Top: The Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Wilmot Konah
GBARNGA, Bong County – A court said it will hear the case against four suspected timber smugglers who operated at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI).
Last week, Judge George S. Wiles Jr. denied a dismissal motion filed by a lawyer representing two Chinese Chaolong and Guoping Zang, a Turkish national Mehmet Onder Erem and their Liberian partner Terrentius Tidiboh Collins also known as Terrence Collins.
Defense lawyer Nathaniel Innis, Sr. had argued Forestry Development Authority’s board did not approve the lawsuit.
But Judge Wiles of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County said the petition was unlawful. “For a party asserting claim not to have legal capacity to sue, it must be done in accordance with our law and practice,” read the ruling.
The FDA is suing the men for a 12-month prison term, US$25,000 and the forfeiture of their equipment. The court has seized the equipment and thousands of timber the men left at CARI.
The suspects deny any wrongdoing, saying they operated legally.
Top: Men work at a palm oil mill formerly owned by Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO) now run by Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated (LNPI) without the approval of the Liberian government or the consent of local people. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Varney Kamara
SHAMPAY CAMP – Liberia National Produce Incorporated (LNPI), an oil palm company that encroached on an abandoned palm plantation in Sanquin District, Sinoe County about a year ago, continues to run the facility despite not meeting legal requirements, including the consent of the local landowners.
In 2022, LNPI purchased the 8,400-hectare palm plantation in the Sanquin District for about US$445,000 from Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO), which had abandoned the facility three years earlier. However, LNPI has not regularized the takeover to operate. A DayLight investigation in August found that the company forced residents out of the plantation with the aid of armed police officers.
Now two months after the investigation, LNPI continues to operate the facility. New evidence and interviews conducted by The DayLight show that LNPI is not compliant with several Liberian laws and international best practices.
This supports the Ministry of Agriculture’s claim that it was unaware of LNPI’s operations. Legally, the Inter-ministerial Concession Committee, including the Ministry of Agriculture, the Bureau of Concessions and the National Investment Commission (NIC), approves takeovers.
The DayLight has seen a copy of the LNPI draft concession agreement, without key signatures, including then-President George Weah and then-Minister of Finance Samuel Tweah’s.
In a September response to The DayLight’s queries, NIC appeared to corroborate the Ministry of Agriculture’s statement. “The Government of Liberia… provided consent to the transfer, contingent upon the new buyer’s commitment to resuscitate the plantation and ensure compliance with all applicable taxes and regulations under [the] Liberian law,” wrote the Executive Director of the NIC Melvin Sheriff.
Evidence of LNPI’s operations is aplenty. The DayLight witnessed workers active at a palm mill the company renovated, with smoke rising from the facility overhead. Fresh brushing spots along the main road to the Shampay Camp, where workers of the defunct Butaw Oil Palm Company lived. A giant-wheeled transporter plied the road.
Before announcing the takeover, LNPI secured an environmental permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after conducting an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) between February and May last year.
With the help of armed police, LNPI has forced camp dwellers out of the plantation and allegedly seized their personal belongings. Nestled between hills and forests, Shampay Camp once thrived and served as a palm oil hub. People in and out of the area exploit the plantation to produce palm oil.
“We are living in hell here. They always make us scared. They took my freedom mill machine and spoiled it. We have no space to breathe,” said Fatu Sheriff, an elderly woman.
“One man from the company came to my house. He told me that if I did not stop buying and selling oil on the camp, he would order the security to beat me and take me away from the camp by force,” Sheriff added.
“Then, I looked in his face and told him that if he wanted to, he should go ahead and kill me, but I was not taking one foot from my house to go anywhere.”
Smoke billows from a palm oil mill in Sanquin District, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Sheriff’s comments and others The DayLight heard validate townspeople the newspaper interviewed in June this year. LNPI did not return emailed queries in response to issues in this story.
LNPI proposes that locals allow the company to operate. In the document, seen by The DayLight, LNPI proposes to pay benefits to the community, including a monthly payment of US$1,000 to the community development fund, rental fees, and engaging in community development. Once these conditions are satisfied, the agreement allows for the company to operate without “any disturbance or embarrassment.”
“This is manually agreed by the parties that the monthly payments are an advance on any community’s obligations the company needs to pay once the concession agreement has been approved by the Government of Liberia,” reads the proposed MoU.
The local community rejects the proposed MoU.
“The company is operating on our land without authorization,” said Ericson Pyne, a youth leader in Tarsue Chiefdom. “We have repeatedly asked them to show us the concession agreement, but they have refused.”
The Sinoe County’s Superintendent Peter Wleh Nyensuah sides with the LNPI despite its glaring illegitimacy. In a letter to the Tarsue Chiefdom last month, Nyensuah urged locals to let the company operate.
“The Taruse community having received benefits under the now expired MoU from LNPI, the community lacks the standing to question the legitimacy of LNPI. The community can renew or renegotiate another MoU through the Office of the Superintendent,” read Nyensuah’s letter. Locals had filed a complaint with the Superintendent’s Office, expressing dissatisfaction over the company’s failure to present its concession agreement.
The people of Tarsue Chiefdom in Sanquin District, Sinoe County are unaware of the operations of Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated (LNPI). The DayLight/Varney Kamara
Nyensuah’s comments are not based on facts. In the MoU he referenced, the Tarsue Chiefdom did not empower the company to run the plantation. Instead, it granted LNPI the sole right to purchase palm oil from locals.
‘Organic palm oil’
LNPI’s involvement with the plantation violates the Land Rights Act and the principles and criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a watchdog writing rules for the global oil palm industry.
Both the law and the RSPO rules recognize ancestral land ownership and communities’ right to consent to projects intended for their lands. Liberia created the law in 2018 and adopted the RSPO rules three years later. This means they were not nonexistent when EPO took over the plantation from Liberia Forest Produce Incorporated in 2008.
James Otto, a lead campaigner at the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), urges LNPI to inform the community of its intent to operate on their land and obtain a concession agreement.
“The company needs to have a well-designed concession negotiation through the FPIC process,” said Otto, whose NGO helped lodge the successful complaint against GVL in 2013 for communities. “The company needs to provide all the proper information to the community.
“There should be a formal lease agreement between the company and the landowners before the company starts operation,” added Otto.
LNPI is noncompliant with the Beneficial Ownership Regulation, which requires businesses in Liberia to declare their beneficial owners or the human beings who own them. This rule helps combat everything from money laundering to terrorist financing.
LNPI is a subsidiary of Konnex Investments Limited, with 51 percent of the company’s shares. The remaining 49 percent unsubscribed, according to LNPI’s articles of incorporation. However, the Liberia Business Registry said it did not have a list of the company’s owners, violating the regulation.
Also, there is no record of Konnex Investments Ltd. on the official public registry of all British firms. Konnex is not on OCCRP aleph, operated by the Organized Crimes and Corruption Reporting Project, one of the world’s largest public databases of companies.
A screenshot of a LinkedIn post of Uday Pilani, Konnex Investments Ltd.’s owner, claiming to be RSPO-complaint, producing organic palm oil and uplifting indigenous communities.
In a LinkedIn post last year, Uday Pilani, LNPI’s chairman per its website, identified himself as the owner of Konnex Investments Ltd. Pilani claims that the company uplifts indigenous communities, is RSPO-complaint and produces organic palm oil.
But the claims are the exact opposite of the company’s activities.
LNPI deceived locals into signing an MoU likely to gain control of the plantation before informing them about its takeover. It even violated the terms of the deceptive deal by extending it by several months.
That conduct breaks the RSPO’s first rule that requires oil palm companies to operate ethically and transparently. Because of the breach of that rule, the RSPO ordered Golden Veroleum Liberia to renegotiate an MoU with Tarjuwon, Butaw, and other areas after it was found GVL guilty of disrespecting those communities’ right to consent.
Then Pilani’s organic palm claim is not consistent with the definition of the phrase. Organic palm oil production involves sustainable farming that is environmentally responsible, socially equitable, economically viable, and prevents deforestation while protecting workers’ rights and the welfare of local communities, according to the RSPO. In contrast, LNPI’s activities undermine the descriptions of organic palm oil.
The Ministry of Justice, which negotiates concessions agreements, said it was investigating LNPI’s operations.
Top: Lofa authorities have stopped collecting L$1,000 on trucks transporting planks within and out of the county following a DayLight series. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Mason Kollie
VIONJAMA – There is evidence an illegal toll system for planks transported within and out of Lofa County, introduced by former Superintendent William Tamba Kamba, has been abolished.
Kamba announced scrapping the so-called Superintendent toll last year, following a DayLight investigation, admitting to its illegality. Yet, Lofa County Accountant Garmai Kennedy, one of the scheme’s masterminds, continued to collect the fees up to May.
But that has changed since another DayLight investigation exposed Kennedy. Interviews with key players in the chainsaw milling subindustry in the county and months of observation show the collections have been halted.
“Immediately we got the publication from your newspaper, we stopped the process,” said Superintendent Lavala Massaquoi in a DayLight interview.
“No more toll collection in Lofa County for now,” said Sekou Kamara, the chairman of the Lofa County’s branch of the Liberia Chainsaw and Timber Dealers Union (LICSATDUN).
Between May and now, this reporter observed Kennedy no longer collected L$1,000 for a truckload of planks. Kennedy has also stopped enforcing the illegal payment at plank posts in Voinjama.
This reporter did not find collectors previously posted at a Forestry Development Authority (FDA) checkpoint in Voinjama. Inquiries at checkpoints in Zorzor and Salayea showed the same result.
“As for me, I [don’t] want lie, the way the woman and her agents used to run behind us from checkpoint to checkpoint and all in the corners, I [don’t] see them again,” Selekie Turay, a trucker.
“Only the FDA fee I can pay to the checkpoint. I traveled more than two times and nobody can collect superintendent fees from me,” Turay added.
Only the FDA and LICSATDUN collect fees on each plank transported within the country, per the Chainsaw Milling Regulation.
Counties can levy fees on planks under the Local Government Act. However, that power lies in the county council, a governance body that comprises chiefs, the youth and the disabled community.
Kennedy denies any wrongdoing. She claims she used the fees to buy a flag and underwrote senior staff’s travel costs, presenting no evidence.
Massaquoi said the county was investigating to confirm that claim. “‘No business as usual,’” he said, referencing the Boakai administration’s anti-corruption slogan. “If she is guilty, the law will punish her.”
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ)
Top: Some members of the network’s leaders at the Second National Land Conference last month in Ganta, Nimba County. The DayLight/ Harry Browne
By Esau J. Farr
GANTA, Nimba County – Communities in rural Liberia seek a customary deed to their ancestral lands but are plagued by boundary disputes.
Now, a new group, the Southeast Regional Network of Community Land Development and Management Committees, has been established to help resolve border conflicts and enable communities to acquire deeds much faster.
“We will identify the concerns and claims of communities, [and] involve the elders and traditional people for a peaceful resolution…,” says Augustine Dweh, chairperson of the network. Dweh spoke to The DayLight at the sidelines of the Second National Land Conference in Ganta last month.
“We understand that land disputes scare away development and that’s why we want to be serious about resolving disputes in our communities for us to live in peace,” adds Dweh.
Dweh’s community, Chedepo District, River Gee, does not have any dispute with its neighbors. However, several southeastern communities do. For instance, Lower Bokon, a clan in Sinoe’s Jaedae District, has had its quest for a deed stalled due to an issue with Neekleakpo, a town on the Grand Kru border.
Established this year, the network has more than 70 communities seeking a customary deed, according to the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), the Margibi-based NGO that helped form it.
The Land Rights Act of 2018 gives communities ownership of customary land, but their ownership must be formalized by meeting certain requirements.
The process begins with locals self-identifying as a landowning community. They are required to create a bylaw and constitution, organize a governance body and cut boundaries with their neighbors. Then the Liberia Land Authority should conduct an official survey and present that community a customary deed.
The network also seeks to build its members’ capacity and increase awareness of land rights and issues.
Communities in Liberia heavily depend on over a dozen NGOs and development institutions to guide them through legal requirements for customary land deeds.
To date, 30 communities have been issued deeds, according to the Land Authority. In addition, 21 statutory deeds have been issued, 50 communities have completed the survey process, and five are waiting for their deeds.
There is a growing call for the Land Authority to fast-track the process, while NGOs criticize the regulator for prioritizing certain communities. The Land Authority blames the delay on poor funding and the lack of coordination with NGOs.
SDI helped form the network with funding from the US-based Rights and Resources Institute (RRI). The network intends to use peaceful traditional means to resolve existing and future boundary conflicts without the direct involvement of NGOs.
Members of the SRNCLDMC and SDI’s staff. Photo credit: Sustainable Development Institute (SDI)
“Due to the absence of a regional and national body of the land sector, issues and challenges from the communities are difficult to handle or address,” says Daniel Wehyee, the coordinator of SDI’s community land protection program.
“The coming together of the communities will provide [them] opportunities to mobilize resources and strengthen its operations,” adds Wehyee. He says the establishment of the network presents an opportunity for community land rights actors to come together and champion their cause.
Last month, members of the network elected Dweh as chair, Mamie Freeman of Sinoe co-chair, and Jacob Nyamah of Maryland secretary general. Relevance Zeon of Grand Gedeh took the financial secretary position, while Tetoe Davis of River Cess and Anabel Sewon of Grand Kru clinched treasurer and chaplain, respectively.
The network seeks funding from national and international partners for the empowerment of its members at all levels. Lack of logistical support and funding to empower CLDMCs across the country delays customary land formalization processes.
“If we have bikes to visit our regional communities,” Dweh says, “it will help us settle boundary disputes to fast-track customary land formalization process.”
Top: Sinoe County’s Superintendent Peter Wleh Nyensuah supports the illegal operations of Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated (LNPI) without the Liberian government’s approval. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Varney Kamara
GREENVILLE – Sinoe County’s Superintendent Peter Wleh Nyensuah is backing an oil palm company’s illegitimate operations against a local community demanding its rights and holding the firm accountable.
In 2022, Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated (LNPI) purchased a palm plantation in the Tarsue Chiefdom of Sanquin District from Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO). However, LNPI operates the plantation without the Liberian government’s approval, sparking a protest.
In a letter last month, seen by The DayLight, Nyensuah urged Tarsue to sign an MoU LNPI proposes, dismissing the community’s concerns over rights abuses and the LNPI’s illegitimacy.
“It is my strongest anticipation that you will work with the investors in our communities,” wrote Nyensuah. He even suggested he was open to playing a role in negotiating the MoU or drafting a new one.
Nyensuah had launched an investigation after tension brewed in the area following the community’s complaint.
He based his decision partly on a previous MoU that locals had signed with LNPI. “The Tarsue community having received benefits under the now expired MoU from LNPI, the community lacks the standing to question the legitimacy of the LNPI,” Nyensuah added.
But his reason for his decision is faulty. The document he referenced only gave LNPI an exclusive right to purchase oil from local producers, not to operate the plantation. A DayLight investigation established that LNPI likely used the document to gain control of the plantation during last year’s heated presidential elections.
In his finding, Nyensuah claimed that the government and LNPI amended the 2008 EPO concession agreement in March. However, there is no public record to support that claim.
Men at work at and palm oil mill in Shampay Camp, Tarsue Chiefdom. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
The government and LNPI have said the company’s operations have not been authorized. The Ministries of Agriculture and Justice, responsible for authorizing oil palm concessions, said it was unaware of LNPI’s operations. LNPI itself admitted that in a June interview with this newspaper, a fact it included in the draft MoU to Tarsue.
‘Bogus MoU’
Nyensuah’s unlawful decision has inflamed the situation in Tarsue and may have soured his relationship with the community.
“We are rejecting the MoU because it is a bogus agreement. We want to see LNPI’s Concession Agreement with the government,” said Ericson Pyne, a youth leader. We want to see their letter of authorization.
“I think Superintendent Nyensuah is not capable of leading this county because, as a leader of the county, before coming up with such a proposal, you must have properly read and understood previous agreements. We totally disagree with his suggestion,” added Pyne.
Pyne’s comments reflect the views of the people of Tarsue who have endured threats and intimidations at the hands of LNPI, with armed police forcing people out of the plantation.
Top: Participants of USFS’ timber identification workshop at CSIR-FORIG in Kumasi, Ghana. Picture credit: United States Forest Service
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA – The United States Forest Service (USFS) has sponsored the training of seven Liberian foresters in identifying timber species using science-based technology through smartphones as part of the institution’s commitment to supporting Liberia in combating illegal timber harvesting and trading.
Drawn from the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), the University of Liberia and the Forestry Training Institute (FTI), participants acquired skills to identify various commercial timber species with the Agritix Xylorix mobile app. The technology is used worldwide for timber tracking and networking.
“As part of the response to address illegal timber trafficking in Liberia, the US Forest Service is providing technical and logistical support to strengthen the capacity of in-country stakeholders, including government ministries, agencies and civil society organizations to achieve Liberia’s policy objectives,” said Dr Benedictus Freeman, USFS Liberia’s Country Coordinator.
Illegal timber trafficking has been on the rise for several years in Liberia, with traffickers exploiting the industry’s capacity gaps. “Kpokolo,” the newest form, involves traffickers shaping timber into blocks and smuggling them through containers, robbing communities and the Liberian government of revenue.
Illegal logs held by the FDA at the Klay checkpoint in Bomi. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
The workshop’s participants acquired skillsets in wood anatomy, imaging, and using the Agritix Xylorix platforms to review timber’s macroscopic features.
“A lot was achieved in wood anatomy,” said Moses Wenyanpulu of the FDA’s Research and Development Department.
“Like every human, every wood species has a unique and distinct fingerprint called anatomical features found within the wood structure. Understanding these features are very critical to properly identifying timber or lumber,” Wenyanpulu added.
USFS has been active in Liberia since 2003, alongside the USAID on several projects.
Apart from its anti-timber trafficking project, it has helped develop FTI’s curriculum, provided teaching assistance to the institute, and supported students’ programs. USFS also supports the ecotourism development of the East Nimba Nature Reserve and the Lake Piso Multiple Use Reserve.
GVL has lied about its operations several times in the last five months. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA—In August, The DayLight started a series of investigations into Golden Veroleum Liberia’s (GVL) operations. The newspaper has published over a dozen stories, pinpointing GVL’s abuse of communities’ rights and degradation of the environment.
Amid overwhelming evidence, the newspaper has published—documents, pictures/videos and interviews—GVL vehemently denies any wrongdoing.
But often those denials include false claims in attempts to mislead the public, as the company defends its well-documented, tainted record.
Behold six of the lies GVL has told in the last five months as the result of The DayLight’s reporting:
Must Seek Communities’ Consent to Share MoU
GVL has a list of MoUs it signed with communities on its website but the documents are not downloadable.
Before that first story, The DayLight asked the company for copies of the MoUs. However, GVL’s spokesman Alphonso Kofi denied the newspaper’s request.
In July, Alphonso Kofi, GVL’s spokesman, said that local communities needed to consent before the company could share the documents. “It can be shared if we obtained written consent for the communities,” wrote Kofi in an email.
Kofi’s claim contradicts the Freedom of Information Act and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s rules, known as principles and criteria.
Under the FOI Act, MoUs arising from concession agreements are public records.
Likewise, the first principle and criterion of the RSPO requires GVL to comply with such national law, and such documents are “made publicly available.” It even mandates GVL to keep records of requests for information and responses.
Concealing the MoU and GVL’s flawed interpretation of the document appears as a strategy to misinform the public. The DayLight obtained the documents from elsewhere, uncovering the company’s wrongdoings.
Unclear Responsibility to Maintain Hand Pumps
In response to the first part of The DayLight’s series in August—exposing GVL’s failure to build and maintain hand pumps in Tartweh-Drapoh, Sinoe County—GVL claimed that the MoU with the chiefdom was unclear as to who was responsible for maintaining the facilities.
A GVL signboard in Tartweh-Drapoh Chiefdom, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
“GVL acknowledges feedback from communities that some hand pumps that it has constructed are not operating properly and require maintenance,” it said in a press release. “We also recognize that more clarity is needed to define who is responsible for maintaining pumps built by GVL and other parties.”
That claim contravenes the MoU. There is no need for clarity as the document plainly obligates GVL to build and repair the pumps, and even train locals to maintain the facilities.
Environmental Audit Found No Issues
In the same August press release, GVL claim that a DayLight report that a routine, independent audit found the company’s operations of a palm oil mill in the Tarjuwon District polluted water sources.
“We also ensure that water testing is done annually by an independent party as required by EPA regulations, read the press release. “Recent assessments conducted in 2023 and 2024 did not identify any issues. The results are available to the public.”
Turns out, the audit found the exact opposite: improper management of wastewater led to pollution of watercourses in the area. It revealed that there was a high risk of runoffs from poorly managed empty palm husks empying into waterways. A University of Liberia laboratory test showed an illegal level of phosphate and other substances in water samples harmful to humans.
An elevated view of GVL’s plantation in Tarjuwon, Sinoe County, showing three wastewater ponds an environmental audit found to be mismanaged. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Also, water quality testing is done once every two years, not once every year.
A characteristically adamant GVL repeated the false claim earlier this month. The company accused The DayLight of inaccuracies and misleading views, without providing evidence.
Environmental Audit ‘Identified Recommendations’
In a press release earlier this month, GVL made more false claims, lessening the magnitude of the report’s findings. “While positive of GVL’s overall environmental record, the Tarjuwon [audit] identified a number of recommendations for improvement…,” read the release.
On the contrary, audit exposed a long queue of violations of GVL’s environmental permit and the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia. It did not merely recommend as GVL implies. GVL mentioned “recommendation” five times in publication, avoiding the report’s walloping, negative findings.
The report even found that GVL had backslide on gains in a 2019 audit, and that it had not implemented auditors’ recommendations.
Takes Community Complaints Seriously
GVL claims that it takes community grievances seriously, stating a self-styled commitment to addressing complaints. It claimed in a release last month that it welcomed and addressed complaints.
The 2019 audit report supports that claim. However, the Tarjuwon audit report shows that GVL has relapsed in that part of its operations. Auditors graded the company 50-75 percent from a perfect score.
An April 2024 environmental audit report found speedy GVL trucks leave dust, a foul odor and dead domestic animals in their wake. It said GVL did not take communities’ complaint seriously, grading the company’s redress mechanism 50 – 75 percent. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Land Authority ‘Decided Results’ of Land Dispute
In a periodic report to the RSPO last month, GVL appeared to suggest that the Liberia Land Authority had resolved a boundary dispute between the Du-Wolee Nyennue Township and the Numopoh District.
GVL claimed that the Land Authority would communicate “the result to both communities… in [the fourth quarter] of 2024 with new government officials.”
But the Land Authority dismisses those claims. The Chairman of the Land Authority Adams Manobah told The DayLight it was far from an outcome.
“We have not done that yet. The last solution we have is to go back and do the surveying and establish the boundary between the two communities,” Manobah said. “We are still waiting for the concession to provide the support so that we can have a definitive line between the two communities.”
The Green Livelihood Alliance provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
Top: A GVL truck transporting palm bunches in January 2023. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Matenneh Keita
DU-WOLEE, Sinoe County – Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) is progressing with a new MoU with affected communities in Sinoe’s Kpanyan District. However, that progress comes six years after the deadline given by the global oil palm industry’s regulator.
In 2018, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) ordered GVL to turn its current MoU with the Du-Wolee Nyennue Township into a permanent one within a month. The RSPO threatened to terminate GVL’s membership with the regulator, which could hurt the company’s brand.
But over six years after that order, GVL has not signed the new MoU, though it has recently relatively complied. The company presented locals with a daft MoU for the township’s input, according to several people The DayLight interviewed.
“We went to work, we finished with everything. Now we are coming to carry [the MoU] to them,” said Stephen Browne, Du-Wolee land rights committee’s chairman.
Progress followed pressure from the community. Augustine Jerbo, a member of Du-Wolee’s MoU committee, said townspeople had given GVL a year to draft the MoU. In March last year, the company presented the draft.
Liberia’s largest oil palm company, GVL signed a 65-year agreement with the country in 2010, covering 220,000 hectares of land in Sinoe, Maryland, Grand Kru, River Gee and River Cess. The deal costs US$1.6 billion.
After the agreement, GVL signed an MoU with Du-Wolee Nyennue, guaranteeing the company over 2,367 hectares in the township. However, it obligates GVL to build clinics, schools and roads, and provide water for communities affected by its operations.
In 2013, Du-Wolee Nyennue joined other communities to file a complaint against GVL with the RSPO. The township accused GVL of encroaching on their land and coercing them to sign an MoU.
In 2018, the RSPO confirmed the accusations and ordered GVL to redo the MoU. The watchdog commanded GVL to work with the Liberian government to settle boundary disputes related to lands it sought to develop.
GVL is complying with the order, based on documents and interviews with representatives of the townspeople.
The National Bureau of Concessions (NBC) is working with the communities to develop the MoU. “We are right now at the point of finalizing the type of MoU,” then-Director General Edwin Dennis told The DayLight in July.
“Either we consolidate all those MoUs into one MoU, addressing all of the issues or keeping [the MoU] community-specific,” Dennis added. He said NBC’s legal department worked with the communities but disclosed he was unaware of the RSPO’s order.
Similarly, GVL has obeyed the RSPO’s order not to develop 463 hectares between Du-Wolee Nyennue and its neighbor Numopoh. However, there is an issue regarding a claim the company made last month.
A GVL truck transports palm bunches. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
In a recent report, GVL appears to mislead the RSPO that the Liberia Land Authority had “decided” on the conflict’s “results.” The company said it would communicate the results to both communities between now and the end of the year.
But in an interview on the sidelines of the just-ended National Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County, the Chairman of the Land Authority Adams Manobah dismissed GVL’s claim.
“We are still waiting for the concession to provide the support so that we can have a definitive line between the two communities. Until that is done, the issue is not really resolved yet,” Manobah told The DayLight.
Proforest, a UK nonprofit, worked with the Land Authority, the NBC and other government institutions over the dispute.
Earlier in May this year, Proforest presented its findings, according to an RSPO document. The document said the RSPO would determine the findings.
Also, GVL has been late with reports on its compliance with the RSPO’s order. late. The company only filed the April-June report earlier last month, over 60 days after the quarter ended. It did the same for the January-March report. Typically, quarterly reports are made up to two weeks after the end of each quarter.
In all, GVL celebrates the progress. “We have actively reviewed all of our MOUs and are working directly with communities to provide clarity and resolution in cases where commitments are disputed or have not been fulfilled,” it stated in an August email.
The MoU is currently with the Du-Wolee MoU committee, according to Daddy Nyenswah, its chairman. Nyenswah said Du-Wolee Nyennue’s residents had made input in the document and next was the Monrovia-based citizens of the township.
“When this MoU is signed…, we hope that all that has been placed in the MoU should come to pass,” said Jerboe, Nyenswah’s colleague.
“It should not be like the first one that GVL is not complying with most of the things that were placed there.”
Green Livelihoods Alliance provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
Top: The Chairman of the Liberia Land Authority Adams Manobah speaks at the Second Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By James Harding Giahyue
GANTA, Nimba County – The Liberia Land Authority has refuted a claim by Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), suggesting the government had settled a boundary dispute between two communities in Sinoe County.
In a recent report to Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which regulates the oil palm industry worldwide, GVL claimed the Land Authority had “decided” on the conflict between the Du-Wolee Nyennue Township and the Numopoh District.
“The communication session on the result to both communities will be [carried] out in [the fourth quarter] of 2024 with new government officials,” GVL said in the report.
But in an interview with The DayLight on the margins of the just-ended Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County, the Chairman of the Land Authority Adams Manobah rejected GVL’s assertions. Manobah said the Land Authority had conducted meetings with the two communities but was far from an outcome.
“We have not done that yet,” said Manobah.
“The last solution we have is to go back and do the surveying and establish the boundary between the two communities,” Manobah added.
“We are still waiting for the concession to provide the support so that we can have a definitive line between the two communities.”
GVL’s palm plantation covers thousands of hectares in Sinoe, Maryland, Grand Kru, River Gee and River Cess. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Manobah’s comments confirmed those of representatives of one of the communities. Augustine Jerbo and Daddy Nyenswah, two community leaders in Du-Wolee Nyennue, want the Land Authority to conduct the survey and end the impasse.
“This thing needs to come to an end,” said Nyenswah.
The RSPO had ordered GVL not to develop the 463-hectare land and to work with the Liberian government to resolve the issue in 2018. The order was part of the watchdog’s decision against the company for developing farmlands without locals’ consent.
GVL reports quarterly to the RSPO on the status of its implementation of the decision, over six years after the deadline.
[Additional reporting by Esau J. Farr, Derick Snyder and Matenneh Keita]
The Green Livelihoods Alliance provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
Top: Lower Bokan awaits the resolution of a border dispute between Sinoe and Grand Kru Counties to obtain its customary land deed. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Harry Browne
DIYANKPO, Sinoe County – An unsolved boundary issue between two towns in Sinoe and Grand Kru Counties is stalling a clan’s pursuit of a customary land deed.
Diyankpo, a town in the Lower Bokon Clan in Jaedae District, Sinoe County, has a boundary dispute with Neeklakpo in Grand Kru County. Lower Bokon is pursuing a customary land deed but has seen its efforts stall due to the disputed area, approximately 8,000 hectares.
“We could not proceed with the survey. We had to put a halt to it, come to town, and see how we can resolve the conflict before going back in the field,” says Dr. Mahmoud Solomon, the Acting Commissioner of the Land Authority’s Department of Land Administration. Solomon says Diyankpo and Neeklakpo recognized two different boundaries that must be harmonized.
“Diyankpo one of the towns in Sinoe County is showing points that belong to their land that falls in Grand Kru. Neeklakpo is showing points in Sinoe County that belong to Grand Kru,” Solomon adds.
Solomon discloses that the Land Authority engaged the Liberia Institute for Geo-Information Services (LIGIS), the National Election Commission and the National Legislature—all of whom have county border data—to resolve the dispute.
“The Acts that created those counties will be able to show the boundary. Even though it will not be clearly defined it will give us an idea of the commencement and all those towns that fall within a particular clan,” Solomon explains. He says the matter would be resolved soon.
‘It was so difficult’
Lower Bokon borders the Beah Clan along the Dugbe River. Beah Clan had recognized another boundary apart from the one both clans had recognized for generations. However, the Beah Clan later dropped its contention, ending the conflict.
A map of Lower Bokon Clan by the Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI). File picture
Lower Bokon had another situation with Neejlah Clan resolved in an MoU last December. Both parties now agree a local hill is their boundary. They have decided to use the boundary for future surveys, and that residents who violate the MoU be called out.
“It was so difficult in [resolving the boundary issues]. Other communities would say this is the boundary and other communities would disagree,” recalls David Sonpon, the chairman of the Lower Bokon Community Land and Development Committee.
“Some people, whenever you reach a boundary harmonization stage, they want to claim another side. That is the problem,” adds Matthew Weseh, a mobilizer with the Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI).
FCI has worked with Lower Bokon since 2019. The NGO’s work with the clan is part of a US$3.45 million project funded by the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility. The Margibi-based NGO also works in the same district as Gboyonnoh Karmbo, which awaits the Land Authority to survey the clan’s land area to get a deed.
A boy head-carries a container of water in Diyankpo, Lower Bokon Clan. The DayLight/Matenneh Keita
‘There must be an agreement’
Home to over 5,000 people in the Jaedae District, Lower Bokon identified itself as a landowning community in 2019. In these five years, it has established a governance body, the Community Land Development and Management Committee (CLDMC). It has bylaws and a constitution, and mapped its 7,283-hectares land, according to FCI.
The clan has a rich culture. Kru is the dominant language. There is a traditional council that is headed by a chair. The highest traditional person is the High Priest, who conducts the Poro Society or the school for men. The leader of the clan is the Clan Chief, while the heads of towns are the Town Chiefs. Beans cannot be planted on the clan’s land, and no one builds a house or hut there with thatches.
Road connectivity is a problem for the 13-town Lower Bokon Clan. Some of the communities—such as Sunshine, Diyankpo, Sunday Village, and Konwonkpo—are accessible by vehicle while Neponklee is by bike only. The roads to the rest of the communities are by walking.
Once the boundary dispute with Neeklakpo is resolved, Lower Clan will be ready to get its customary land deed. It has forests and a huge potential for gold. The Land Rights Act of 2018 empowers communities to own lands where their ancestors lived.
Residents of Lower Bokon welcome an opportunity to manage and benefit from their land, a right they have even without a deed.
“Before you can get into our forest, there must be an agreement,” says Theresa Wleh, the chairlady of Diyankpo and widow of four children. “When there is no agreement, we will not allow you to get into our forest.”
