Top: The unfinished guesthouse in Karquekpo, Sinoe County. Picture credit: Anonymous
By Esau J. Farr
KARQUEKPO, Sinoe County – The People who own the Central River Dugbe Community Forest had hoped that they would get a guesthouse for their Independence Day celebration—or their “26.”
A Nigerian-owned Iroko Timber and Logging Company leased 13,193 hectares of land from the leadership of the forest in exchange for the guesthouse and other benefits.
But photographs and a video The DayLight obtained captured on Thursday show the project barely at window level.
“Nobody is expecting the keys to that building tomorrow,” said Cyrus Togba, a youth leader in Karquekpo, where the guesthouse is being constructed.
Bartee Togba, the chief officer of the forest, located in Sinoe’s Jaedae District, had said the guesthouse being completed in less than a day. “They are working there presently as I speak to you. Tomorrow (July 26) they may also go to work. I am sure,” Togba said.
The pictures and video, however, show there have been no work at the construction site for some time.
The guesthouse is one of several projects Iroko is required to conduct, according to the contract. It was initially expected to be turned over to locals in October last year but was extended by nine months.
The unfinished dirt block guesthouse is yet another indication of Iroko’s lack of capacity to run a community forest. Recent DayLight investigations found Iroko owes locals land rental, harvesting and others to the community, while it has abandoned an unspecified number of logs.
Another view of the unfinished guesthouse. Picture credit: Anonymous
An earlier DayLight investigation uncovered Iroko was unqualifiedfor logging when the FDA approved its contract in 2021. Its majority shareholder, Timothy Odebunmi, is linked to another company, Akewa, which a was fined for fraud in 2019.
A forestry regulation disqualifies companies whose shareholders have been involved in an act public dishonesty for five years.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: An Iroko Timber and Logging Company log yard outside Greenville, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Esau J. Farr
KARQUEKPO, Sinoe County – In early 2022, there were widespread jubilations across the eight towns that own Central River-Dugbe Community Forest. They had leased the 13,193-hectare woodland to Iroko Timber and Logging Corporation for 15 years in exchange for development benefits.
But more than two years later, Iroko failed to live up to the agreement. It owes the villagers a huge debt and required projects.
“Our expectation was to bring development to our district and various towns…, including schools, clinics and safe drinking water for our people,” Alexander Slah, a member of the community leadership, said. “I am actually disappointed.”
As it stands, Iroko owes the Central River Dugbe Community US$20,368, based on interviews and official records. These fees include land rental, educational support, volunteer teachers and forest protection. Unpaid harvesting fees stand at US$8,927, according to official records.
The harvesting fees could be higher. Iroko declared 523 logs constituting 3,570.848 cubic meters, official records show. However, it abandoned some of the logs in the forest, locals say. Bartee Togba, the head of the community’s leadership, said he and other townspeople would scale the wood to determine Iroko’s full debt.
Besides unpaid fees, Iroko has failed to undertake contractual projects. It has not constructed five hand pumps it should have completed by last year, according to the contract.
Two Iroko machines in Polay Town, one of the communities that own the Central River Dugbe Community Forest. The DayLight/James Giahyue
“Instead of installing the hand pumps between November and March, the company started in June to August. So, the water table goes low during the dry season…,” Slah said. Arthur Nagbe, a religious leader in Karquekpo, corroborated his account.
Iroko is yet to construct three boundary roads connected to Karquekpo and a guesthouse, which should have all been completed last October. The renovation of an elementary school and the construction of a library that should have been completed this December, according to the agreement, have not also started.
‘Handpicked’
Like Iroko’s external failures, there are indications of internal disappointments since its establishment in July 2021.
Iroko targets 100,000 hectares in 15 years but cannot even manage 13,193 hectares so far. The firm projected production of 50,000 cubic meters of logs as of this year but has produced only 3,570 cubic meters of logs since 2022, official records show.
It declared that it owned eight earthmovers and leased nine others. However, it has been seen with way fewer. One old machine is at the log yard near Greenville and two others were parked in Polay Town after Karquekpo.
Togba criticized the FDA for the Iroko situation. “They (FDA) must know that they have equipment that is up to standard but these things were not done,” he said.
But townspeople The DayLight interviewed blamed the community leadership for choosing Iroko. They said community leaders who vetted Iroko did not have the experience to do so. “They were handpicked,” said Ernest Slah, a resident, in an interview on Somalia Drive, outside Monrovia.
Togba dismisses that claim. He claims only the government has the responsibility to vet companies, though locals have that right in community forest.
Iroko is a new company and did not have a track record at the time it signed the Central River Dugbe contract but its majority shareholder, Timothy Odebunmi, was a red flag. The Nigerian has a record of persistent, perennial indebtedness to communities through his other company, Akewa.
Akewa had owed communities hundreds of thousands of United States dollars for over a decade. One of its contracts was cancelled with unpaid fees and another has been embroiled in a lengthy debt-related out-of-court settlement.
Timothy Odebunmi, the majority shareholder in Iroko Timber and Logging Company, also owns a fifth of Akewa Group of Companies’ shares. His ownership in the latter company disqualified the former from logging activities in Liberia. Facebook/Timothy Odebunmi
That aside, Odebunmi’s shares in Iroko disqualified the company from conducting logging activities in Liberia at the time of the Central River Dugbe contract. Odebunmi has a 20-percent stake in Akewa Group of Companies, which was fined for forgery in 2019. The FDA’s Regulation on Bidder Qualifications rules out companies whose owners are linked to public dishonesty for five years. The FDA ignored that rule and prequalified Iroko.
Lied under oath
Iroko shrugs off claims and indications of struggling to live up to its contract and denies any wrongdoing.
“We don’t know what constitutes a ‘capacity issue’ from your point of view, and can, therefore, not address your question,” Iroko said in an email.
“We would like to state that Mr. Timothy Odebunmi is not aware of having own a share in Akewa, and also Mr. Timothy [Odebunmi] has no knowledge of any tax clearance forgery issue as alleged,” it added.
Iroko’s claims are not factual. More than one year ago, The DayLight exposed Odebunmi’s connection to Akewa in which the newspaper emailed the company about its findings. Moreover, a recent review of the forestry sector lists Odebunmi as an Akewa shareholder.
Iroko’s machine photographed in its log yard near Greenville. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
Iroko might have avoided the capacity issue. However, everything about the company’s operations is suggestive of a struggle for survival.
Two months ago, the FDA approved the export permit of Iroko to sell over 2,600 cubic meters but it has not exported the consignment. It has not exported any of the logs it harvested nearly two years ago. A recent DayLight investigation found the logs are abandoned, as some six months have passed since they were harvested, the longest period a log should stay anywhere before export. The FDA said it would investigate the abandoned logs accusation.
The FDA argued it approved Iroko’s contract because it had no list of debarred companies or individuals. The regulator further said it could not enforce the qualification regulation because Iroko did not bid for Central River Dugbe.
Those assertions are not backed by law. While the regulation requires the FDA to form a debarment and suspension list, it does not restrict a company or individual’s eligibility to the list. An individual’s eligibility is covered under the prequalification criteria, the standard for that person’s participation in logging activities.
The fact Iroko was prequalified with Odebunmi’s stakes shows that the company lied under oath. Per the regulation, the Nigerian firm should be prosecuted for perjury. The FDA referenced that provision when it certificated Iroko: “Any statement made under oath to the panel that is found to be false renders this certificate null and void.”
Locals are running out of patience over Iroko’s delay in meeting its contract obligations. They have planned a meeting to discuss their future with the company after the Independence Day celebrations. Some have already made up their minds.
“We are disappointed because the company failed us,” said Arthur Nagbe, a community leader. “I don’t even want to work with them again.”
This story was a production of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ).
Top: The Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County. The DayLight/Wilmot Konah
By Rebazar D. Forte
GBARNGA, Bong County – The Forestry Development Authority aborted its process to obtain a court order to seize thousands of timber abandoned by smugglers at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI).
Multiple sources told The DayLight that the FDA would petition the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga last Monday for the warrant, the first step in confiscating the wood.
Before then, Deputy Managing Director Gertrude Nyaley had appeared to have corroborated that information when she gave a hint on the Forest Hour radio show on Okay FM.
When Cllr. Yanquoi Dolo, the FDA’s lawyer, arrived at the court on Monday, July 8, at 10:20 am, it looked like the process had begun. The FDA’s Lawyer entered the courthouse and exited it about 15 minutes later, according to our reporter.
Dolo declined an interview with The DayLight, hopped into a white vehicle, and left the courtyard.
Daniel Porlenkollie, the court’s clerk, confirmed that the FDA had not sought a warrant from the court.
The atmosphere at CARI was similar to that of the court. A police vehicle tried to enter the area where the illegally harvested planks were but did not. The vehicle left the area after honking for minutes, an indication of an abruptly aborted plan.
Dr. James Dolo, CARI’s officer in charge, said he was unaware of any plan by the FDA to seize the wood.
“The only team that came here was the Crime [Service] Division, based in Gbarnga,” he told The DayLight. They came to make a follow up on the Chinese guys who operated here in the fence, a group from the Economic Crimes Division,” Dr. James Dolo added. The division did not immediately respond to queries.
Cllr. Yanquoi Dolo, the FDA’s lawyer, entered the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court on Monday, July 8, 2024, reportedly to seek a warrant to seize thousands of timber at the Central Agriculture Research Institute but abandoned the plan shortly after. The DayLight/Rebazar Forte
It would have been the first time the FDA had enforced the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber and Timber Products since it was formulated in 2017.
Under the regulation, the regulator must seek a court warrant to auction the planks. However, to do so, it must obtain court warrants to seize and confiscate the timber. If the planks are unsold at the auction, they must be given to the community or civil society.
The smugglers face a fine of thrice the value of the planks, a six-month prison term, or both fine and imprisonment upon a conviction.
The DayLight investigation discovered the network’s ringleaders were two Chinese Chaolong Zhong and Guoping Zhang, a Turkish Mehmet Onder Erem, and a Liberian named Terrence Collins.
The traffickers ran a company called CTL Industries in the China Aid compound of CARI for over two years. They purchased timber from Lofa, Nimba and vendors in Suakoko, Bong County, and processed and smuggled the wood via containers, the investigation found.
A screengrab of LiberTrace shows CTL Industries has never paid a dime for timber export, further proof of its trafficking activities.
Pictures and documents obtained by The DayLight show CTL trafficked timber in containers with the help of about 33 workers.
However, they halted their operations just before last year’s elections, abandoning an unspecified number of planks and equipment.
Records of LiberTrace, Liberia’s timber-tracking computer system, show no activities for CTL Industries, further proof of the illegality of its activities.
A collage featuring timber CTL Industries trafficked the abandoned at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI) in Suakoko, Bong County. The DayLight/Rebazar D. Forte
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Masayaha’s bridge in Gbargbo, River Cess County breaks the FDA’s standards for a log bridge. The Ministry of Public Works disapproved of the construction. Picture credit: An anonymous villager
By Aaron Wesley Geezay
GARGBO VILLAGE, River Cess – Masayaha, a Lebanese-owned company, known for its repeated logging offenses, has harvested about 500 logs in River Cess County, outside of its area of operations.
In November 2021, Masayaha had a 15-year logging contract with the 43,792-hectare Bloquiah Community Forest in Gboe/Ploe Administrative District, Grand Gedeh County.
One year later, Masayaha entered a verbal logging deal with Gbargbo, a River Cess’ Norbor Clan village about 80 kilometers away from its contract area. Under the deal, villagers would allow the company to harvest the logs and build a temporary bridge over the Cestos River, which would later be transformed into a partial concrete structure.
The log bridge was good news for both parties.
Masayaha needed it to transport logs from Grand Gedeh to Grand Bassa since heavy vehicles were disallowed to use the Timbo River Bridge between Sinoe and River Cess.
The villagers saw the bridge as an opportunity to connect the Norbor Clan in the Yarnee District to the Kploh Chiefdom in the Central River Cess Administrative District.
“They asked us to allow them to cut 250 pieces of logs to fix the bridge,” Samuel Gbargbo, a resident of Gbargbo Village, told The DayLight. “And because we have been suffering for the road we agreed.”
Masayaha abandoned several logs on this field and other areas in Gbargbo Village it illegally harvested last year. The DayLight/Aaron Geezay
‘The people… fooled us’
Per the agreement, Masayaha paid the community US$1,500 and began harvesting. However, the logs were insufficient to complete the bridge so the parties signed another verbal agreement. This time, Masayaha only paid US$700, with the remaining US$800 yet to be paid, our investigation found.
And there were other problems. There was no concrete component of the bridge as Masayaha had promised. The bridge had been completed over a year ago, yet the company had failed to construct any concrete pillars. Besides, it abandoned several logs that they felled in Gbargbo’s forest.
This and the debt issue angered the villagers, who threatened to protest.
“The people came and fooled us and made us work for nothing,” said Melvin Wolloh, town chief of Norbor Clan.
Ali Harkous, Masayaha’s CEO and owner, said the Forestry Development Authority permitted it. “We applied to FDA to permit us to get the logs from around the area and they approved and we also approached community and they agreed,” Harkous said. He refused to share a copy with The DayLight or allow this reporter to see it.
A stump of a tree in Gbargbo Village, River Cess County Masayaha illegally harvested last year. The DayLight/Aaron Geezay
Harkous would not speak to the villagers’ claim but budged after persistent inquiry. “Frankly, tell them they should not worry, we are going to give [them] their money.
“We invested all we have and credited from some financial institutions. We are really into [a] financial problem,” Harkous said.
Harkous was right. The FDA permitted Masayaha to harvest logs for the bridge. However, his company grossly violated the permit’s terms.
The document and other papers, the FDA provided, did not permit Masayaha to harvest logs in River Cess, but rather Sinoe County. Two letters written by then-Senator Milton Teahjay of Sinoe County and Bloquiah Community Forest, seen by The DayLight, mentioned the Tarjuwon District.
Also, the permit ordered Masayaha to work with the FDA staff in that area to identify targeted trees and calculate the volume logs for the project. That, too, did not happen.
FDA’s record of the Masayaha felling in Gbargbo Village shows that the company felled 200 trees, not 500 the villagers said.
Then of the 200 logs, 62 were untagged, according to the FDA record. Similarly, the logs on the bridge, on an open field on the riverbank and in the bushes were untagged. Even the tree stumps this reporter photographed were missing obligatory tags.
The DayLight photographed several untagged logs abandoned by Masayaha in Gbargbo Village, River Cess. The DayLight/Aaron Geezay
The dates on the harvesting record and the communications are inconsistent, further proof of a dishonest operation. It shows rangers identified targeted trees on November 29, 2022—William V.S. Tubman’s birthday—for the harvesting. However, Masayaha’s request and the FDA’s response were written in December and January, respectively. This reveals that rangers had already counted, and tagged some of the trees before the FDA approved the harvesting.
Roadside logging
It is not the first time Masayaha has harvested logs outside its contract area. In 2022, a DayLight investigation exposed Masayaha’s illegal logging activities outside the Worr Community Forest in Grand Bassa County, where it exploited villagers’ need for roads. The report cited an August 2021 FDA publication in which investigators found evidence Masayaha connived with locals to steal timber. No actions were taken against the company for those activities, despite a protest.
William Pewu, FDA’s technical manager for commercial forestry, said Masayaha would go scot-free for its Gbargbo Village activities. Pewu claims the FDA does not record the logs in LiberTrace, a computer system that verifies the legality of timber.
“No, those logs are not for sale,” Pewu told The DayLight in an interview last week. “You only enroll logs in LiberTrace when they are for export. Those logs are for [a] bridge construction.”
Pewu’s comments are not backed by facts. The phrase “chain of custody” covers everything from “transport, interim storage, processing, distribution, and export.” In short, it extends from a log’s “source of origin in the forest to [its] end use.”
Furthermore, roadside logging does not derive from any law or regulation. In fact, in 2009, the FDA even fined a company for harvesting a hundred logs along a path outside a concession in Grand Bassa, according to a United Nations report. A 2017 regulation imposes a fine of twice the value of logs harvested outside a contract, a six-month prison term, or both fine and imprisonment upon a conviction. Other penalties include forfeiture of harvesting rights or a logging contract.
Masayaha illegally harvested over 500 logs from the Gbargbo Village in River Cess, 80 kilometers outside a Grand Gedeh forest, where it has a contract. The DayLight/Aaron Geezay
Masayaha’s illegal operation in Gbargbo bears a remarkable resemblance to the one conducted by a company nearly a decade ago. In 2016, an investigation by the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) found that Liberia Hardwood Company (LHC) harvested many logs outside the Bloquiah Community Forest. Strangely, some of the logs were felled in the very Gbargbo Village.
The FDA admitted at the time that roadside logging was illegal but said the logging would continue while it addressed “gaps” in the regulation. It took no action against LHC, which denied any wrongdoing, and there is still no regulation for roadside logging.
‘Not possible’
The bridge built from the illegal logs is equally tainted. It violates the standards for bridge construction, per the Code of Harvesting Practices. The code requires a log bridge to be built on a high portion of a riverbank so as not to stop or interfere with the water’s flow.
Masayaha engineers placed the logs directly in the water, stalling its natural course, photographs of the construction show.
Ministry of Public Works did not authorize the construction, a contravention of the precondition the FDA set for the construction. The Ministry said it had disapproved of the construction.
“Approval/consent was not provided on the basis that the [width] of the Cestos River was [wider],” Minister Roland Layfette Giddings told The DayLight. By the ministry’s standard, it was not possible to construct a log bridge at the location under consideration.”
That violation has led to consequences. At the start of the rainy season, the Cestos River overflowed its banks, washing many logs away. Masayaha later repaired it. Masayaha has started to use the bridge to transport logs to Buchanan.
But Fishermen, who have fished on the river for generations, now have to lift their canoes over the controversial bridge to access the other side of the river.
The story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Iroko transferred most of the abandoned logs in February this year, one year and four months after they were harvested in the Central Dugbe River Community Forest. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Matenneh Keita and Esau J. Farr
KARQUEKPO, Sinoe County – In 2022, Timothy Odebunmi, joined two other Nigerian businessmen to establish Iroko Timber Logging Corporation in July 2021. Odebunmi has 50 percent shares, Samson Odebunmi, his relative, 45 percent, and Akinsiku Arinkan five percent.
The following year, Iroko signed a contract with the Central River Dugbe Community Forest. By October, it began harvesting logs in the 13,193-hectare woodland in Sinoe’s Jaedae District near the Grand Kru border.
It is unclear how many logs Iroko has felled. The FDA record shows 523 logs. However, Bartee Togba, the head of Central River Dugbe leadership, puts the number to about 700. Videos posted to Iroko’s Facebook page in July last year show workers hauling logs with an earthmover.
Under the regulation, logs are abandoned when unattended between 15 and 180 working days after felling, depending on their location.
The DayLight videotaped hundreds of logs on an open field in Dioh’s Town on the Greenville-Karquekpo route. Sources, including residents of that community, said the logs were only transferred there in February this year.
A screenshot of Iroko’s website shows the logs were harvested before or in October, nearly more than three times the legal time frame for a log anywhere to be abandoned.
Togba said some of the logs were still in the forest and wanted to document them. “I’m going to put the forest guards together… to carry them in the forest and record all of [that] information on those abandoned logs,” Togba said in an interview at his house in Karquekpo. He did not return queries on his findings after the interview despite repeated phone conversations.
The FDA has taken no concrete steps to deter Iroko or any other company from abandoning logs, now a sector normal. Between 2020 and 2023, Managing Director Mike Doryen made several pronouncements, including a public announcement in November last year, but never acted. Recently, current Managing Director Rudolph Merab toured the southeast, highlighting the issue but has done nothing more.
The FDA record shows that the agency approved Iroko’s permit to export 349 logs this May, something Iroko said it was “finalizing” soon. However, in an interview with The DayLight, William Pewu, FDA’s technical manager for community forestry, said the regulator would investigate.
“If Iroko has abandoned logs or woods, we are not aware of that,” Pewu said. “We have to first of all validate whether the information we are getting [is authentic]. We have to do a follow-up.”
Pewu’s assertion of being unaware of Iroko’s abandoned log situation is not backed by facts. The DayLight published an investigation on the issue more than a year ago. The FDA did not return questions the newspaper asked regarding Iroko at the time.
An elevated view of Iroko’s log yard with a solitary earthmover and a makeshift security booth. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
The FDA must investigate a piece of abandoned log information, according to the regulation, and publish its findings. The regulation further mandates the agency to seize and auction said logs with a court warrant, following several public notices. Penalties for the offense include fines and contract forfeiture.
‘[Overvalued]’
Iroko’s struggles suggest it cannot conduct logging activities in Central River Dugbe.
It claims it owns eight earthmovers and leases nine others, according to one official document. However, it has been seen with only a few equipment in the last three years. An old machine at the log yard and two in Polay Town, one of the eight communities that own the forest.
The document shows Iroko targets 100,000 hectares of forests in the region in 15 years but it has grappled to manage just 13,193 hectares in three.
Iroko plans to run a centralized log yard near Greenville, from where it would produce about 50,000 cubic meters of logs each harvesting season. Yet, its current log yard is smaller than a football pitch. Reporters did not have to fly a drone high to capture all of the logs, a solitary earthmover and a makeshift security booth last month.
Togba said Iroko’s capacity troubles were glaring. He said the company had been “[overvalued],” accusing the FDA of not assessing Iroko’s financial and logistical capacities.
“The law says before FDA gives the company permit…, they should first of all view their equipment. They must know the company has an equipment that is up to standard but these things were not done,” Togba said.
Two Iroko machines in Polay Town, Sinoe County in 2023. The DayLight/James Giahyue
“What I suspect in their operation is there is no active equipment. Looking at the poor arrangement based on the equipment that brought all of that mess, the company doesn’t have the financial capability to operate,” Togba added.
Official documents appear to support Togba’s comments. It took Iroko barely two weeks to get prequalified for logging in Liberia. It registered as the company on July 7, 2021, and was prequalified on July 23, 2021, according to its article of incorporation and prequalification certificate.
Iroko’s situation mirrors that of Akewa Group of Companies, another Nigerian firm in which Odebunmi has 20 percent shares. Beginning in 2008, Akewa failed to live up to each one of its four contracts in Grand Bassa, Margibi and Grand Cape Mount. It is locked in an arbitration proceeding with the Margibi community over locals’ forest benefits.
Iroko dismisses indications of its capacity issues. “We are a business entity and we work with positives and challenges of the business environment,” Iroko said in emailed responses to The DayLight’s queries. It would not make specific comments on challenges.
‘Null and void’
The FDA could have prevented the situation had it disapproved of Iroko’s contract, due to Odebunmi’s shares in Akewa. Back in 2019, Akewa was fined US$1,000 forging another company’s tax clearance to acquire a contract in Grand Cape Mount County.
Approving the Iroko-Central-River-Dugbe contract—with Odebunmi as a shareholder—violates the Regulation on Bidder Qualifications. The regulation debars shareholders of companies that commit any acts of public dishonesty for five years. Only three years had passed when the FDA approved Iroko’s contract.
Iroko said Odebunmi was unaware of his shares in Akewa and “has never signed any document to that effect.” It said Odebunmi did not know of Akewa’s tax fraud.
But those statements are not backed by facts. Odebunmi has owned a fifth of Akewa’s shares since 2010, through two amendments, Akewa’s legal documents show. A recent review of the forestry sector by the U.S.-based Forest Trends also captures Odebunmi as an Akewa shareholder.
Speaking on its illegal approval of Iroko’s contract, the FDA said it did not have a list of debarred companies and individuals, and that it needed a court action to enforce debarment. The FDA further said it could not enforce the qualification regulation because Iroko did not bid for Central River Dugbe. Like Iroko’s, the FDA’s assertions are not backed by facts.
Up: A page from Akewa’s article of incorporation shows Timothy Odebunmi as a 20-percent shareholder in the company. Here: A page from Iroko’s legal documents reveals Timothy Odebunmi as a 50-percent shareholder.
Though the qualification regulation mandates the FDA to form a list of debarred persons, other provisions on eligibility are not subject to the list. For instance, the Yes-or-No Prequalification Criteria requires a firm seeking prequalification not to have any shareholders connected to forgery.
The FDA’s claim that it could not apply the regulation because Iroko was not bidding for a contract contradicts its actions. The qualification regulation does not only cover bidding. It also contains requirements for the rights to conduct forestry activities in Liberia.
Moreover, the FDA applied such a provision by warning Iroko against perjury, which has nothing to do with the debarment list.
“Any statement made under oath to the panel that is found to be false renders this certificate null and void,” Iroko’s prequalification certificate reads. The three-year document will expire later this month.
This story was a production of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ).
FDA Deputy Managing Director Gertrude Nyaley made several false claims on Okay FM last Thursday. Picture credit: Facebook
By Gabriel M. Dixon
MONROVIA – In statements that are largely self-contradicting and underpinned by falsehood, FDA’s Deputy Managing Director for Operations, Gertrude Nyaley misinformed the public about community rights, eligibility for contracts, and legality procedures for confiscated and abandoned logs.
Nyaley made the false claims last Thursday when she appeared on Forest Hour, a radio program of Liberia Forest Media Watch, hosted on Okay FM.
The DayLight has fact-checked four major ones.
CLAIM 1: “If there are no shareholders and it is a new company and none of the significant individuals that existed in the previous company, [are] named in that [new] company’s legal document, they cannot be considered as the same company. That’s the trouble we had. So, they registered a completely new company but we, FDA, are still under obligation to advise the community.
“If you say this Company A, you must prove that these are the same significant individuals. But if they are not the same significant individuals, they are totally different individuals, how can you say they are the same company? You can’t say it!”
FACT-CHECK: This claim is false. A Singaporean family, the Guptas, own both Sing Africa and Indo Africa, according to the companies’ articles of incorporation. The Guptas even have a third company: Starwood, which has a contract with Matro Kpogblen Community Forest in Grand Bassa.
Shivali Gupta, Shivani Gupta and Prachi Gupta have equal shares in Sing Africa.
Mukesh Gupta also has 51 percent and Anju Mukesh Kumar has the other 41 percent of the shares in Indo Africa.
Mukesh Gupta has 70 percent of the shares in Starwood and Mrs. Anju Mukesh Kumar has the remaining 30 percent.
Sing Africa and Indo Africa share Kishan Rao Pamapalker as their registered agent, a person who represents a company’s interest in business deals and lawsuits.
Moreover, the two companies had the same officials, with Kumah Gupta as their chief executive officer and Moses Mononporlor, as community forest manager.
The DayLight published these facts in an October 2021 investigation, which New Dawn newspaper republished. The FDA took no corrective measures against the family until each of the companies abandoned its contract. In the end, communities are struggling to get their benefits from a bank ordered by the Commercial Court to possess their assets.
CLAIM 2: “Our work is to ensure that they work consistent with the law. We don’t choose [a] company for [a] community. Communities themselves write FDA introducing who they want to work with after they have gone through their rigorous processes. So, they choose the company to work with. And all FDA can say to you is look, ‘We think that these people may not have the technical capacity because of what they have done in previous communities. We need you to watch.’
“The law says even when they sent their request to sign and we ignored their request, after three months, they have the right to even sign.”
A screengrab of Deputy Managing Director of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) Gertrude Nyaley’s appearance on Forest Hour on Okay FM.
This is also misleading. Nyaley misreferenced the procedures for an automatic renewal of a community forest management agreement with a commercial use contract.
Communities sign a community forest management agreement with the FDA for 15 years. Now, when that agreement is about to expire, Section 7.8 of the Community Rights Regulation gives villagers the right to automatic renewal if the FDA does not respond to a community’s request in not less than 60 days. That provision has nothing to do with a commercial use contract—also known as a third-party agreement—between a community and a company or an individual.
However, community forestry is no escapism from normal forestry practices. It only recognizes communities’ rights to forestland ownership and co-management of forest resources. It does not usurp the FDA’s powers.
Section 4 (g) and (f) of the FDA Act of 1976 is clear: “To prescribe the form of all licenses, permits, agreements and other instruments dealing with the use of forest resources.
“To control the issuance of such instruments and determine the conditions under which they may be granted, exercised, produced, revoked or returned.”
CLAIM 3: “We’ll move in first to one area for seizure, go to the magisterial court, we get the seizure, get to the site, [and] place the notice. After the period elapse[s], we move to the circuit court and apply the law.”
FACT-CHECK: This statement is misleading. A magisterial court plays no role in the legal processes regarding confiscated or abandoned logs. The word “court” is used 17 times in the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber, and Timber Products, and 10 times in the Regulation on Abandoned Logs, Timber, and Timber Products. In all instances, the regulations are clear that a petition to confiscate or seize wood must be done in the circuit court. There is no mention of the phrase “magisterial court” in both regulations.
CLAIM 4: “Abandoned logs are all over the country. It’s sad to say but it is true. The challenge has been, because of these woods you [saw in Bondi Mandingo] they cannot pass through the chain of custody system because of the timeframe on the ground. Once it is confiscated, it is illegal. We can’t do anything.”
FACT-CHECK: This statement is untrue. The regulations on confiscated and abandoned logs provide pathways for the FDA to reintroduce timber into the chain of custody system, which tracks wood from their origin to their end-use. This principle is consistent with even the Regulation for Establishing a Chain of Custody System that governs everything about logs.
Both regulations require the FDA to investigate and seek a (circuit) court warrant to seize and/or confiscate timber. Next, the regulator must seek another court order to auction abandoned or confiscated timber upon several public notices.
Top: The Tarsue Community Forest covers 9,714 hectares of forest in Tarsue Chiefdom of Sanquin District, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Emmanuel Sherman
SANQUIN – The Tarsue Authorized Community Forest in Sinoe County wants a contract with a new logging company.
Tarsue signed an agreement with the West Africa Forest Development Incorporated (WAFDI) in 2019. Locals leased the forest to the Chinese-owned company in exchange for roads, bridges, a school and a clinic. That was in addition to annual land rental and harvesting fees for the 9,714 hectares of forest in the Sanquin District of Sinoe County.
However, the WAFDI abandoned the agreement from the onset, with the community embroiled in an internal wrangle until the contract expired earlier this year.
“We made several efforts for the company to come to find a way forward but nothing was achieved…,” Tarsue said in an April letter to the Forestry Development Authority, seen by The DayLight.
“Now that the period for the contract has ended, we are calling on the FDA to support us in this situation kindly…,” the letter added.
In a reply to Tarsue’s letter, the FDA’s Managing Director Rudolph Merab said the agency would address Tarsue’s in-house dispute before settling the WAFDI issue. Like the WAFDI agreement, all tenures of the members of the leadership of Tarsue have elapsed.
“This communication is timely and corresponds with [management’s] plan… to send a team to conduct [an] election and to address the expired tenure situation…,” Merab’s letter, seen by DayLight, read.
‘You are… removed’
Tarsue’s problem began as soon as it selected WAFDI to operate its forest in 2019.
The community accused the late Dennis Wiah, then leader of the forest, and Alfred Dolo, another leader, of unilaterally selecting WAFDI. Villagers had earlier agreed to lease the forestland to another company, according to Oliver Pyne, a member of the community’s leadership.
“Instead, they brought WAFDI, they only brought the name, but never brought any representative,” recalled Pyne in an interview in Komannah Town.
“So, when they brought the agreement, it became an argument on the ground.”
Oliver Pyne, a member of the community forest management body of Tarsue Community Forest. The DayLight/James Giahyue
In 2021, Towns and villages that own forests asked Wiah to leave the position. “You are hereby removed and dismissed from your position as chief officer of the Tarsue Community Forest by the decision of the community assembly (CA) in our sitting on September 30, 2021,” the letter said. The community informed the FDA of its decision in October the next year. Wiah died later.
Following his death, an ad-hoc committee, comprising Pyne’s brother Ericson Pyne and others, assumed the leadership role.
That did not solve the problem. WAFDI remained inactive, failing to pay the community land rental and scholarship fees. WAFDI also did not conduct any of its mandatory projects in Tarsue, including hand pumps, town halls, roads and bridges. It did not cut down a single tree throughout this time.
With the contract expired and community forest leaders’ tenures elapsed, locals are mounting pressure on the FDA. Under the law, the regulator should supervise the elections of officers on the governance structure of the community forest.
It has been more than two months since Merab said the FDA would visit the community but nothing has happened.
Nora Boweir, FDA’s Deputy Managing Director for Community, Conservation and Carbon Harvesting, had not gathered the resources to visit Tarsue.
“Our plan is to go there and deal with the challenges they are facing, and give them the support as soon we are able to raise the required resources, funds,” Boweir said.
Paramount Chief John Koah hopes a new company will bring development to the Tarsue Chiefdom. The DayLight/James Giahyue
John Koah, Paramount Chief of Tarsue Chiefdom has not lost hope. He dreams that one day a new company will come to take over the community forest.
“We are expecting school building, hand pumps, hospital and the old people here to be getting [a] small thing,” Koah said in an interview in Teacher’s Town.
Augustine Johnson, an affiliate of WAFDI, said he was not authorized to speak on the Tarsue matter. He told The Daylight through a mobile phone interview was only responsible for WAFDI’s contract with Gheegbarn One Community Forest in Grand Bassa County.
Efforts to reach out to Wang Chenchen, the owner of WAFDI, proved futile. Someone else answered the phone number on the company’s article of incorporation. Johnson, who said Mr. Wang had traveled to China, declined to share his contact.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) permitted West Water Group (Liberia) to export 797 logs in March. However, over half of the consignment was illegally harvested. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By James Harding Giahyue and Derick Snyder
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth part of a series on the Forestry Development Authority’s approval of illegal timber exports.
In February, the FDA’s log-tracking computer LiberTrace red-flagged 413 logs in West Water’s consignment with multiple problems. Yet the Forestry Development Authority ignored the warnings and approved the shipment.
The FDA dismisses DayLight’s initial investigation of the illegal export as an “intentional misinterpretation” of the facts
But DayLight traced some of the illegal logs back to the stumps of the trees from which they were harvested, supporting LiberTrace’s findings
A relook at the LiberTrace analysis found several discrepancies, indicating a cover-up
Last year, West Water did not have a valid harvesting certificate, FDA’s records reveal
The illegal approval reduced government taxes on the logs and encouraged unsustainable logging and impunity
GAYEPUEWHOE TOWN, Grand Bassa County – Last month, a DayLight investigation uncovered the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) approved the export of 797 logs (4,702.679 cubic meters) valued at an estimated US$1 million for a company.
The investigation was based on an analysis of the consignment generated by the FDA log-tracking computer system or LiberTrace. The report cited a screenshot of LiberTrace’s history of West Water Group (Liberia) Inc.’s logs.
Details of the red-flagged logs appeared on the export permit and a National Port Authority document. That proved the FDA did not ensure West Water corrected the issues LiberTrace raised before sanctioning the export.
West Water had harvested the logs in the District Three B&C Community Forest in Grand Bassa County, where the Chinese-owned company has a 15-year logging contract with villagers. The logs were loaded on the MV Tropical Star, a cargo ship that left Liberia on March 16 and arrived in China on May 26, according to the vessel information provider Marine Traffic. Satellite images show cranes offloading the logs.
The second part of this series found that West Water owed the community forests in Bassa and another in Nimba over US$100,000, a violation of a payment regulation.
The FDA dismissed the investigation, calling it an “intentional misinterpretation” of the facts, and an alleged smear campaign.
But additional evidence gathered from three visits to the forest and interviews with villagers knowledgeable about West Water’s operations corroborates the first investigation. Also, a relook at the LiberTrace analysis and other documents provided additional clues.
The DayLight traced several of the problematic logs to the stumps of trees from which they were harvested, using identification tags from the LiberTrace document. Once reporters matched the tag of red-flagged logs in the document to stumps, they measured the corresponding stumps with a tape rule, videotaping the process.
For instance, reporters traced one tree tagged “AF402RXT” that was red-flagged for multiple problems, including its size. When the reporters measured it, the reporters found the diameter of the tree was 65 centimeters. That is 10 centimeters less than the figure on the export permit and 15 centimeters less than the FDA-approved size for that species, dahoma (Piptadeniastrum africanum).
‘We will be the loser’
Unlike the tree stumps, reporters faced no difficulty in finding other pieces of evidence of undersized logs. A sea of immature logs with West Water tags decorated the forest and the roads leading to it.
A stump of one of the logs LiberTrace red-flagged for being unauthorizedly felled, undersized and other things. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
Villagers, including those knowledgeable about West Water’s operation, said undersized logs were a normal thing there.
“I saw many trees that did not reach the complete diameter and they harvested them,” said Isaac Doe, a villager and an ex-West Water worker.
“If they keep cutting the under-diameter trees, we will set up [a] roadblock and stop them,” said Isaac Jimmy, an elder of that region.
“We will be the loser when they continue felling young trees,” added James Kawee, one of the community forest leaders.
Evidence of undersized logs lay bare in the forest but hid in plain sight in the LiberTrace analysis. When reporters took a closer look at the document, they made a stunning discovery.
Of the 413 problematic logs, 217 were below their harvesting sizes, known in forestry as the diameter cut limit. A total of 266 had been harvested without the FDA’s approval, the sources of 46 logs were unknown, and 55 had no GPS coordinates for tracking purposes. Each log had multiple legality issues.
All of the problematic logs were harvested in two weeks between late January and mid-February, during the post-elections transition.
There were five rounds of harvesting. The first occurred on January 29 with a mammoth 251 logs. It was followed the next day with 11 and the day after 25. Harvesting resumed on February 12 with 106 logs and the following day with 10.
Some villagers said they witnessed West Water felled and transported the wood at night. Their accounts are consistent with LiberTrace, which shows some felling occurred between 8 pm and 9 pm.
“I want the government to implement their rules and regulations to stop them,” said John Flomo, an elder in Paygar Town, one of 14 towns and villages that own the forest.
Reporters filmed West Water trucks transporting logs at night on a major route during their third visit to the forest. FDA’s regulation on timber traceability prohibits nightly transport of logs on public roads. West Water did not respond to queries for comments on this story.
Undersized logs adorned West Water’s contract area of the District Three B&C Community Forest in Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
LiberTrace is a crucial component of timber traceability or the chain of custody system. Meant to prevent illegal wood from entering domestic and international markets, the system traces logs from their origins to their final destinations. The European Union and the United Kingdom funded LiberTrace.
But that was not all the evidence The DayLight gathered. The investigation found that West Water did not have a harvesting certificate when the felling took place. The one Merab shared with The DayLight was not signed by then Managing Director Mike Doryen or a deputy.
The invalid certificate ran from March to September last year and the valid one runs for the same period this year. Once more, this proves that all 413 logs West Water harvested in January and February this year were illegal, even by the FDA’s lowered standards.
A portion of the District Three B&C Community Forest in Wee District, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/Philip Quwebin
That likely explains why LiberTrace red-flagged the dates all the 413 problematic logs were felled. It also appears to explain why the FDA’s legality verification department (LVD) provided a flawed breakdown of LiberTrace’s warnings.
“Out of 797 logs, 50 percent are traceable with red label because of diameter…,” Gertrude Nyaley, the Deputy Managing Director for Operations, who was the technical manager of LVD at the time of the export, handwrote the document.
“Based on the above results, we recommend that West Water… export permit be issued.”
Nyaley reduced the magnitude of the issues LiberTrace highlighted. The computer had listed up to 13 legality issues with the logs, including unauthorized harvesting.
The LiberTrace screenshot of the logs’ history shows West Water requested the export several hours before conducting the last harvesting.
Christian Barh, an LVD staff, rejected the request on February 19, 2024, by 3:03 PM, citing “major traceability errors.”
From L-R: FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab approved the illegal timber, based on Deputy Managing Director Gertrude Nyaley’s advice. The DayLight/Harry Browne
The next day, Barh accepted the request and passed it on to Theodore Nna, SGS’ forestry project manager. SGS is a Swiss verification firm that built and powers LiberTrace. Nna okayed the request less than 48 hours later. Rudolph Merab would approve the illegal export in one of his first acts as the Managing Director of the FDA.
Nna flouted SGS’ sustainability standards by endorsing the export. The standards ensure traders and users that the timber they trade or use comes from sustainably managed forests, according to SGS’ website. Nna did not respond to emailed queries for comment on this story.
Cover-up exposed
Merab claims the errors and warnings were usual, and that some of them were corrected. “After log yard verification and physical scaling, the log will be exported,” Merab told The DayLight in a letter. “It’s a normal occurrence and we are open to [verifying] such an occurrence with you the DayLight.”
Those comments are not backed by facts. The export permit spec, which details the information on each log in the consignment, shows the issues were never fixed.
“[Merab’s] explanation is in line with the SOP but in contradiction of the action on the export permit approved,” one chain of custody expert, who prefers anonymity over fear of retribution, said.
“If and only if measures were taken to do the timber yard correction, this action could not reflect in the approved export permit.”
The expert was referencing LVD’s standard operating procedures (SOPs), which require errors corrected at different levels, not only during export. For instance, the FDA’s felling SOP requires LVD to ensure a company corrects any errors LiberTrace catches upon felling.
The FDA’s records show West Water exported more logs than it producedWest Water’s current harvesting certificateA purported West Water harvesting certificate for 2023 A West Water document with conflicting dates
Several documents the FDA provided contain inconsistencies, suggesting they were forged as part of an all-around cover-up.
One document is dated 2019 and 2024, listing Nyaley as head of LVD. Nyaley was the technical manager of the community forestry department that year, appointed to LVD in 2022. And West Water did not have a contract in Grand Bassa or anywhere in 2019, at least not a direct one.
Another document puts West Water’s export (3,275 logs) above its production (2,782). That is a difference of 493 logs.
Unlike for the initial investigation, Merab did not respond to The DayLight’s queries for comments on this story. He did not grant the newspaper’s access to West Water’s contract and harvesting maps, guaranteed under various legal provisions. The FDA had said it would not return future questions from DayLight regarding export permits.
A screenshot of LiberTrace’s history of the 797 logs shows the FDA some of the trees were still standing when West Water requested to export them. It took the FDA’s legality verification department less than 48 hours to approve the request after rejecting it over “major traceability errors.”
By approving the export, the FDA violated its laws.
Cutting trees without authorization and harvesting undersized logs constitute a fine per the FDA’s confiscated logs regulation. A violating company faces a fine of two times the value of the illegal logs and a public auctioning of the wood. That means West Water would have paid more revenue for the March export.
Jonathan Yiah, the lead forestry campaigner at the Sustainable Development Institute, criticized the FDA for not confiscating the logs and undermining LiberTrace’s credibility.
“Focusing on enforcement,” Yiah said, “will demonstrate and ensure both revenue generation and sustainable management and harvesting of our forest resources.”
[Emmanuel Sherman and Philip Quwebin contributed to this report]
The story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Garmai Kennedy, Lofa County Accountant, llegally collects L$1,000 from each truck transporting planks within and out of Lofa County. The DayLight/Mason Kollie
By Mason Kollie
VOINJAMA, Lofa County – In August last year, the Superintendent of Lofa County William Tamba Kamba abolished an illegal fee he imposed on planks leaving the northwestern county following a DayLight investigation.
Kamba had accepted that the collection was illegal.
“We stopped the toll collection [because] the county council comprising of representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, [the Ministry of Internal Affairs], CSOs, and the youths did not approve [it],” said Kamba then.
Yet, a few months after Kamba’s admission, Garmai Kennedy, Lofa County’s accountant, reintroduced the illegal toll system.
Like under Kamba, plank dealers pay Kennedy L$1,000 for a truckload of planks transported within and out of the county, receipts of the transactions show.
“As long you are taking wood from Voinjama to Monrovia, you need to pay the Superintendent fee…, which I did two weeks ago,” Vesselee Lakpawolo, a plank dealer, said.
“I sent wood in town [recently] to my brother. I paid for the Superintendent fee to Garmai Kennedy, the accountant of the county,” Lakpawolo added, brandishing a receipt.
Lofa County Accountant Garmai Kennedy writes a receipt for a plank dealer at a carpenter shop in Voinjama. The DayLight/Mason Kollie
Plank dealers pay the fees directly to Kennedy, who gives them a receipt. She collects the fees at her home, in the streets of Voinjama and at the city’s checkpoint. One picture shows Kennedy writing a receipt to a dealer at a carpenter shop.
Kennedy has refused to account for the funds she has received, saying the money was for office use. “We have to buy [a] new flag, and facilitate some senior staff’s movements around the county,” she said.
Kennedy has been a cornerstone of the illegal plank toll in Lofa. During Kamba’s administration, she was responsible for collecting fees from all parts of the county, documents show.
A receipt The DayLight obtained in 2022 as part of another investigation revealed she received L$53,125 from a toll agent in Vahun. Kamba had introduced the illegal payment scheme in Vahun, following a leadership issue there before duplicating it throughout Lofa.
A 2019 document shows that she made several disbursements from fees collected from chainsaw millers in Foya.
County authorities collecting fees on plank goes against the practices of chainsaw milling, even in its unregulated state.
A man head carries planks in a forest in Kpasagizia, Lofa County in 2022. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Local plank production or chainsaw milling began after the Second Liberian Civil War (1998-2003). It is the sole distributor of planks to domestic markets, with an estimated value between US$30 million and US$41 million, according to a 2017 report.
However, chainsaw milling has been unregulated since its emergence. Chainsaw millers get their wood by negotiating with forest owners in rural communities through verbal agreements. They pay the Forestry Development Authority (FDA)US$.60 per plank.
The Chainsaw Milling Regulation, completed by the FDA in 2022 and is yet to be enforced, recognizes community and FDA payments, but not the Office of the Superintendent.
Acting Superintendent Forkpa Roberts claims the toll collection is legal, citing a law. “Under the Local Governance Law (Act), the county authority has the right to generate revenue on [its] own,” Roberts told The DayLight.
Roberts’ claim is incorrect. The Local Government Act does not give superintendents or their staff any power to levy fees on any good. That power lies solely in the county council, a group that comprises chiefs, the youths, and the disabled community.
A county council has not been formed in Lofa, and superintendents or their staff are not members of the body, according to the law.
That was the same wrong claim Kamba made to defend the illegal toll system before admitting it was unlawful.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ).
Top: A West Water skidder in District Three B&C Community Forest in Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/Philip Quwebin
By Emmanuel Sherman and Gerald Koinyeneh
Editor’s Note: This is the third part of a series on the Forestry Development Authority’s approval of illegal timber exports.
TONWEIN, Nimba and GAYEPUEWHOE, Grand Bassa – The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) authorized a company to cut thousands of logs. However, it did not execute its social agreement with communities, violating a harvesting regulation.
West Water Group (Liberia) Inc. has operated in Blinlon and District Three B&C Community Forests in Nimba and Grand Basaa, respectively. During this time, it harvested 2,782 logs (20,095 cubic meters), according to the FDA.
But West Water has completed just a few out of dozens of mandatory projects for the communities, a DayLight investigation found.
“We will make sure they do that. I just want our people to be patient because these projects have been overdue,” said Eric Dahn, a leader of Blinlon’s community forest leadership.
“So, if it causes us to stop the company from operating until they fulfill all the promises, we will do it,” Dahn added.
This investigation adds to another published earlier this month, which found the FDA violated a payment regulation by approving West Water’s exports amid its indebtedness to the communities. Both payment and harvesting regulations empower local communities to benefit from forest resources.
The villagers’ plight had been thrust into the spotlight after an initial DayLight investigation found the FDA approved the export of West Water’s illegally harvested timber in District Three B&C.
West Water did not respond to questions for comment.
Failed promises
In 2020, West Water, a Chinese-owned company, signed a 15-year contract with Blinlon Community Forest for its 39,409 hectares of forestland in the Yarweh-Mehnsonneh District near the Nimba- River Cess border.
A West Water camp in Tonwein, Nimba County. The DayLight/Gerald Koinyeneh
The company promised the villagers a series of projects across Blinlon including a school, clinic, handpumps, roads and concrete bridges.
Nearly four years on, West Water has only done two out of 14 handpumps and has just started paving mandatory roads, which should have happened at the beginning of the contract. It has not done the school and clinic, which should have commenced in 2021, according to the contract.
The company only jumpstarted the roads after townspeople protested, blocking its workers from entering the forest in March. Both parties later resolved on March 5 to end hostilities.
“We will make sure they fulfill all the promises,” added Dahn.
Protest and Interference
The tension in District Three B&C Community Forest in Grand Bassa is higher. It mirrors a string of controversies, which have marred the community since it obtained community forest status in 2014. (communities own forestlands but must complete legal requirements to sign logging contracts)
At that time, the community forest contracted Renew Forestry Group to operate its 49,728 hectares of forest on the border of Grand Bassa, River Cess and Nimba.
However, a conflict erupted. The forest leadership recognized Renew Forestry Group, while the local and county authorities sided with West Water.
Then in 2021, West Water signed a 15-year contract with District Three B&C Community Forest of 24,175 hectares of woodland. The company promised to build roads, concrete bridges, a clinic, a school, market tables, town halls and hand pumps.
Like its Blinlon contract, West Water has not lived up to its contract with District Three B&C. It has completed just one out of eight hand pumps, while villagers drink from polluted creeks. Three years into the agreement, it has not done the major roads, bridges, clinics, town halls and market tables. According to the contract, most of these projects should have been completed in two years.
“West Water is not doing anything good for us,” Alex Bonwin, a member of the community leadership said. “If the company is not doing what they’re supposed to do we revoke their document to get out.”
West Water’s failure to honor the contract has led to tension, with three protests already this year. In the latest one, which occurred last week, townspeople stopped seven log-loaded trucks from leaving the community.
Alfred Flomo, the representative of Grand Bassa Electoral District Four, where the community forest lies, interferes in the matter.
Gayepuewhoe Town is one of 14 communities that own the District Three B&C Community Forest. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
In a May 12 meeting, Flomo asked the company to stay off the forest until it addressed issues the villagers raised, according to the meeting’s minutes seen by The Daylight. That was the second time he had taken such action.
Under the community forest law, lawmakers are members of the community assembly, the highest decision-maker, and the executive committee. However, they cannot unilaterally halt a company’s operations.
Flomo and the townspeople’s actions also violate the contract between West Water and the community. Both parties agreed to settle their dispute between themselves or through an arbitration procedure. Flomo did not reply to The DayLight’s emails and text messages for an interview.
The FDA did not respond to queries for comment on this story. However, in a recent interview, Director Rudolph Merab told the Associated Press he would work to scale back regulations. Those comments echoed ones he made during his induction in February, saying forestry reformers created laws “that cannot work.”
[Additional reporting by Philip Quwebin and Derick Snyder]
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
