FDA Rehires Ex-Manager Disgraced for Alleged Corruption

November 26, 2024

Top: Mr. Augustine B.M. Johnson on the Liberian delegation at the just-ended climate change conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. Facebook/Augustine B.M. Johnson

By Emmanuel Sherman

WHEIN TOWN—The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) has rehired a former manager who was disgraced on multiple occasions for alleged corruption and involved with companies punished for logging offenses.

The FDA hired Augustine B.M. Johnson as a consultant in June. He gets US$2,500 as a service fee, US$300 for fuel, and US$100 for communication, according to a document obtained by The Daylight. Johnson’s duties include assisting with forest management planning, supporting compliance, and advising on forest mapping. He represented Liberia at the United Nations climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.

But, Johnson’s roles starkly contradict his reputation at the FDA, where he served as the geoinformation system manager in the 2000s and 2010s. Johnson was found liable in the Carbon Harvesting Corporation (CHC) and Private Use Permit Scandals, forestry’s biggest postwar controversies. Later, he managed West African Forestry Development Inc. (WAFDI) and Mandra Forestry Liberia Limited, two of forestry’s dirtiest.

Before his rehiring, Johnson was touted as the FDA’s Deputy Managing Director for Technical Affairs but eventually lost the position to Gertrude Nyaley, a former director of the agency’s legality verification department.

Criminal carbon contract

In 2010, Johnson and other officials fraudulently attempted to award a carbon contract to the London-based CHC for 400,000 hectares in River Cess County. Had it gone through, experts said Liberia would have a US$2 billion loss.

A national inquiry found that Augustine B.M. Johnson, was a mastermind of the infamous Carbon Harvesting Corporation Scandal in 2010, in which Johnson and other officials illegally attempted to lease 400,000 hectares of forest to a British man. The DayLight/Carlucci Cooper

An official inquest found that Johnson introduced himself as a “resident expert,” allegedly receiving a bribe and computer from CHC. He then conducted a so-called biomass study on four plots of land in the southcentral county and tried to deceive the Office of the Prince of Wales about the “groundbreaking” deal.

“Johnson and colleague provided confidential information about the FDA to CHC and allowed CHC to draft the FDA document that they would have [then-Managing Director John Woods] and other FDA officials sign,” investigators said.

Investigators recommended Johnson’s dismissal and subsequent prosecution, which President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf—his relative—accepted but later rescinded.

Forgery

In 2012, two years after CHC, Johnson participated in the infamous PUP Scandal in which the FDA illegally awarded about 2.5 million hectares of forests to logging companies. It remains the biggest postwar logging scandal.

An official investigation found Johnson illegally received money for boundary line demarcations and verification fieldworks. Investigators established his report for those events was falsified in “many cases” and inconsistent with a private use permit, awarded solely for private land. A Liberia Land Authority review showed 57 of 59 permits unlawfully involved community lands, supported by fraudulent documentation.

It turns out, that most of the forestlands Johnson and other FDA technical staff had issued had overlapped proposed protected and logging concession areas.

Unlike the CHC scandal, this time around, Johnson, then-FDA Managing Director Moses Wogbeh, and several officials were prosecuted. Wogbeh and others were found guilty of economic sabotage, criminal conspiracy, and other crimes but filed an appeal with the Supreme Court. The case still lingers at the high court. Criminal Court ‘C’ had granted Johnson’s petition for a separate trial, which never happened.

Johnson denied any wrongdoing regarding the CHC and PUP scandals but declined an interview with The DayLight for this story.

Illegal Logging

Illegalities followed Johnson from the FDA to WAFDI. A 2021 Ministry of Justice investigation found that West African Forest Development Incorporated (WAFDI) illegally harvested logs in Grand Bassa County’s Compound Number Two. The FDA had incorrectly awarded the company 14,460 hectares of extra woodland in the Gheegbarn #1 Community Forest. WAFDI exploited the error for three years, exporting a huge volume of logs at the hand of the process.

Following the investigation, the Ministry of Justice reprimanded the FDA and WAFDI for the irregularities. Accordingly, WAFDI’s operations were suspended for nearly a year. “WAFDI is an operator in the forestry sector, they are also obligated to know and comply with all forestry laws and procedures…,” wrote then-Minister Musa Dean.

Augustine Johnson was one of the alleged masterminds of Liberia’s largest postwar logging scandal for which he and several officials were prosecuted a decade ago. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

Abandoned logs

Amid WAFDI’s rebuke, Mandra—Johnson’s other company—was being punished. The FDA suspended Mandra’s harvesting certificates and two other companies for not enrolling their logs into the FDA log-tracking system and abandoning logs in Sinoe County. A DayLight investigation found the company abandoned some 7,000 logs from the Sewacajua Community Forest, the single-most ever reported.

In a phone interview last year, Johnson appeared unfamiliar with the Regulation on Abandoned Logs…, one of the instruments he has been consulted to enforce.

He claimed that paying the fees on a log prevented its abandonment. “Before you talk about abandonment, I am expecting a ship to come to Greenville by the second week of next month to get the logs out,” Johnson said in the interview.

His comments contradicted the 2017 regulation, which defines abandonment as logs left unattended between three weeks and six months, depending on their location.

Conflict of Interest

Johnson’s well-documented activities and his current role at the FDA are a conflict of interest. Apart from WAFDI and Mandra, he has been linked to joint ventures with the Liberia Tree and Timber Company and the EJ&J Logging involving two large-scale forest concessions.

Under Augustine B.M. Johnson’s watch, the Forestry Development Authority punished Mandra Forestry Liberia Limited for abandoning thousands of logs in Sinoe County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

In June, Johnson represented logging companies at an annual meeting on a timber trade agreement between Liberia and the European Union. He even made remarks on behalf of commercial loggers, the third week into his second spell at the FDA.

In a letter last week, the NGO Coalition of Liberia urged President Joseph Boakai to address Johnson’s conflict of interest.

“Allowing individuals with such vested interests to influence forest governance undermines the integrity of the FDA and Liberia’s commitment to transparency and good governance,” the NGOs wrote. The Executive Mansion did not immediately respond to The DayLight queries.

Similarly, the FDA’s Managing Director Rudolph Merab did not return questions for comments on Johnson and the other issues. However, Merab’s appointment to the FDA follows the same pattern as Johnson’s return to the regulator. Like Johnson, Merab is a serial illegal logger, having himself participated in the PUP Scandal and wartime logging operations.

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

Calls for EU not to End Timber Treaty with Liberia

November 25, 2024

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Top: A drone picture of logs on a field outside Greenville, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

By Esau J. Farr

MONROVIA – Calls are mounting for the European Union (EU) to reconsider its decision to terminate a timber trade agreement with Liberia. The issue is high on the agenda as the bloc and the West African country discuss the deal this week.

In 2011, the EU and Liberia signed the voluntary partnership agreement, known as the VPA, enabling the West African country to trade legally sourced timber on European markets. The deal was hailed globally for breaking away from Liberia’s civil war era, where illegal Liberian timber flooded international markets.

But last month, the Head of the EU Delegation to Liberia Nona Deprez disclosed that Brussels had notified Monrovia about its decision to terminate the deal. “A formal notification to the [Liberian] government is in process,” Deprez said in a letter to NGOs.

Now national and international forest campaigners and experts say canceling the VPA would tarnish Liberia’s reputation, exacerbate illegal logging and undermine the country’s combat against climate change.

The NGO Coalition said the development was “deeply concerning, as the VPA has been instrumental in improving forest governance, curbing illegal logging and enhancing transparency in Liberia’s forestry sector.”

In a letter last week, the group called on President Joseph Boakai to use this week’s meeting to engage the EU to keep the agreement. The government has not spoken about the planned termination.

“The EU may cite slow progress, corruption, and illegal logging as reasons for termination, tarnishing Liberia’s international image. Neighboring countries retaining their VPAs will cast Liberia in a poor light,” the letter noted.

The EU has not cited any reasons for intending to terminate the 11-year agreement. However, recently, it blamed the failure to qualify for FLEGT licensing—which allows countries to export timber to EU markets—for terminating the VPA with Cameroon.

Cameroon’s scenario resembles Liberia’s. Liberia has not qualified for forest law enforcement, governance and trade. Though Liberia has made some gains since the end of its bloody civil wars, it has witnessed a string of logging scandals. Last year, the Associated Press reported that Liberia may have a “parallel system” to export illegal timber, citing diplomatic sources. A recent review paints the picture of a sector marred by noncompliance and impunity.

Apart from the tarnishing of Liberia’s reputation, experts say termination could dry out millions of much-needed funding the EU provides Liberia.

“Ideally, development partners would continue with support to communities,” said a forest governance expert who preferred anonymity, “but the question is whether such support would be as impactful without the structures and processes of the VPA in place.”

Liberia has some 43 percent of the Upper Guinea rainforests, the largest in West Africa. Picture credit: James Harding Giahyue

Dr. Arthur Blundell, an international forestry expert on Liberia, said losing the VPA would erode anti-deforestation efforts. Liberia has the largest portion of West Africa’s remaining rainforests, with its protection crucial to global climate targets. “Losing the EU’s financial and technical assistance must make it harder to fight climate change and protect biodiversity,” added Blundell.

‘Civil unrest’

This week’s meeting, which begins Tuesday and ends Thursday, is one of three events held at least once a year under the VPA. At those meetings, the Liberian government, the EU, international partners, civil society and communities discuss governance and transparency. Campaigners and experts say that civil space would be lost with the VPA.

“If this happens, so many of the gains that have been made over the years, in terms of strengthened government accountability for better forest management and distribution of benefits, will be undermined,” said the forest governance expert.

“It will become less representative,” added Blundell. “These groups suffer the most if the fight is lost. The loss of the VPA process will make their representation more difficult.”

The NGO Coalition believes the VPA’s absence could also undermine Liberian laws that guarantee communities’ rights and increase illegal logging. Warned the group: “Without it, enforcement could weaken, leading to social unrest.”

News of the termination comes as the EU published its Strategic Framework for International Cooperation Engagement on Deforestation, as it delayed the implementation of a new deforestation regulation. The Framework paves the way for the regulation’s implementation, proposing stricter requirements for countries to export to the EU.

Indra Van Gisbergen, a campaigner with the Netherlands-registered NGO Fern criticized the Framework for not being comprehensive and lacking of stakeholders’ participation. She wrote in October that the Framework had scrapped such participation for technical and development cooperation.

Gisbergen said it was “striking” that the publication coincided with the EU’s announcement of its unilateral termination of the Cameroon VPA. Similarly, Liberian civil society actors and community representatives were not informed of the EU’s decision beforehand.

“Ghosting the VPAs and unilaterally terminating them without any public assessment, does not set a good example for future partnerships,” she said.

In her letter, Deprez said Liberia was crucial for the region and the EU would continue its support. “We will continue to support and invest in the sector to strengthen it,” Deprez’s letter read, “to make it more sustainable and to fight illegality.”

The EU is expected to outline reasons for the planned termination at the City Hall of Monrovia. The bloc and the Liberian government are expected to discuss its implications.

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

EU to End Timber Agreement with Liberia

October 26, 2024

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Top: The European Union has notified Liberia that it would terminate a trade agreement with the West African country. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By Gabriel M. Dixon

Monrovia – The European Union has notified Liberia of its intent to terminate a timber trade pact between the bloc and the West African country.

The Head of Delegation to Liberia Nona Deprez confirmed the EU’s decision to end the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) in a letter to the NGO Coalition, a network of Liberian organizations.

“I confirm that the European Union (EU) communicated its intention to terminate the VPA FLEGT,” said Deprez in the letter seen by The DayLight. “A formal notification to the [Liberia] government is in process.”

The VPA ensures logs Liberia exports to the EU and other countries come from legal sources. It is a key component of the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Action Plan, known as FLEGT. It aims to address illegal logging and guarantees local communities’ benefits from forest resources.

The EU and Liberia began to negotiate the VPA in 2009 and signed the pact two years later.

The Liberian Legislature ratified the agreement in 2013, after which it became legally enforceable by both parties.

Deprez’s letter did not say the reason behind the planned termination. However, the news comes weeks after the European Parliament decided to terminate the VPA with Cameroon. It and Liberia are two of six countries in the agreement in Africa and Asia.

Most Liberian logs end up on Asian markets with lax timber regulatory regimes. The DayLight/Derick Snyder

The EU based its decision on Cameroon’s failure to qualify for FLEGT licensing, which allows a country to trade timber to EU member states.

Cameroon had promised to complete legal reforms for FLEGT licensing in five years but has instead witnessed illegal logging.

The situation in Liberia mirrors that of Cameroon.

Liberia has not met the requirements for the FLEGT license, though it has been 11 years since it signed the VPA.

Like Cameroon, Liberia exports the majority of its timber to Asian countries.

A recent review of forest concessions paints a grim picture of logging in Liberia. it says none of the 11 concessions evaluated were compliant with national laws. Companies lack forestry licenses, legal identity, and performance bonds.

Last year, the Associated Press reported an EU-commissioned, independent investigation found illegal logging on a “significant scale,” with the Forestry Development Authority breaching the law. The FDA regulates the forestry sector.

The investigation was prompted by the illegal harvesting of US$3 million worth of logs by the logging firm, Renaissance Group Inc. The FDA was found to have made unlawful decisions in assessing the severity of offenses and downplaying the seriousness of violations.

The Associated Press also reported Liberia exports 70 percent of its timber outside the legal system built with EU support, citing diplomatic sources.

NGOs are making a last-minute attempt to have the EU reconsider its decision.

Andrew Zelemen of the National Union of Community Forest Development Committees (NUCFDC), fears the decision would undermine gains in the forestry sector. Termination means more illegal logs to Asian markets with lax timber regulations.

“The termination of the VPA would likely have detrimental effects on local communities by promoting illegal logging, undermining economic stability and threatening environmental sustainability,” said Zelemen.

Dayugar Johnson of the Independent Forest Monitor said the NGO Coalition would try to halt the decision. He said it would stifle climate change mitigation efforts.

“We have started engaging various stakeholders locally and internationally,” said Johnson. “Our next move is to engage with the EU parliament to reason with them not to pass the resolution canceling the VPA in Liberia.”

The EU and the FDA did not immediately respond to queries for comments. However, in her letter to the NGOs, Deprez said Liberia’s forest was crucial for the region, and the EU remained a partner.

“We will continue to support and invest in the sector to strengthen it,” Deprez’s letter read, “to make it more sustainable and to fight illegality.”

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

Targeting European Markets, Nimba Farmers Eye ‘Organic Cocoa’

June 19, 2023

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Top: EU ambassadors pose for a picture with their entourage, a farmer of Monleh Enterprises at a farm in Saclepea, Nimba County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

SACLEPEA, Nimba County – Farmers in Nimba are learning to produce high-quality cocoa beans to trade on markets of European Union (EU) countries.

About 2,500 farmers are now being trained in organic cocoa production, according to Monleh Enterprises, a cooperative based in Saclepea, Nimba County.

“We want to link with markets [in Europe],” said Rachel Mulbah, the CEO of Monleh Enterprises. She was speaking at the tour of the cooperative’s facilities by EU ambassadors and their entourage in Saclepea recently.

“Monleh also wants to export in order for the farmers to get good [a] price,” Mulbah said.

Organic cocoa refers to beans that meet sustainability standards required by the EU. With emphasis on the health of people, the soil and the environment, the organic cocoa are grown without the use of fertilizers and pesticides.

Liberia may not be a powerhouse of cocoa like Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. However, Liberia has a unique variety of the crop, something market experts say is a rarity on the global market.

‘Queen of Liberian Cocoa Beans’

The farmers of Monleh Enterprises understand their niche and are getting there. It finished number one in a trade fair in Cote d’Ivoire, according to Mulbah. It exported 12 metric tons of premium cocoa to Italy earlier this year, which had rejected its consignment last year, she said. Premium cocoa is of the best quality, too, but it does not have a certification program like organic cocoa.

Rachel Mulbah, the CEO of Monleh Enterprises, which has some 3,500 farmers, 2,500 of whom have been trained to produce organic cocoa that can be sold in European Union countries. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

Monleh farmers are getting their organic cocoa training from the NGO Grow Liberia as part of a US$6 million project funded by Sweden. They learn good agriculture practices that avoid deforestation and the use of harmful chemicals and bad harvesting methods.

The farmers also learn to make their productions transparent and traceable, a pillar of the certified cocoa scheme of the EU, the world’s largest cocoa market.

Mulbah urged the EU ambassadors to provide more support to the group to achieve its organic paper.

“We want to get modern equipment for farming, which, of course, will reduce child labor in Liberia,” Mulbah said, handling the delegation a memo containing the requests.

“Monleh wants to develop its own nursery. Monleh wants to see farmers’ lives improved,” Mulbah added. Urban Sjöström, the Ambassador of Sweden, called her “the Queen of Liberian Cocoa Beans.”

Dr. Charles Sackey, Grow Liberia’s team leader, said the farmers were already producing organic cocoa, just that they do not have the certificate.

“Working with the farmers in Liberia, we have seen that there is little use of chemicals. So, the farms are, by default, organic,” Sackey said as EU ambassadors viewed a solar drier for cocoa beans, a suspended platform with transparent plastic roof.

“Once you sell on the European market, you want to prove that it is organic, and not by default,” Sackey added.

As it stands, Liberia exported US$38 million cocoa in 2021, the 21^st largest cocoa-exporting country worldwide, according to the World Bank. The Netherlands is the biggest importer of Liberian cocoa, with US$19.2 million in 2021.

The head of the EU Delegation to Liberia Laurent Delahousse urged the farmers to work harder to maintain high standards.

I want to reassure you that your approach is our approach… We are addressing support problems to agriculture as supposed to food systems, and cocoa makes [a] wonderful food,” Delahousse said.

“Liberia will not compete on big volumes of low-quality cocoa. Liberia can only compete on smaller volume of very high-quality cocoa.

“You have a variety in this country that is unique, which gets a premium on the world market but you have to build your value chain from production to …in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Ireland and elsewhere,” Delahousse added.

The other envoys on the tour include Jacob Haselhuber of Germany, Michael Roux of France, and Simon McCormack, the Second Secretary at the Embassy of Ireland.

A portion of a cocoa farm in Saclepea, Nimba County recently toured by European Union ambassadors. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

CSOs Want EU Add Rubber, Investors to Draft Regulation on Deforestation

March 12, 2022

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Top: Liberian civil society actors have called on the European Union to include rubber to the list of commodities to be produced sustainably in a proposed regulation. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue

By Varney Kamara

MONROVIA – Liberian civil society actors have suggested that the European Union include the rubber industry and financiers in the proposed European Union’s new regulation on agriculture products linked to deforestation and land degradation across the country.

The European Union, the second-largest importer of agriculture products from Africa next to Asia, named oil palm, cocoa, coffee, and timbers under its proposed deforestation-free products regulation but did not capture the rubber industry, which occupies 405,008.229 hectares or 14.8 percent of Liberia’s total forestland, according to an analysis by The DayLight.

Deforestation, which involves the clearing of wide areas of trees, undermines biodiversity and heightens the impact of climate change. Liberia, which covers 42 percent of the remaining area of the Upper Guinea Forest containing important animal and plant species, faces increasing threats from plantation owners expand.

“The regulation is good, but we need to look at other issues,” said Jonathan Yiah, a forest campaigner at the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI). “There is a need for us to include issues of accountability that will cover both producers and EU countries, including rights of communities.”

The EU guideline meant to improve governance across agriculture and forestry sectors also failed to include financiers of companies who have received billions of dollars from European Banks that have largely contributed to deforestation. A report by the Global Witness last year found Dutch Banks have spent US3.1 billion through loans provided to oil palm projects in West Africa. Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), the country’s largest oil palm company, reaped US$375 million of this amount through loans it secured from the Utrecht-based, Rabobank the report said.

Campaigners say adding companies’ financiers to the regulation would halt European investment in deforestation-related projects.

“Adding financiers to the regulation will send out a loud message of deterrence for people who may want to continuously use [their] money to exploit the system,” Yiah said at a daylong review of the document over the weekend, founded by the EU.

The proposed regulation on deforestation is a supporting arm of the VPA, a legally-binding trade agreement between the European Union and a timber-producing country outside the EU. Like the VPA, regulation “No 995/2010” seeks to ensure that timber and timber products exported to the EU market come from legal sources and that they are in compliance with the local and international trade regulations. Going forward, exporters must provide documents on land use rights, clearance on environmental protection assessment, sales rights, among others.

The review formed part of an ongoing consultation process taking place across producer countries in West Africa. The review was also meant to strengthen the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) and its Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with producer-countries. Next year, European parliaments are expected to finalize the document after their assessment of the inputs of civil society with its enforcement scheduled for 2024.

Tag: European Union

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