Top: Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated’s workers at a renovated prewar palm oil mill in the Tarsue Chiefdom of Sanquin District, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Varney Kamara
By Varney Kamara
KOMMANAH TOWN, Sinoe County – After nearly four years of illegal occupancy, villagers in a southeastern chiefdom are demanding the departure of an oil palm company from their ancestral land.
Early this month, aggrieved residents from various clans and sections in the Tarsue Chiefdom of Sanquin District, Sinoe County staged a peaceful protest at the headquarters of Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated (LNPI), an Indian-Liberian investment, demanding its immediate withdrawal from their land.
In a six-count petition, locals accused LNPI of intruding on their land and intimidating residents.
“Based on these reasons, the citizens of Tarsue, including elders, women, youth, and traditional leaders, will not sign any agreement with Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated,” the petition stated. “The citizens of Tarsue demand that LNPI leave the plantation so that we can develop our land and improve our livelihoods.”
Representative Alex Noah, whose electoral district Tarsue falls, has appealed for one month to mediate the dispute. Locals granted his appeal, temporarily easing the tension, and suspended a three-day ultimatum for the company to evacuate the palm estate. However, residents have vowed to resume their protest once the negotiation period expires.
“After the one-month grace period requested by the honorable representative, the company must either leave our land or face escalated community action,” said Ericson Pyne, the chief spokesperson of Tarsue in Kommanah Town, Tarsue’s headquarters.
“LNPI must leave,” Pyne told The DayLight. “We have endured their presence for over three years, and they cannot fulfill their obligations. The community is prepared to take further steps if necessary.”
Noah’s intervention differs sharply from Superintendent Peter Wleh Nyensueh’s solution. Last October, Nyensueh dismissed the locals’ demand that LNPI vacate the plantation, claiming chiefs and elders had waived by signing an initial MoU with LNPI. But he was wrong as the MoU he cited was for LNPI to purchase locals’ palm oil, not to acquire the plantation.
‘We Cannot Keep Fighting Forever’
Amid the dispute, LNPI has expressed willingness to negotiate with the community. Acknowledging challenges since its arrival, the company promised improvements should negotiations resume.
“The community is our landlord. We have to negotiate and find a peaceful resolution,” said Baccus Wiah, LNPI’s spokesperson. “We cannot keep fighting forever.”
Wiah’s comments are a turnaround from the company’s previous stance. Until now, LNPI has failed to recognize the community’s right to the land and required consent, even though he admits that the company operates illegally.
Initially welcomed by locals as a much-needed investor, LNPI’s presence in Tarsue quickly turned sour, leading to rising tensions and confrontations. The company had hidden its intent to purchase the plantation, signing an oil purchasing MoU with chiefs and elders instead.
But a series of DayLight investigations last year shed light on LNPI’s deception and illegality, inspiring the community to hold LNIP accountable.
LNIP unauthorizedly renovated a prewar palm oil mill in Tarsue Chiefdom, Sinoe County, as part of the company intrusion into an abandoned palm plantation. The DayLight /Varney Kamara
Shrouded in Secrecy
In February 2022, Konnex Investments Limited, LNPI’s parent company, purchased an abandoned palm plantation from Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO) for US$445,000. However, the agreement has not been approved by the Liberian government, and the community did not consent to LNPI’s operations.
Despite guidance from the Liberia Land Authority, LNPI pushed ahead with its operations, violating the Land Rights Act of 2018, which mandates community approval before land occupation. The law grants communities the right to own and manage land based on customary practices.
Tarsue residents only became aware of the deal in March 2023—nine months after LNPI convinced them to sign a six-month oil palm purchasing agreement. The MoU allowed LNPI to buy a five-gallon container of palm oil for L$1,300 and L$1,500.
The company paid the community US$6,000 and paved a major road but the deal lasted three months beyond the agreed period.
Despite warnings from locals about the MoU violations, LNPI continued its operations unchecked, provoking community anger. Since then, LNPI has forcibly controlled the plantation, including renovating a prewar palm oil mill. Backed by armed police officers, it evicted residents, ignoring their land ownership rights and the legal requirement for consent.
Top: Clarence Massaquoi, the owner of Bassa Logging and Timber Company, and co-owner of C&C Corporation. By his admission, Massaquoi worked in the logging sector before January 2006, making him ineligible. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Emmanuel Sherman
Editor’s Note: This story is the second part of a series on illegalities associated with a newly established community forest in Compound Two, Grand Bassa County.
Evidence suggests the FDA conducted a flawed process that established the Mavasagueh Community Forest in Bassa
Then a DayLight investigation found several forestry offenses committed and associated with Clarence Massaquoi, the logger authorized to operate the unlawful community forest
Massaquoi owes US$56,550 from a previous contract in Grand Cape Mount, leaving hundreds of logs in the forest to rot
Massaquoi is a wartime logger, which makes his forestry activities and ownership of his companies illegal
Massaquoi is also the Manager of an ineligible forestry company in Buchanan, Grand Bassa
VAMBO, Grand Bassa County – Last August, local people signed a forestry contract with a new company. C&C Corporation (CCC) would conduct logging in the Mavasagueh Community Forest in exchange for hand pumps, roads and other things.
CCC has built a 15-kilometer dirt road through the Vambo and Marloi Townships, where the 26,003-hectare forest lies. The company has begun felling trees after the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) awarded it a harvesting certificate.
While townspeople celebrated the contract, a DayLight investigation established problems with the Mavasagueh-CCC contract. The evidence shows that the FDA skipped some legal steps in granting Mavasagueh a community forest status.
The investigation found that the FDA’s demarcation and mapping of the rocky forest did not involve all the communities as required. It also established that two men are claiming 3,200 acres, or about a fifth of the forest between Mt. Findley and the St. John River, overwhelming proof that authorities did a poor job.
The illegal contract thrusts Massaquoi into the spotlight, exposing his hidden and forgotten offenses, spanning over two decades. It was discovered Massaquoi had illegally acquired a contract, failed that contract and ran an unlawful sawmill.
Failed contract
Mavasagueh is the first contract CCC, established only in 2022, has had. However, it is not the only one for Massaquoi, who has 70 percent of the company’s shares. (One Joseph Varney holds the remaining shares)
Massaquoi has another firm, Bassa Logging and Timber Company, which failed a previous contract in Grand Cape Mount County. In 2009, Bassa Logging signed a contract with locals in the Porkpah and Gola Konneh Districts for 5,000 hectares.
Over five times smaller than Mavasagueh, Bassa Logging subcontracted the Lebanese-owned Alma Wood, though that contract was meant for only Liberian companies.
A broken-down timber jack with a log still attached to it is seen on an open field in Benduma in the Porkpa District of Grand Cape Mount County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Months before the report, the FDA had terminated the contract and nine others after they lasted over twice their maximum, legal lifespan.
‘Managerial role’
Massaquoi’s contracts with Bassa Logging had been illegally awarded.
By his own admission, Massaquoi operated for future FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab during the Second Liberian Civil War. “I worked with Merab from 1999 to 2007 in [a] managerial role,” he told The DayLight.
Liberia Wood Management Corporation (LWMC), Merab’s company Massaquoi worked for, was the subject of international investigations.
One report by UK-based Global Witness in 2000 found militiamen loyal to President Charles Taylor guarded LWMC’s facilities. It said Another report LWMC exported over 12,810 cubic meters of logs in the first half of 2000.
Another report established that LWMC enjoyed a US$1.4 million tax holiday from the Taylor regime during the Second Liberian Civil War (1999 – 2003). Merab claims the amount was less than that.
A 2005 review of the forestry sector reported, “At least 17 logging companies either supported militias… or facilitated illegal arms trafficking, or aided or abetted civil instability.” An estimated 250,000 people died during Liberia’s two wars, with President Joseph Boakai signing an executive order months into his administration to establish a war and economic crimes court.
Merab admits working in the Taylor era but denies any wrongdoing. “We never participated in the war, we never supported any members of the war,” Merab would later tell the Associated Press.
But forestry reformers created a deterrent against the logging industry’s contribution to any future crisis, formulating the Regulation on Bidder Qualifications.
The regulation disqualifies anyone who participated in forestry before January 2006, unless they confessed their wartime deeds to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and worked with the FDA on how they would repay stolen funds. There is no record that Massaquoi, Merab, or any other wartime logger did that.
By his admission, Clarence Massaquoi, the majority shareholder of C&C Corporation (CCC) and sole owner of Bassa Logging and Timber Company, is a wartime logger. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Despite Massaquoi’s involvement in the “blood timber” trade, and Bassa Logging’s letdown, the FDA still qualified CCC. The regulator’s justification for endorsing CCC disregarded the war-accountability provision of the regulation.
The evidence shows that Massaquoi exploited a loophole in the regulation that allows a logger to create another company when a previous one failed. All its debt-related provisions pertain to companies, not their owners or managers.
“A thorough review of records and files available for the past five years…, including the cancelation of concession agreements/contracts, indicates no proof of the existence of CCC,” wrote then-FDA Managing Director Mike Doryen on CCC’s qualification in 2023.
“This instrument, therefore, serves as sufficient testimony… of no breaches of forestry laws or regulations… until otherwise proven,” Doryen added.
Massaquoi now adds to several wartime loggers illegally in forestry, a list that also includes Merab. Merab did not reply to queries for comments.
Plywood Company
A confident Massaquoi said he could operate in Grand Bassa, even after he failed in Cape Mount. CCC, according to an environmental study last year, has over 40 earthmovers and other equipment. The DayLight saw an earthmover along the newly paved dirt road being repaired by mechanics.
“I have eight machines on the road, a motor grader, and bulldozers. I used 700 gallons per two days,” Massaquoi said. “I had done more than 15 kilometers of dirt road and paid salaries while working. You must be financially strong.”
Massaquoi implied he had more business opportunities with CCC than he had with Bassa Logging. He referenced Krish Veneer Industries, a sawmill in Buchanan, Grand Bassa he manages, which exports timber and wood products.
“I can sell to my plywood factory. My buyers are right in Buchanan,” he added.
Mavasagueh Community Forest, which covers 26,003 hectares, overlaps a 3,200-acre private land. New Narratives/James Harding Giahyue
Krish Veneer Industries, which he declined to address, adds another layer to Massaquoi’s hidden or overlooked illegalities.
Krish’s legal documents and business registration certificate prove the company is a partnership. Atique Ahmed and Kamal Parwani, both Indians, hold 57 percent and 43 percent shares in the 2019 company.
The regulation restricts forestry companies to corporations.
The provision is in line with the Public Procurement and Concession Act. It comes from the fact that corporate entities, have limitless liabilities and lifespan, and present more taxable opportunities. Partnerships do not possess such advantages.
Krish is one of the most active companies in a largely dormant logging sector. Last year, it made several exports of round logs and veneer, according to official records. Those exports included 241 logs or 1,243 cubic meters last June.
By the FDA’s standard operating procedure, the regulator is required to verify a company’s legal documents before permitting it to export.
It is unclear whether Krish’s ineligibility went unnoticed or was just overlooked for over five years.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Mr. Ben Wesseh and his daughter Benneta Ben Wesseh, a father-and-daughter duo who forges official documents and smuggles timber out of Liberia. Facebook: Benneta Ben
By Varney Kamara
MONROVIA – The DayLight has obtained forged documents used by an unscrupulous father-daughter duo to smuggle timber out of Liberia. The newspaper also found evidence that the duo solicits money from other individuals.
Ben Wesseh, a customs officer at the Freeport of Monrovia and Benetta Ben Wesseh, his daughter, forged export permits and a log-disinfection certificate to smuggle timber to China.
Based on one of the documents, Ms. Wesseh, a resident of Caldwell, smuggled or attempted to smuggle 21.3 cubic meters of timber blocks known as “Kpokolo” last July. The consignment was part of 613 logs harvested in River Cess.
“You are further requested to work closely with relevant government agencies…who will monitor and supervise the process,” read the forged document.
There were grammatical errors that caught our reporters’ attention. However, the most noticeable evidence of forgery was that the document was purportedly signed by ex-FDA Managing Director Mike Doryen. By July last year, Doryen had been replaced by Rudolph Merab five months earlier.
The validity timeframe of the document was also questionable. It tried to imitate a special export permit the FDA issued for kpokolo that lasted for a year. However, this document lasted for only 45 days.
But the Wessehs did not know that the FDA had stopped issuing such export permits following a “ban” on kpokolo in 2022. However, the illegal trade persists. Recently, another Caldwell syndicate was jailed following two years of investigation.
There were other inconsistencies, though.
The forgers miscounted July 25 to September 25, 2024, as 45 days, instead of 60 days. This and all the other discrepancies show that the Wessehs focused on creating the documents rather than making them look convincing.
The fake timber export permit mentioned identification numbers for two receipts. When reporters checked, the payments had been made for or by two other individuals, including ex-Senate Pro-Tempore Albert Chie. The senator denied knowing the Wessehs.
After unraveling the forged export permit, reporters concentrated on the log disinfection or phytosanitary certificate purportedly issued by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Reporters contacted the quarantine department at the ministry, which issues the certificate, a requirement for all exports that is rarely enforced. Unsurprisingly, the department denied it issued Ms. Wesseh the document.
One of the forged documents, naming ex-FDA Managing Director Mike Doryen as the current head of the institution.
The Wessehs appeared to have done a better job with the certificate than with the export permit but slipped. Turns out, the stamp they used was no longer in use by the department.
“I want to categorically state here that this document is fake,” said Lawrence Massaquoi, the deputy director of the quarantine department. “I did not issue this certificate. People are using our names to carry on these criminal acts. We must get to the bottom of this,” added Massaquoi, who is mentioned on the bogus certificate.
The ministry has launched an investigation into the matter.
‘Take care’
Other evidence suggests that not only Mr. Wesseh supports his daughter but also sells forged documents to other people. In a WhatsApp message to a prospective customer, Mr. Wesseh shared a list of prices for several documents, including US$200 for an export permit and US$75 for a phytosanitary certificate. In all, Wesseh charged 2,370 to smuggle a 40-foot container.
The prices on the document were consistent with what sources familiar with the illegal trade told The DayLight. However, to rule out any alibi, reporters obtained an audio recording that backs up that conversation.
Screenshot of Mr. Ben Wesseh’s WhatsApp chat with an individual.
In the recording, Mr. Wesseh can be heard reinforcing the prices. “I sent the FDA paper for you first. Then, I sent the agriculture paper two or three times.” The pages of the documents matched the details Wesseh had provided.
In another audio recording, Mr. Wesseh can be heard pitching a business proposal to an individual, bragging about having connections at various public offices.
The National Customs Brokers Association of Liberia, of which the Wessehs are members, has launched a separate investigation into the situation.
The Wessehs deny any wrongdoing. After evading all efforts for an interview, Mr. Wesseh and Ms. Wesseh later replied to queries for comments.
The older Wesseh said he did not forge or share the documents and was investigating the matter himself but refused to call his company’s name.
Ms. Wesseh said the same thing.
“First of all, our company has never and will never get involved with fraud or exploiting [the] government. Instead of running with unclear information, the best will be to find the office and speak to us in person,” said Ms. Wessh via WhatsApp.
“Having said this, take care.”
The criminal Wesseh duo bears a striking resemblance to a syndicate comprising custom brokers and two Korean nationals who were jailed in 2022 but never indicted.
Top: Bettoe Town Public School, Compound One, Grand Bassa County. The Daylight/Emmanuel Sherman
By Emmanuel Sherman
BETTOE Town, Grand Bassa County – Villagers have built a schoolhouse with funds they received from a logging contract.
Every week, schoolchildren from towns and villages trek to the Bettoe Town Public School to quench their thirst for education.
“Bettoe Town Public School… benefits the [community],” said Garsaweh Harris, the Community leader for areas affected by the Timber Sales Contract Area Three in Compound Number One, Grand Bassa County Three, known in forestry as TSC A-3.
The Bettoe Town School was the first of two projects in the area, costing US$900 and LD415,452. The school has 86 students and two teachers.
Proceeds used to erect the school came from land rental fees the community got from a concession between the Liberian government and the Nigerian-owned Akewa Group of Companies.
Akewa owes the community US$11,624.50, according to a 2022 forestry report.
The National Benefit Sharing Trust Board receives, manages and disburses funds logging companies remit to communities. Land rentals are calculated at US$1.25 per, hectare multiplied by the size of the forest. Of this, 55 percent is for the community and 45 percent for the government.
Last year, the government paid US$300,000 to logging-affected communities, according to a report by US-based Forest Trends.
Larry Gbomay, a member of the community’s leadership, urged the Benefit Trust Board to pay the balance.
“We want to tell the government that we need the balance to address [the school’s problems],” said Gbomay. “The children sit on benches because the chairs we have are too low.”
In 2021 the government terminated all TSCs across the country, including the one whose funding built Bettoe Town Public School. However, locals have stuck with the leadership.
Harris said, “We are just part of the [leadership] to hold our union together.”
Top: Krish Veneer Industries operates illegally in Liberia. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA – A DayLight investigation has unearthed a top-level forestry company that does not meet the requirements to operate in Liberia.
Krish Veneer Industries, a sawmill in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, and an exporter of veneer and round logs, is a partnership, rendering it ineligible to operate. Forestry companies are restricted to corporations, not NGOs, sole proprietorships, or partnerships, according to the Regulation on Bidder Qualifications.
The 2007 provision is in line with the Public Procurement and Concession Act, meant to provide the government with more tax opportunities and predictability. Corporations have limitless liabilities and lifespan, experts say. Partnerships do not.
The provision is part of measures to ensure forest resources are managed commercially sustainably.
Krish’s two partners are Atique Ahmed and Kamal Parwani. Both Indians, they hold 57 percent and 43 percent shares, respectively, according to the company’s legal documents. It was established in 2019, based on its business registration certificate enrolled at the Libera Business Registry.
A screenshot of the relevant provision of the Regulation on Bidder Qualifications prohibits partnerships from conducting forestry activities in Liberia.A screenshot of Krish Veneer Industries’ current business registration certificate, proving that the company is a partnership, not a corporation as it is required of forestry businesses.
‘My plywood factory’
Amid its illegitimacy, Krish has been one of the most active companies in a largely dormant logging industry. Last year, it made several round log exports, according to Ministry of Commerce and Industry and FDA records.
Trade Mo, a US-based company that tracks global supply chains, reports that Krish has imported assorted items 564 times and exported veneer eight times between 2021 and 2024. Those transactions are valued at US$1.2 million. (Derived from trees, a veneer is a thin decorative wood applied to materials).
Clarence Massaquoi, Krish’s general manager, did not return questions about the company’s status. However, in a recent DayLight interview, Massaquoi, whose contract with an unlawful community forest the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) recently approved, referenced Krish.
Addressing his capacity to manage a forest following an unsuccessful previous contract, Massaquoi said, “I have buyers. I can sell to my plywood factory. My buyers are right in Buchanan,” Massaquoi told The DayLight.
FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab did not respond to queries.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Deputy Managing Director Gertrude Nyaley seen here in 2020, was the technical manager of FDA’s legality verification department (LVD), and oversaw the export of 219 illegally harvested logs in August 2023. New Narratives/James Harding Giahyue
By Esau J. Farr
BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa County – LiberTrace, a computerized timber-tracking system, can detect one illegal log from a consignment of a thousand. So, it is pointless to say whether the system can identify multiple dirty logs in a consignment.
When LiberTrace identifies illegal logs, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) is required to compel the exporting company to correct issues or remove problematic logs from a consignment, according to the FDA’s special operating procedures (SOPs).
But that was not the case with 219 logs a Chinese-owned firm headquartered in Paynesville exported on August 20, 2023. A LiberTrace analysis of the consignment shows that all 219 logs West Water Group (Liberia) Incorporated shipped had been illegally harvested.
The timber, with a volume of 1,266 cubic meters, were shipped through the Port of Buchanan to China on board MV Sheng LEC, a bulk carrier sailing under the flag of Panama. Most of the timber had been harvested in a Grand Bassa County community forest on the same day, July 19, 2023.
Built by SGS, a renowned verification company based in Switzerland, LiberTrace traces timber from its origin to its final destination. The FDA’s legality verification department (LVD) co-manages the system.
Illegal timber undermines the system, a crucial part of forestry reform to ensure Liberia does not flood domestic and international markets with illegal timber as it was during the country’s civil wars between 1989 and 2003.
A LiberTrace screenshot of history of the 219 illegal logs shows that the FDA did not justify its approval for auditing purposes in line with its standard operating procedures.
Warnings and errors
LiberTrace flags issues as “warnings” and “errors,” with the latter more serious than the former.
A closer review of the warnings and errors in West Water’s consignment LiberTrace red-flagged paints a grim picture. All the logs had multiple issues. The FDA had not approved the felling of 166 logs or over 75 percent of the shipment. One hundred and sixty-four logs were undersized and details of 144 did not match the records in LiberTrace.
“Diameter class is different of the one declared during inventory,” some of the issues read.
“Diameter below the minimum felling diameter,” others said.
The FDA’s SOPs for export allow the regulator to override LiberTrace’s red flags. In such an event, the FDA must justify the override for second or third-party auditing purposes. However, LiberTrace’s history of the export shows no justifications were made.
Deputy Managing Director for Operations Gertrude Nyaley, who headed LVD in 2023, thrice rejected the consignment.
Mrs. Nyaley’s last rejection occurred on July 26, 2023— Liberia’s Independence Day—due to “major traceability errors.” But miraculously, it was approved in less than 48 hours. There were no inspections of the consignment or corrections of the issues with the logs.
Theodore Nna, SGS’ project manager, who did not respond to queries for this story, only cared about payments. “[Export permit] will be signed upon all clearing of invoices,” said Nna, making no further comments.
An entirely dirty consignment is rare, even by the FDA’s poor standards—repeatedly fuelled by capacity gaps, noncompliance and impunity.
Nna and the FDA did not reply to inquiries for comments, the same with Mrs. Nyaley who oversaw exports in 2023, and West Water.
Last year, the FDA rejected reports it approved an export half of whose consignment comprised illegally harvested timber as a “misinterpretation” of export data. The regulator argued the errors and warnings LiberTrace identified were “normal occurrences” but struggled to explain inconsistencies that characterized the export.
Top: Amos Lewis displays an old map of Vambo Township, Grand Bassa County, where he claims to own 3,200 acres of land overlapped by a community forest. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Emmanuel Sherman
Editor’s Note: This story is the second part of a series on illegalities associated with the Mavasagueh Community Forest in Compound Two, Grand Bassa County.
MONROVIA – A second person has claimed a huge plot of land in a newly authorized community forest in Grand Bassa County, proving that authorities conducted a flawed process, requiring a redo.
Amos Lewis’s claim covers 3,200 acres of land in the Mavasagueh Community Forest, a 26,003-hectare woodland in Compound Two.
“This is to inform your office that my father, the late Duzoe Reeves had 3,200 acres of land beginning from Duzoe Town and its surroundings in the Vambo Township,” read the letter.
“It is my understanding that the FDA has mistaken my father’s private land and has certificated the C&C Corporation to harvest logs from the land,” it added.
Lewis is the second person claiming the land along the St. John River with Mount Findley overlooking it.
In November, Khalil Haider, a resident of Buchanan, laid claim to the same land. However, Haider dropped his contention for a compromise with C&C Corporation (CCC), which had signed a contract for the forest.
A DayLight investigation on Monday found that the compromise was unlawful as community forests cannot overlap private land.
A portion of the Mavasagueh Community Forest in 2020. New Narratives/James Harding Giahyue
The investigation established that the FDA had leapfrogged some legal steps leading to Mavasagueh’s formation, ignoring NGO warnings. It also established that the FDA brokered the compromise between the company and Haider, not wanting to re-demarcate and remap the forest.
The two claims make it more certain that the regulator would redo the process in line with industry guidelines. The claims prove that the FDA did not conduct the demarcation and mapping in line with the guidelines, which have several safeguards to resolve any claims.
The FDA did not immediately respond to queries for comments on the matter.
Khalil Haider was the first to claim ownership of 3,200 acres of forestland in Compound Two, Grand Bassa County, which a community forest overlaps. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
Lewis’s claim
Lewis is a stepson of the late Paramount Chief Reeves, who originally acquired the land. Lewis’s name is on a paper he claims is the original deed.
“Haider faked those things from his mother,” Lewis told The DayLight on Tuesday, displaying an old map of the Vambo Township.
Haider dismisses Lewis’ claim, saying Paramount Reeves transferred the ownership of the land to his late mother, Rosa Dillion. Like Lewis’, Haider’s deed was signed by the late President William V.S. Tubman.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: The Mavasagueh Community Forest overlaps 3,200 acres of private land two individuals are claiming. New Narratives/James Harding Giahyue
By Emmanuel Sherman
Editor’s Note: This story is the first part of a series on the illegalities associated with a newly established community forest in Compound Two, Grand Bassa County.
VAMBO, Grand Bassa – One day in 2022, a logger visited Gblorso Town and asked elders to prospect their forest. The elders consented, and Clarence Massquoi found marketable timber species there, promising to return soon.
Then Massaquoi disappeared and returned in October last year with a surprising message: His company, C&C Corporation (CCC), would break ground for the construction of a major road from BIA through Vambo and Marloi Townships in Compound Number Two, Grand Bassa County. CCC had signed a logging contract with the townspeople for 26,003 hectares of forestland in exchange for local development.
“The elders told him if you view the forest come back to us. He did not come back until last year October,” said Nathaniel Clarke, Commissioner of Vambo Township who helped organize a meeting between Massaquio and the community.
“I got a call from the development chairman asking me to go to [a place] because there is a company coming in there,” said Clarke.
The Commissioner was rightfully surprised. Evidence, backed by interviews with local people and forestry actors, shows the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) skipped legal steps in the Mavasagueh Community Forest’s formation. The evidence establishes that the FDA, CCC, and some community leaders rushed to enter contracts, ignoring several red flags.
The nine-step process, which made Mavasagueh a community forest, had begun in 2011 and ended in 2023. The forest covers 26,003 hectares and is owned by 39 communities across the Vambo and Marloi Townships. In August last year, locals entered a logging contract with CCC, a company established in 2022 and has no history of logging.
But a civil society review of Mavasagueh’s documentation last January reveals that the FDA did not do a good job. Seven organizations under the Community Forest Working Group (CFWG) found the process improperly documented and, that there was inadequate community awareness and participation.
The group also found that the community governance structure had not been established in line with the law, suggesting that civil society did not participate in Mavasagueh’s elections.
“Based on the final decision of the technical committee CFWG that reviewed the documents, it wasn’t clear whether CSOs that may have participated in those processes were member organizations of the CFWG,” said Jackson Nobeh, the committee’s facilitator in an emailed statement.
Nobeh’s comments were corroborated by Bonathan Walaka of the National Union of Community Forest Body, who said the group played no part in elections. Other organizations also deny participating, including the Sustainable Development Institute, which helped make the rules for community forestry.
There is no record the FDA fixed the issues. The regulator did not answer questions regarding the NGO’s assessment and other queries for comments in this story.
Not informed
The DayLight visited several of Mavasagueh’s 39 towns and villages, talked to townspeople, and attended four meetings between December and last month, confirming what the NGOs had unearthed.
FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab signed a community forest agreement with locals in Grand Bassa, leapfrogging several legal steps on the way. The DayLight/Harry Browne
In the December meeting, citizens and elders said they were unaware of Mavasagueh’s formation and the logging contract.
“We were not informed about the company coming into our township,” said Martha Vondleh, a representative of Togar Town to Mavasagueh’s assembly.
“I have seen no document, we want to see the paper,” added David Key, a representative of Boo Town. He said he did not even know his role in the leadership.
Townspeople accused Daniel Dayougar, Vambo’s former Commissioner of handpicking members of Mavasagueh’s community assembly. The assembly, representatives of forest-owning towns and villages, is the highest decision-making body in community forestry.
“He selected people he had influenced over,” said Alexander Weegar, a resident of Gblorso Town.
This is not the first time Dayougar has been accused of selecting community leaders. In 2020, Dayougar was similarly accused when he chose signatories to a bogus MoU for a road project in exchange for Vambo’s logs.
Clarence Massaquoi, the CEO and co-owner of C&C Corporation, signed a logging contract with locals in Grand Bassa for a community forest that overlaps a private land. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Dayougar, now the liaison officer with CCC, denies any wrongdoing in the past or now, calling the accusation “false and misleading.”
“I believe people want to do things to spoil my reputation. The CAs from Vambo were sent by the dwellers, of their respective communities. Elders, chiefs, and youths were the ones who sent those people,” said Dayougar.
People in neighboring towns and villages said they did not play a required role in the demarcation and mapping of Mavasagueh’s area. Gblorso, Philip Town, and Reeves Town were among them. Interestingly, it was in Gblorso Town, where Massaquoi met the elders in 2022.
In one of the meetings last January, Massaquoi apologized for not making the contract available and shared it with the elders four days later.
Controversial private land
The lack of participation and awareness was not the only problem with Mavasagueh. Reporters uncovered a land conflict involving the community and two families.
Khalil Haider resident of Buchanan, is claiming 3,200 acres of land between Noway Town and Jesse Town, along the St. John River. The DayLight obtained copies of Haider’s 1958 probated deed signed by the late President William V.S. Tubman, and other documents.
In a November letter to the FDA, Haider informed the agency that he owned the land, about a fifth of Mavasagueh’s size.
CCC has begun harvesting despite about a fifth of its contract area overlapping private land. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
“I have learned the logging company has already sent a survey team, and that your entity has the boundary of the area,” read the letter. “Enclosed is a copy of my deed and coordination of my property to determine if it falls within the company’s operation area.”
Haider might have compromised with Massaquoi. However, his claim proves that the FDA did not conduct demarcation and mapping properly, flouting its guidelines for creating a community forest.
The guidelines—something USAID invested millions in—require the regulator to post notices in Mavasagueh and neighboring communities for at least 30 days at various levels of the process. The guidelines also require the FDA to work with other government agencies to resolve claims—or re-conduct the process.
The evidence shows that did not happen. Instead, the FDA asked Haider and Massaquoi to work together and iron out their differences. Managing Director Rudolph Merab called them for a meeting after Haider’s complaint, according to Haider and Massaquoi.
“I received a call from [Mr. Merab], stating that if I pursued it further, they would have to cancel everything until two to three years before anything,” Haider told The DayLight. He added he empathized with Massaquoi because CCC spent a lot of money paving over 15 kilometers of a major road in the community.
“Haider and I settled, and said he would work with the community and me so, the FDA should let the document be processed,” Massaquoi told a DayLight interview.
The evidence supports the men’s comments, as CCC has obtained a harvesting certificate and has begun felling trees in the rocky forest.
The guidelines aside, Merab’s mediation is unlawful. Community forests should not overlap private forestlands, and loggers are disallowed from conducting community forest operations on such plots.
By the National Forestry Reform Law, CCC will have to obtain a private use permit (PUP)—a logging right awarded for a private forestland—to operate on the 3,200 acres.
A PUP is, however, impossible at the moment. There is a moratorium on such contracts after it led to forestry’s biggest postwar scandal in 2013, where contracts for some 2.5 million hectares of forests were illegally awarded. Merab and Augustine Johnson, the FDA’s demarcation and mapping consultant, were involved in that scandal.
Amos Lewis claims the same 3,200 acres of land Khalil Haider claims in Vambo Township, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
‘Fake deed’
Haider might have a so-called arrangement with Massaquoi but not with some elders. Borbor Kaykay, an elder of a village that bears his name, contested Haider’s claim at a meeting last month. Haider and Kaykay fought after a series of verbal exchanges, according to our reporter, who witnessed the incident.
“He came and brought some paper and said he owned land up the mountain. I told him, ‘You don’t have land here. I have been the elder here since 2002,’” explained Kaykay.
Meanwhile, another person is also claiming ownership of the 3,200 acres Haider claims. A resident of Marshall, Margibi, Amos Lewis is the late Paramount Chief Reeves’ stepson. Like Haider’s, Reeves’ deed, which the DayLight obtained, was signed in the Tubman era.
Lewis counterclaims that Haider’s late mother, Rosa Dillion, secured the land for the late Paramount Chief Reeves, not for herself as Haider claims.
“My name Amos Lewis is on the deed,” Lewis said. “Haider does not know anything about that land. He faked those things from his mother.”
Haider refuted Lewis’ side of the story, saying the late Reeves “surrendered the deed to my mother.”
Lewis said he would lodge a complaint with the FDA on Tuesday.
[Ojuku Kangar contributed to this report]
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Bendu Sonii, a victim of a fatal accident involving a Mano Oil Palm Industries vehicle on May 12, 2024, stands at the exact location where the incident took place. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By Matenneh Keita
BALLAH’S TOWN, Grand Cape Mount – On May 12 last year, Bendu Sonii, 42, a casual laborer with Mano Oil Palm Industries, left for a friend’s house. She did not know that would be the last day she ever walked.
As soon as Sonii left her friend’s house, a Mano vehicle ran into her, damaging her right foot.
“The car nearly killed me. I was not to myself when the car hit me I was not even a human. They say I was running, but I don’t even know. My spirit went away from me,’’ Sonii tells The DayLight at her home in Ballah’s Town, a community on the highway in the Garwula District, Grand Cape Mount County.
“People said I was shouting ‘Aaa my children, God my children’ but I don’t remember. I just saw myself in the hospital,” adds Sonii, a mother of eight. She took The DayLight to the accident scene, several yards off the Babangida highway.
A police report found the vehicle had a brake failure. Singbeh Jimmy, the driver, had been traveling from Gbah Jacket to Mano’s Matambo estate. He was jailed for five days and was suspended by Mano.
Immediately after the accident, Mano took Sonii to the company’s headquarters, according to Aminata Getaweh, Sonii’s sister who had rushed to the scene.
Sonii stayed at Mano headquarters for about three hours, as there was no ambulance when she arrived. Having lost too much blood and not getting any care, Getaweh protested her sister be transferred immediately.
Later, an unconscious Sonni was taken to the St. Joseph Catholic Hospital in Congo Town, outside Monrovia. There, she spent two weeks in a coma, during which time doctors advised that her right leg be amputated. She had suffered severe trauma to the foot, crushing her bones.
But there was a problem: Only Sonii, could sign for the amputation. Not even her father, who by then had joined her sister by Sonii’s bedside, could approve the procedure for her. So, they waited two more weeks for her to gain consciousness to make the life-changing decision.
Bendu Sonii cries as she sits on her hospital bed in an interview after her right leg was amputated. The DayLight/Matenneh Keita
After Sonii gained consciousness and was informed about the amputation but relapsed into a coma. When she finally awoke, she sanctioned the amputation “for my children.”
Land grab
Sonii had spent two months and three weeks at St. Joseph, a period she says was characterized by hunger and grief. Mano sent L$40,000 in total for juices and additional food to the one the hospital served.
However, Sonii said the money was insufficient as she found it difficult to eat the food the hospital provided, a claim Mano denies.
Richard Hilton, Mano’s corporate communication officer, says Sonii’s hospital bill covered her food. “When she says it was insufficient, I don’t know. I don’t know who determines whether the money is insufficient. Whether there is a policy, I don’t know.”
Sonii was a general worker with Mano, doing all kinds of casual labor, including applying fertilizer, brushing, and weeding.
A Lebanese-owned company, Mano, came to Cape Mount in 2021 following a takeover agreement with Sime Darby Plantation (Liberia) Limited a year before. Mano is a subsidiary of Mano Manufacturing Company (MANCO), Liberia’s largest household health and cleaning products producer.
Sime Darby, a Malaysian conglomerate, had signed a 63-year concession agreement with the Liberian government in 2009 to develop 220,000 hectares in northwestern Liberia into oil palm and rubber plantations.
But things did not go as planned. From 2009 to 2019, Sime Darby developed only 10,300 hectares—about five percent of its concession area—due to “several operating challenges.” Locally, its operations were marred by international condemnation over land grab and other human rights violations.
That ghost haunted Mano’s takeover and setups, including workers’ protests and local communities’ demands. This explains the presence of armed police at the plantation who had used the vehicle that shattered Sonii’s life.
Mano Oil Palm Industries took over a 63-year concession from Sime Darby Plantations (Liberia) Limited in 2020. The DayLight/Harry Browne
‘Playing on me’
Sonii was transferred to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital for discomfort she felt in the shoulder and neck. Doctors at the JFK solved the neck issue but did not find anything wrong with her shoulder.
So, Sonii sought a herbalist’s help to cure her shoulder. “When the herbalist came, he said ‘It is your hand that has got the problem.’ Right away, he started working on my shoulder. The second day that is how my hand sat down,” she recalls.
Singbeh Jimmy, the driver who caused the accident, regrets the situation and is remorseful. Jimmy knew Sonii before the plantation was established.
“It is playing on me just like it is me [who] is crippled,” said Jimmy. “I am really feeling disappointed in this situation because I am not able to afford anything for her to buy a L$5 cold water and drink from me.”
Sonii receives between US$70 and US$80 with four 25-kilogram bags of rice, the same she received before the accident. It is, however, inadequate for her family of 10 people—her husband, her eight children and herself. The shop she ran before the accident collapsed while she lay in the hospital.
Mano claims Sonii was advised to check with an insurance company over benefits.
“She should make sure to take the courage to walk after getting her benefit,” said Hilton, Mano’s corporate communication officer. He did not present any evidence or give the insurance company’s name. “Bendu should not see it that she will be sitting down and it happens.”
A police sketch of the accident that left Bendu Sonii amputated.
Sonii refutes Hilton’s comments, saying Mano did not tell her anything about an insurance company.
Sonii has some domestic issues, too. She fears that her husband, children, and friends could abandon her.
“My husband can feel bad because I was everything. The day he gets it or doesn’t have it, I provide it. I think this is going to affect my marriage because some men are weak-minded. When they interact with another woman who does everything I cannot do, there will be changes,” says Sonii.
“Right now, I tell God thank you because changes are not there yet. He is still with me.”
Green Livelihoods Alliance (GLA) provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
Top: Some of the logs LiberTrace red-flagged for having multiple issues but the FDA still allowed to be shipped. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Esau J. Farr
MONROVIA – The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) permitted a company to export round logs mid-last year. However, the regulator ignored its computerized system—known as LiberTrace—red-flagged over 60 percent of the timber.
Out of the total 431 logs, Iroko Timber and Logging Corporation submitted for two shipments, LiberTrace identified 267 as problematic.
LiberTrace, which tracks logs from their sources to final destinations, found the logs’ details were inconsistent with the system’s information. Most of the logs had not been recorded during a pre-export inspection.
For instance, some logs had their butt-end diameters different from what Iroko declared. Others had volumes different from the ones submitted, while other logs had discrepancies with the lengths the Nigerian-owned company declared.
But the LiberTrace analysis and the export specs detailing each log shipped establish that the FDA allowed the tainted logs to go.
The combined 431 logs with a 2,549-cubic-meter volume, were loaded at the Port of Greenville, Sinoe County and departed on April 27 and July 2, 2024, on the Panamanian cargo ship MV Nimeh, destined for Bangladesh.
‘Nothing to add’
Based on the FDA’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) the regulator should have investigated the red flags and sought correction. If not, the SOPs provide the export to be disapproved. “Wood products that are not compliant with the legality definition shall not be authorized for export,” according to SOPs for export.
A screenshot from some of LiberTrace’s analysis of one of two Iroko exports last year the FDA unlawfully approved
The SOPs allow for the FDA to override LiberTrace’s alarms. However, in such a case, the FDA is required to record the justification for overriding the red flags for auditing. Screenshots of LiberTrace’s history of the logs prove there were no justifications for the FDA’s decision to approve the exports.
Those standards contribute to LiberTrace ensuring tax-complaint companies’ logs are legal, not just traceable. LiberTrace plays a critical role in the forestry sector, particularly in combating illegal logging and enhancing transparency in the timber trade. SGS, a Swiss verification company, built the system and the FDA co-manages it.
Confronted with the red flags, Theodore Nna, SGS’ project manager, did not respond to queries. Nna did the same last year in a similar incident. He had sarcastically offered The DayLight a tutorial in interpreting LiberTrace’s data and analysis.
The FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab declined to speak on the matter. “I believe my team handled this Iroko issue last year…,” Merab said in a WhatsApp chat. “I have nothing new to add!”
A screenshot of LiberTrace’s history of one of Iroko’s exports shows that the FDA did not justify why it overrode errors with several logs for auditing purposes.
Last year, the FDA dismissed reports as a “misinterpretation” of data. It argued that the errors and warnings LiberTrace sounded were routine “minor occurrences.”
Similarly, Iroko did not return emailed questions. The company had initially responded to the DayLight’s inquiries but ceased after the newspaper exposed a series of its wrongdoings.
This investigation adds to the logs’ taint and Iroko’s notoriety. A previous investigation found the logs spent over a year in the Central River Dugbe Community Forest in Sinoe County’s Jaedae District. One unearthed Iroko owed local people a good sum. Another revealed an Iroko shareholder was unqualified for logging over a co-ownership of a company punished for fraud.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
