before awarding it future contracts.
Investigators uncovered that Eliza Kronyanh, EJ&J’s owner, did not have the financial means to operate independently. They gathered evidence that her company signed contracts only to subcontract to other companies, exploiting locals.
[Additional reporting by Aaron Geezay in River Cess]
Funding for this story was provided by the Kyeema Foundation and Palladium. It was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Eleven contract holders studied in a recent review are not compliant with the laws and regulations of Liberia’s forestry sector. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By Gabriel M. Dixon
Monrovia – A review of forest concessions has found logging companies and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) violated the sector’s laws.
The report says none of the 11 logging concessions appraised was in good standing with sector laws. It says companies do not hold a forestry license, have a legal corporate identity, or post a performance bond. The review is a requirement under Liberia’s US$150 million agreement with Norway.
The report accuses the FDA of failing to ensure forestry is regulated and sustainably managed.
The FDA could not tell which of more than 70 logging companies are active or have met all legal requirements, it says.
The report, released recently, was produced by Forest Trends, an international organization that focuses on conservation research.
Researchers say the FDA does not have an adequate recordkeeping system to track legal compliance. Researchers had to get information from elsewhere to gather their findings.
The report also focuses on local communities’ benefits from their forests. It says forest people have received only US$3 million for an expected US$21 million in the last 15 years. Most social agreements between logging companies and community forests are not been met due to several reasons, including the lack of oversight and ineffective management systems.
The report points out that the FDA broke its laws and compromised the goal of forestry reforms. It says the agency awarded contracts to unqualified companies and individuals, including those debarred for their participation in the Private Use Permit (PUP) Scandal.
The PUP Scandal remains the biggest in forestry since the end of Liberia’s two timber-fueled civil wars, where over 2.5 million hectares of forestlands were illegally awarded.
Top: This cartoon depicts Minister of Justice-designate Cooper Kruah in a conflict of interest when he served as Minister of Posts and Telecommunications. Then Minister Kruah retained his shares in the Universal Forestry Corporation, which ran a forestry contract and held several mining licenses between 2018 and 2023. Illustration by Leslie Lomeh for The DayLight.
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA – Minister of Justice-designate Cooper Kruah is a repeated forestry offender, with his company involved in illegal logging operations dating back to the Liberian Civil War era.
Kruah’s Universal Forestry Corporation (UFC) was debarred from forestry in 2006, based on the United Nations Security Council’s recommendation
UFC crept its way back into the sector—with assistance from forestry authorities—and continued its illegal activities
UFC was involved in the infamous Private Use Permit Scandal in which it illegally received two permits at the detriment of local communities
Later, UFC signed an agreement with a community forest in Nimba. Then the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Kruah remained one of its shareholders—a violation of the Code of Conduct for Public Officials and forestry’s legal instruments
Kruah presented a fake document, which misspells his son’s name, to cover up his conflict of interest
UFC persisted with its offenses, abusing the rights of local people, conducting illegal harvesting and transport
MONROVIA – Cllr. Cooper Kruah, the Minister of Justice-designate, has a long history of being a forestry offender. His nomination contradicts the role of the Attorney General and undermines President Joseph Boakai’s expressed quest for accountability and the rule of law.
In his Inaugural Address, President Boakai promised to fight corruption and restore Liberia’s lost image in the comity of nations. Boakai restated that in his first State of the Nation Address.
Last month, Boakai appointed Kruah, a stalwart of the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction whose support was instrumental in the Unity Party’s victory in last year’s elections.
Kruah is expected to appear before the Liberian Senate for confirmation. If confirmed, his job would be to prosecute individuals for alleged wrongdoings, sign concessions for Liberia and conduct oversight of several government offices.
But desk research, based on official records, United Nations reports and previous investigations by The DayLight reveals that Kruah may not be the right person for the post. It shows Kruah has broken forestry laws repeatedly with impunity, making no efforts to atone for his wrongdoings.
Kruah has refused to grant The DayLight an interview in each of the two times the newspaper contacted him. He preferred not to be recorded on the matter, which goes against The DayLight’s editorial policy.
Wartime logging
Kruah established Universal Forestry Corporation (UFC) in 1986, holding 25 percent of the company’s shares, according to its article of incorporation at the Liberia Business Registry. One Peter Goankeh held 25 percent while the remaining 50 was outstanding.
UFC was active in the early 1990s and early 2000s when Liberia became known for “conflict timber” or “logs of war.” Warring factions traded timber for weapons in two civil wars that killed an estimated 250,000 people.
The trade violated several United Nations arms embargoes on Liberia, leaving the Security Council to impose sanctions on Liberian timber. To lift the sanctions, the Liberian government at the time submitted itself to reform led by the UN and national and international civil society organizations.
Following a review of forestry concessions in 2005, the administration canceled all logging contracts, including UFC’s. The review found that UFC was not compliant with the industry’s laws and that its contract was not even ratified by the Legislature.
As part of the reform agenda, UFC and 69 other companies were expelled from doing logging business in Liberia. That move was further carved in the 2007 Regulation on Bidder Qualifications, which partially debars individuals associated with wartime companies from forestry activities.
An Illegal Return
In 2007, UFC amended its legal documents to add new shareholders. Kruah retained five percent shares in the company and the others were distributed among four other people, including former presidential advisor Edward Slangar and two non-Liberians: Jin S. Kyung and B.J. Kim.
In 2007 and 2008, UFC signed two illegal MoUs with Geetroh in Sinoe and Rock Cess in River Cess for logging rights, respectively, according to a 2018 Global Witness report. The communities had not gotten their community forestry status when the MoUs were signed. A 2009 law gives communities the right to enter into contracts with loggers upon the approval of the FDA.
Three years later, Kruah hustled his way back into the sector. The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) ignored UFC’s wartime activities and its qualification regulation. UFC acquired two private use permits and logging rights granted for private lands.
But a two-year investigation by Global Witness, the Sustainable Development Institute and Save My Future Foundation found UFC and other companies were illegally awarded the permits. It became known as the Private Use Permit (PUP) Scandal.
A government-backed inquest uncovered a lot of irregularities with UFC’s PUPs. It found that UFC did not follow any legal processes, did not obtain an environmental permit and that fraudulent persons had posed to be the landowners of its contract areas.
It also found that UFC made payments into a personal bank account, its Grand Bassa PUP area was larger than the actual land size and the one in Sinoe was issued for communal, not private land.
A UN Security Council report revealed that UFC’s Sinoe permit covered the same area as Atlantic Resources, another company.
For the second time in its history, UFC’s permits were canceled alongside 62 others. The Managing Director of the FDA Moses Wogbeh was dismissed and prosecuted for his involvement in the scandal. A moratorium on the issuance of PUPs remains in force to this day.
Conflict of Interest
There is no public record of UFC’s activities after the PUP Scandal. However, UFC returned in 2020 with an agreement with the Sehzueplay Community Forest.
Kruah was the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications while serving as a shareholder and secretary of UFC’s board of directors when the agreement was signed.
Kruah tried to cover up his conflict of interest but ended up committing more wrongdoings. A 2019 document he claimed to be UFC’s amended article of incorporation was not recorded at the business registry as required by law. Also, UFC’s tax history at the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) did not show it paid taxes for the amendment. UFC’s legal document at the business registry still carries Kruah and his five percent shares.
On the left is the real article of incorporation of Universal Forestry Corporation (UFC). On the right is the fake one Justice Minister-designate Cooper Kruah presented in 2022.
Moreover, the content of UFC’s so-called amended article cemented the evidence of the document’s fakeness. The document misspelled the name of Kruah’s son. Instead of “Prince M. Kruah,” it read “Prince M. Kuah.”
Then FDA Managing Director Mike Doryen promised to act but failed to do so. Penalties for forgery in forestry are a fine between US$10,000 and three times the funds Kruah received from UFC, or a prison term of up to 12 months.
But Kruah did not know, or he ignored the fact that he would not have resolved his conflict of interest by transferring his shares to his son. The forestry reform law mandates him to relinquish, or turn over his shares to a blind trust or a person outside of his control.
Illegal harvesting
UFC carried out illegal logging and transport under his shareholdership. An August 2021 industry report found that UFC conducted “massive” illegal harvesting in and around the Sehzueplay Community Forest.
The report revealed that UFC was illegally transporting logs from Nimba to an illegitimate sawmill in Buchanan, Grand Bassa. Investigators suspected that UFC smuggled logs it had felled outside of Sehzueplay to the sawmill.
The DayLight had visited the forest and photographed some of the illegal logs mentioned in that report. It obtained a ranger’s memo to Kyung, UFC manager, informing him about the illegal felling.
“During our recent visit to your concession area, we discovered that you were doing illegal [felling]. You are fallen [trees] without being awarded a [harvesting] certificate,” the memo read, signed by Steve Kromah, the ranger responsible for forest contracts in the Tappita area.
The illegal harvesting was not UFC’s only offense. It unilaterally entered a subcontract with a logging firm. Sehzueplay or the FDA was not aware of the subcontract UFC signed with Ihsaan Logs Company (ILC), a forestry violation.
ILC is ineligible to conduct logging as Mohammed Paasewe, its co-owner, was still paying back funds he embezzled from the Liberian government when he served as Superintendent of Grand Cape Mount County.
The logs The DayLight photographed brandished, “UFC/ILC,” a reference to the unapproved subcontract.
Turns out, towns and villages that own the forest became the biggest victims. As of March 2022, UFC owed locals—and the government—US$155,000, the second-highest in the industry. It had yet to carry out a host of mandatory development projects there. That situation has not changed.
UFC illegally harvested logs in and out of the Sehzueplay Community Forest in Tappita District, Nimba County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Top: Korninga B Community Forest covers 31,318 hectares in the Bokomu District of Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Esau J. Farr
MANOWALLAH, Gbarpolu County – A community forest has canceled its contract with a logging company after denying locals their benefits and development.
Korninga B Community Forest in Bokomu District, Gbarpolu County had sued Indo Africa Plantation Limited for a breach of the agreement, according to court documents. The company reneged on the terms of the agreement and denied it several benefits and undermined development which led to a lawsuit.
“The third-party forest management agreement is hereby declared canceled as though same has never existed among and between the parties…,” said Judge Zubullah Kizeku of the 16th Judicial Circuit Court in Bopolu in its summary judgment ruling. A summary judgment is a final decision made by a court based on the statements and evidence without going to trial.
Aaron Mulbah, the chief officer of Korninga B, said he was happy the community has gotten back their forest.
“It didn’t come to me as a surprise, because of the proper documentation of our issues with Indo Africa and records shown [in] court,” Mulbah said.
Indo Africa did not respond to queries.
Korninga B signed a 14-year agreement with Indo Africa, a firm owned by a Singaporean family, the Guptas. Korninga B leased its 31,318-hectare forest to Indo Africa for a forest contract.
The company agreed to pay Korninga B US$46,977 as a land rental fee, US$30,000 for scholarships and US$25,000 for medical each year.
The company further promised to construct two handpumps in each town, a youth centre and a paramount chief’s office for affected communities.
But up to four years later, the company failed to harvest a single log to make the payments. That failure violated a clause in its contract and a provision in the Community Rights Law, prompting the lawsuit. The law requires companies to begin harvest within 18 months after the signing of the agreement.
In all, Korninga B received US$65,000 in land rental fees from Indo Africa, according to Mulbah.
The community used the fund to begin the construction of a guesthouse in Henry Town, the region’s most populated place.
Mambutu Dukuly, another community leader, said that based on their experience with Indo-Africa they would conduct background checks on companies before awarding any future contracts.
“We will be looking at their financial strength, records of work, relationship with communities and… payment…,” Dukuly said.
The cancellation of the deal, however, means affected communities still do not have a school or a clinic. Schoolchildren have to walk a long distance to Henry Town as Bopolu is even farther.
Patience Kumakeh, one of the decision-makers for Korninga B, said that will feature high in their next agreement.
“The community will be looking up to any company that will be willing to provide road reconditioning, the construction of clinics, school handpumps and educational support.”
Korninga B is not Indo Africa’s only failure. The company also abandoned a contract with Bondi Mandingo in Gbarpolu in the Bopolu District. It and Sing Africa, another company owned by the Guptas, are listed in a recent forestry review and are dormant.
Funding for this story was provided by the Kyeema Foundation and Palladium. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
Top: Korninga B Authorized Forest Community has sued Bea Mountain Mining Corporation for US$4.3 million in damages for alleged illegal entry and destruction of its woodland. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Esau J. Farr
TUBMANBURG, Bomi County – A community forest in Gbarpolu County has rejected Bea Mountain Mining Corporation’s proposal for a settlement in a US$6.3 million lawsuit against the company.
Bea Mountain proposes to pay the Korninga B Community Forest US$100,000, a US$65,000 mobile sawmill and a pair of chainsaws, according to the proposed settlement document seen by The DayLight.
Korninga B and Bea Mountain had agreed to the settlement in 2022 but the company pulled out of the arrangement, prompting the community to go to court. Locals filed for US$6.3 million action of damages over Bea Mountain’s alleged unauthorized entry and destruction of the forest.
Under the settlement agreement, seen by The DayLight, Bea Mountain offers to pay Korninga in two installments. The company agrees to deploy five staff to train the same number of townspeople to operate the sawmill, according to the document.
The settlement proposal also prohibits Bea Mountain from working in the forest and gives Korninga possession of the trees that Bea Mountain cleared.
Aaron Mulbah, the chief officer of Korninga, said they rejected the proposal because they had incurred expenses as a result of their lawsuit. “They have to go above that,” Mulbah told The DayLight.
Cllr. Kunkunyon Wleh Teh, Bea Mountain’s lead lawyer, declined an interview with The DayLight.
Verdict and Retrial
Korninga B’s lawsuit accuses Bea Mountain of felling over 2,800 logs to make a passage through the 78,624-acre forest in the Bokomu District to its mining sites, according to court documents. Bea Mountain is also accused of harvesting logs from the area to construct bridges, throwing some in valleys while burying others.
The company denies any wrongdoing, saying it only mined in areas covering its licenses, and that the community should instead pay it damages for allegedly obstructing its operations.
Following more than five months of legal battle, a six-man jury found Bea Mountain liable for wrongdoing.
But the court granted Bea Mountain’s petition for a retrial on grounds that jurors failed to take witnesses’ testimonies into account and ignored inconsistencies in testimonies, calling the US$5 million damages “grossly disproportionate.”
In early March 2022, Bea Mountain Mining Corporation allegedly illegally entered the Korninga B Community Forest in Bokomu District and felled several trees.
Under the Community Rights Law…, locals own and comanage forests adjacent to their communities alongside the Forestry Development Authority (FDA). The law is a breakaway from the past, where only the government and companies had a say in forestry. It guarantees locals’ right to forestland and prohibits unauthorized entry and use of forest resources.
The Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Court in Bopolu, Gbarpolu County, from where the case was transferred to Tubmanburg, Bomi County. The DayLight/Dougba McCay
Before going to court, Korninga informed Bea Mountain of its ownership of the forest and Bea Mounting’s alleged illegal actions. The two parties agreed that the company would pay the community US$165,000 for the damages and other things.
Ruth Varney, a representative of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) in the western region, had compiled a report on the alleged damages with the company’s funds, court documents show.
But Bea Mountain pulled out of the arrangement, which also included Keyah Saah, the Superintendent of Gbarpolu County. Angered by that, Korninga filed a US$4.3 million lawsuit against the company at the 16th Judicial Circuit Court in Bopolu, Gbarpolu County.
Bea Mountain’s defense team asked the court to dismiss the case. Its lawyers argued that locals did not have the right to sue the company and that it had legal mining licenses to operate in that area.
The three medium-scale mines in question are located in the same region as the Korninga B Community Forest. The licenses of two of the mines are held by MNG Gold, a company owned by Mehmet Nazif Günal, the Turkish billionaire who also owns Bea Mountain. The license for the other is held by Gbarpolu Mining Corporation, a Liberian-owned firm.
Prosecution lawyers led by Atty. Alston Armah asked the court not to grant the defense lawyers’ petition. Prosecution lawyers argued that Korninga had the authority to file the lawsuit. They added that the mining licenses were not owned by Bea Mountain.
The court in Bopolu agreed with Korninga and denied Bea Mountain’s petition, and the case proceeded. However, it was transferred to the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Tubmanburg, Bomi County after another petition by defense lawyers.
Bea Mountain has proposed to give Korninga B US$100,000, and other things as a settlement in a lawsuit against it. The DayLight/Charles Gbayor
There, prosecution lawyers told the court Bea Mountain broke the Community Rights Law… “The destruction of the forest with no knowledge of the legal community forest is causing [the community] pain, suffering, mental anguish and distress,” one court filing read.
Lawyers of Bea Mountain counterargued that the company and a partner legally obtained the three mining licenses it operates in that region. They said the Korninga forest leadership did not have the authority to sue the company, only its ancestral land leadership had. They said the investigation conducted by Varney was not legal or binding because she was not authorized to do so.
The court heard testimony from Yanquoi Dolo, the head of the FDA’s legal department. “The FDA did not communicate any official assessment report involving Korninga B Community Forest,” Dolo told the jurors.
Following final arguments, the six-man jury handed down a unanimous verdict against Bea Mountain in October last year. The jurors held Bea Mountain liable for US$1,311,401.21 in special damages and US$3 million in general damages.
Three days after the ruling, the company filed a petition for a new trial, citing inconsistencies in witnesses’ testimonies and that the jurors ignored some of their evidence.
Prosecution lawyers argued that documentary evidence and testimonials were sufficient to have the company liable for the damages. They said the jurors’ guilty verdict matched the evidence produced during the trial.
But, this time, the court ruled in favor of Bea Mounting, ordering a retrial. Judge Ciapha Carey said the inconsistencies favored the company as well as the fact not all the trees in question were scaled.
Unsatisfied with the ruling, lawyers representing Korninga B petitioned the Supreme Court for a review of the case. The high court affirmed Carey’s ruling for a new trial.
Mulbah said Korninga was awaiting a retrial.
“We are asking international partners, NGOs to help the community people in our case with Bea Mountain,” Mulbah said. “Bea Mountain feel that they have money… but the law is there.
Top: Jatoken Mining Inc. is one of several mining companies that have been awarded licenses to mine zircon sand in Liberia. Drone photograph by Derick Snyder
By Emmanuel Sherman and Tenneh Kieta
BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa County – Large holes and sand piles lie on the beachfront, not too far from the graves of some of the forefathers of Liberia, including Stephen Allan Benson, Liberia’s second president. Water seeps into the pits as the sunray hardens the sand piles like termite mounds.
Be not deceived for they are not a sign of renovation works on the final resting place of the pioneers. They are evidence of an illegal mining operation that once threatened the existence of this historic graveyard and its quiet, seaside neighborhood.
Last August, Jatoken Mining Incorporated, a majority-Chinese-owned company, arrived in Upper Buchanan with its machines. They began mining zircon sand, a mineral used in the ceramics and electronics industries. Locals call it black sand.
Locals were shocked. The representative of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and local authority had not informed them about Jatoken’s activities. Moreover, it is a violation to mine in a graveyard.
“When they [first] came they said they wanted to do prospecting on the beach because we have black sand,” recalled Joe Russell, the town chief of the Upper Buchanan community. “When they came again, they did not consult me and began digging.”
News of the operation claimed the attention of Dr. Laurence Bropleh, then a presidential advisor, who hails from that area. Bropleh helped stop Jatoken’s mineworkers. “They can seek other places to go,” Bropleh told The DayLight. “We are protecting the serenity and historicity of our place.”
The police and Emmanuel O. Sherman (no relation to the reporter), then the Deputy Minister for Operations at the Ministry of Mines, investigated the matter. A Chinese woman only identified as Caroline presented a mining license, according to Bropleh and other residents.
Sherman reviewed the document and told her it was fake, according to Bropleh, Eddie Williams, a representative of the Office of the Superintendent of Grand Bassa County, and other people. The police then drove the miners away.
The DayLight was not able to obtain a copy of the license in question. However, the newspaper photographed large mining pits, sand piles and earthmovers impressions Jatoken left behind, scarring Upper Buchanan’s pristine, grassy seafront.
Jatoken has never obtained a license to operate in Grand Bassa County, records of the Ministry of Mines show. All of its licenses are for Montserrado and Sinoe, according to the records.
The ministry’s records suggest that none of Jatoken’s zircon licenses has been surrendered, canceled, suspended, or placed under review as of February 3, 2024. An online repository run by the ministry tracks the statuses of licenses. The fact there is no entry in the system for Jatoken in Bassa proves the one Jatoken presented was fake.
When contacted, Sherman declined The DayLight an interview, forwarding the newspaper to Emmanuel Swen, then Assistant Minister for Mines. Swen said he did not have any idea about the issue and could not speak on it.
By law, the Ministry of Mines should have pressed charges against Jatoken. Forging a mining license is an offense under the Minerals and Mining Law of Liberia. Violators face between a US$1,000 and US$2,000 fine or a prison term of two to three months. However, the ministry rarely prosecutes anyone for a mining violation. The DayLight reported last year that Jatoken was ineligible to do business in Liberia due to its illegal papers but authorities took no action. Other illegal activities in River Cess, Montserrado and Nimba last year—one involving Minister of Justice-designate Cooper Kruah—suffered the same fate.
Official records show that Jatoken is one of the companies awarded zircon licenses across the country. That violates a 2012 moratorium on beach sand mining imposed to ease coastal erosion countrywide, with Buchanan the epicenter. The city has lost entire communities to violent waves scientists say are an impact of climate change. So far, Upper Buchanan has been spared and residents hope it stays that way.
“We are protecting Upper Buchanan. We are protecting Liberia,” Bropleh said.
“My house may go. I may be able to afford to build another house but what about the rest [of the people] and all the rich history?” He added.
Illegal company
The DayLight’s initial investigation on Jatoken found it amended its article of incorporation twice but failed to register the changes with the Liberia Business Registry. To prevent money laundering, terrorism financing and other crimes, the Business Association Law requires companies to register all changes in their legal documents.
Impact of sea erosion, Gbalaweh town, Kokowein, Buchanan, Grand Bassa The Daylight/Emmanuel Sherman
The investigation also found that Jatoken may have amended its article of incorporation without the consent of one of its owners, Tibelrosa Tarponweh, the former Margibi lawmaker.
Tarponweh and Jianjun Haung, a Chinese national, established the company in 2014, named after Tarponweh’s hometown in River Gee. The former Margibi lawmaker has 15 percent of the company’s shares and 85 percent of shares for the Jianjun, according to Jatoken’s article of incorporation with the business registry.
On July 3, 2019, Jatoken illegally amended its legal documents and transferred Tarponweh shares to another person. It did another unlawful amendment on September 29, 2021, its tax history shows.
But the former lawmaker said that he was unaware of those amendments. Tarponweh claimed that his signature on the company’s resolution to remove him as a shareholder was forged.
Swen did not dismiss Tarponweh’s accusation at the time. He promised to launch an investigation once Tarponweh filed a complaint with the ministry, though The DayLight provided evidence of the Jatoken’s disqualification.
In March last year, Tarponweh said he would lodge a complaint with the ministry and sue Jatoken for alleged forgery. He repeated that again in a phone interview with The DayLight last week. “Now that the elections are over I am ready to pursue my case,” Tarponweh said.
Effort to contact the Chinese woman only identified as Caroline, who is Jatoken’s manager, proved futile. She evaded several attempts by The DayLight for an interview, and did not respond to WhatsApp messages and a number of phone calls. It was The DayLight’s second failed attempt in a year to speak to a representative of Jatoken over a report on the company’s illegal activities.
Funding for this story was provided by the United States Embassy in Monrovia. The DayLight maintained editorial independence the story’s content.
