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: 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).
Top: Miners operate with an expired license in the Salayea Community Forest. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By Esau J. Farr
SALAYEA TOWN – In late May 2024, the Salayea Authorized Community Forest filed a lawsuit against a group of illegal miners for alleged unauthorized entry.
The Salayea Magisterial Court threw the case out, saying Ford Tabolo, the miners’ head, had a legal class ‘C’ or small-scale license. The court called on the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) to resolve the matter.
But Tabolo’s miners continued to mine after the expiration of his license in August last year, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s records. This means that Tabolo has illegally exploited the 8,270-hectare woodland for five months, nearly half of the lifespan of a small-scale mining license.
In a follow-up to previous investigations, reporters walked six hours to and from the community forest late last year and gathered evidence of Tabolo’s illicit mining activities.
“He (Ford Tabolo) is aware of our operation [mining activities] here and he is the one sponsoring us. If anybody has a problem with us, they will put it before our leader,” said Daddy Kanneh, the head of the mining camp.
Illicit miners Water wash gold at a mining camp in the Salayea Community Forest. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
The camp is first from Salayea Town towards Telemu deep into the forest at the foot of a red, muddy hill. Mine pits spread beneath a hill, with two tents made of palm thatches and tarpaulins. Five miners panned and sieved for gold with a water pump machine, which is prohibited for small-scale mining.
“If the forest people say we should stop mining, that one should be an agreement between them and our boss man,” added Kanneh.
The reporters walked another hour to Tabolo’s second goldmine. Perched on the banks of a stream, some 10 miners worked there—this time—with shovels, buckets, diggers and cutlasses.
Here, the miners built an inclined wooden stage with carpets. They poured muddy gravel on the carpeted stage, followed by water, which entrapped tiny gold nuggets.
Other mineworkers panned for the nuggets, while others dug gravels and transported them to the washing stage.
Miners wash gravel for gold in the Salayea Community Forest. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
“Right now, we have around 30 persons here in the forest. The way we used to receive gold here, we are not receiving it like that. When we were using the machine, we were getting more gold but the forest guards came here and took it away,” said John Kollie, the camp’s manager. Kollie disclosed they got between a quarter and half of a gram of gold daily.
Reporters could not visit Tabolo’s third goldmine more than two hours walk away, as evening approached. It would have meant sleeping in the dark, humid forest, and compromising their safety. So, they collected testimonies from the miners who had worked there.
They spoke about how Salayea Community Forest guards seized their tools, including a machine, carpets and shovels.
The DayLight could not determine whether Tabolo had a license for all three goldmines, as he has three other expired licenses in Lofa.
Efforts to interview Tabolo did not materialize, as his phone was always off, and he did not reply to text messages. However, in a previous interview with The DayLight, the mine owner said he would upgrade his small-scale license to a semi-industrial scale license.
Mining with an expired license constitutes a violation, with up to a US$2,000 fine, a maximum 24-month imprisonment, or both for convicted offenders.
Conservation undermined
The community forest wants the miners out as the forest is under conservation. Salayea Community Forest is important for conservation due to its rich biodiversity, which has empowered local people.
The community forest runs alternative livelihood programs, including beekeeping, piggery, village saving loans, woodshops and cocoa plantations.
“We want the government to make sure to get the miners out of the forest because it is undermining our conservation efforts,” said Yassah Mulbah, the chief officer of the forest. “We will not rest as leaders of the forest until the right things are done.”
Miners in the Salayea Community Forest in Lofa County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
Last November, the current minister of Lands, Mines and Energy Minister, Wilmot Paye suggested that the mining law was superior to forestry laws and regulations. He made the statement in a WhatsApp chat with The DayLight.
“Your query should further focus on what the Minerals and Mining Law of 2000 says,” Paye texted and did not say anything thereafter.
Paye’s comments were incorrect. The mining law does not recognize community forestry—it is Liberia’s oldest extractive law. However, the Community Rights Law and the Land Rights Act of 2018 do. Both laws grant locals ownership of forestlands.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Some of the 431 logs Iroko Timber and Logging Company harvested and took about a year and six months to export. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Esau J. Farr
MONROVIA – The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) permitted the export of 2,549 cubic meters of abandoned logs, failing to punish the company involved, and losing substantial revenue.
Iroko Logging and Timber Company exported two consignments of logs on May 7 and July 18 last year, based on official documents. The combined 431 logs were shipped to Chittagong, Bangladesh via the cargo ship MV Nimeh.
But that was more than one-and-a-half years after the logs were harvested in the Central River Dugbe Community Forest in Sinoe County.
Iroko had harvested the logs in October 2022, per the Nigerian-owned company’s website and Facebook page. It only transported the 431 logs from the Jaedae District woodland to an open field near Greenville in February and March last year, residents and other sources said.
That violates the Regulation on Abandoned Logs, Timber and Timber Products. The 2017 regulation requires all logs to be transported, processed, or exported between three weeks and six months after harvesting.
If a log stays in a particular location outside the regulatory timeframe, the FDA is obligated to investigate, auction the logs, or fine the company that harvested them. The fine includes a tenth, a twentieth and a fortieth of twice the total value of the abandoned logs, depending on the species classes.
Because the FDA did not do that with Iroko, the government lost US$103,387, according to The DayLight’s analysis, based on the export permits and the regulation.
To arrive at the fine, the newspaper grouped each species of the logs and doubled their volumes. Next, it multiplied the total volumes by their corresponding, FDA-approved prices and added those products. Then it added all of the first-class species, based on the FDA’s categorization, and found 10 percent of that sum.
The newspaper did the same with the second-class ones, finding five percent of the sum this term. Finally, it added the percentage values of the two classes to establish what should have been Iroko’s fine and the government’s revenue.
The loss of US$103,387 comes when the forestry sector faces a downturn in revenue generation. From July 2021 to December 2022, the sector generated US$7.65 million, the least in the extractive sector despite Liberia holding the largest patches of West Africa’s remaining rainforests.
That figure could be more, though. Iroko left several logs in the Central River Dugbe Community Forest, according to residents.
A screenshot from Iroko Timber and Logging Company’s Facebook page showing the logs were harvested on October 14, 2022, more than one-and-a-half years before they exported.
Bartee Togba, the chief officer of the community forest, corroborated the residents’ account. Togba said villagers had counted over 60 logs in the woodland on the border with Grand Kru. “There were more logs,” he said, and there would be an additional counting.
Following the second of two DayLight investigations last year, the FDA promised to investigate Iroko over the logs’ abandonment but did not. The regulator did not respond to queries for comment.
From July to August last year, Iroko paid the Liberian government US$173,432, covering export, land rental and other fees. The evidence, however, shows that the company owed the government US$16,263 in land rental fees.
That August, Iroko asked the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) to pay the balance due in September and October. The LRA agreed.
“If we default on this agreement, our tax debt may be referred to the Ministry of Justice to sue for the unpaid tax and or court’s authorization to seize and sell our property,” the agreement’s terms and conditions read.
But the money has not been paid, according to Iroko’s tax payment record, seen by The DayLight. Despite months of notice, Iroko and the LRA did not respond to inquiries for comments.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) pays Mr. Isaac Grigsby a board sitting fee through a proxy despite the fact he lives in the United States of America. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA – The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) pays a member of its board of directors who lives in the United States fee for meetings he does not attend, according to official documents obtained by The DayLight.
In March, President Joseph Boakai appointed Isaac Grigsby, an 80-year-old resident of New Jersey, on the FDA board. Since then, Grigsby has been receiving board-sitting fees through Gabriel Flaboe, a project coordinator at the Ministry of Public Works.
Grigsby informed FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab about the payment procedure in May, based on a letter obtained by The DayLight. “You are hereby authorized to issue the board fees in the name of Mr. Gabriel Sarkpa Flaboe each time he [serves as a] proxy for me,” Grigsby wrote.
Accordingly, Merab forwarded the communication to the Deputy Managing Director for Administration and Finance Victor Kpaiseh to process Grigsby’s payment. “Please act accordingly,” Merab requested on May 13.
That same day, Flaboe received L$131,625, the equivalent of US$500 for sitting fees, US$50 for communication and 25 gallons of fuel for transportation.
The board of directors, which comprises seven other people, is crucial to the running of the FDA. It has oversight over the formulation of regulations, codes and manuals governing the forestry sector. It provides direction for the FDA, passes resolutions and approves the agency’s organizational structure.
A letter Isaac Grigsby wrote to the Forestry Development Authority appointing Gabriel Sarkpa Flaboe to receive board sitting fees on his behalf.One of the checks Gabriel Sarkpa Flaboe, Sr. received on behalf of Isaac Grigsby, a member of the FDA board of directors
And the stakes are even higher now, with widespread violations and forest degradation, while the sector struggles to generate revenue.
Quorum
The board does not have a code or bylaw regulating its activities. However, Grigsby collecting board payments while residing in a foreign country violates the FDA Act of 1976. The law requires payment for directors who sit in board meetings, not absent ones through proxies.
In fact, it has a provision for absent board directors. “They may receive [from] the authority a stipend for each meeting attended and reimbursement for all expenses they incur in discharging their duties to the authority,” the law states. “A quorum for any meeting of the Board shall be a majority of its members.”
FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab did not respond to queries for comment on the matter. Merab’s failure to respond comes barely a month after he bragged of denying journalists required access to public information and evading interviews.
“I don’t run my office in the press but when there is something like I told people I would call a press conference,” Merab told a media event last December. “I will speak once and I will try to make myself clear. After that, I will not speak again.”
Flaboe positively identified Grigsby in a photo The DayLight downloaded from Grigsby’s Facebook page. He said Grisby was his uncle. However, he did not answer why he was receiving board-sitting fees for his uncle who does not live in Liberia, and whether Grigsby was sharing the board fees with him.
Similarly, Grigsby did not respond to queries.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest’s members in Sanniquellie-Mahn District, Nimba County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Varney Kamara
SEHYI-GEH, Nimba County – Villagers in a northeastern clan seek support to keep their forest amid huge challenges.
On 22 February 2017, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest signed a community forest management agreement that authorized the community to manage its forest.
“We have planted trees and established a management body to protect the forest,” says Ericson Flomo, the leader of the Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest as The DayLight tours one of the replanting sites.
“We have also put in place other measures to empower the people. We did this realizing that conservation is the best way to save our forest and the environment,” adds Flomo.
“We need resources, training, and capacity building to maintain and grow this initiative. Strengthening our workforce is critical to these efforts.”
The 1,538-hectare forest is next to the East Nimba Nature Reserve (ENNR), a biodiversity hotspot home to rare wildlife, including African elephants, chimpanzees, and golden cats. The FDA and its international partners see Sehyi Ko-doo and neighboring community forests as important for the ENNR’s protection.
In the past, the region hosted logging, hunting, mining and farming, activities that caused deforestation, habitat loss, and threatened species.
Thus, locals are rethinking ways they can benefit from forest resources without cutting down trees or degrading the forests. From 2002 to 2023, Liberia lost 347,000 hectares of primary forest, making up 15 percent of its total tree cover loss, according to the Global Forest Watch, which analyzes satellite images to track deforestation worldwide.
Reforestation
To help solve this problem, Sehyi Ko-doo runs a reforestation program, a community forest guard service and alternative livelihood activities.
Launched in 2019, the project has seen the replanting of 30,000 trees, including 28,000 indigenous species. It is one of the largest reforestation initiatives in the country.
The Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forest covers 1,538 hectares in the Sanniquellie-Mahn District of Nimba County. Varney Kamara/The DayLight
Moreover, Sehyi Ko-doo has put 15,000 trees in nurseries, which have produced high yields. They plan to establish a regional laboratory for plant and medical research.
But there are challenges. Locals do not have a water pump machine so, they water the nurseries manually. Furthermore, the distance between the clan and where volunteers collect seeds on the Guinea border is too far. Volunteers, including Otis Flomo, must make the sacrifice. (The Flomos of Sehyi Ko-doo are all related one way or the other, according to a local legend)
“We can go in the bush, bring the seeds before putting them on the ground nursery,” Otis Flomo tells our reporter. The nursery site is on the banks of a river on the Sehyikimpa-Karnplay highway. “We want to appeal to the people to give us one motorbike to be carrying them.”
Forest guards
For effective monitoring, Sehyi Ko-doo has a team of townsmen who regularly patrol the forest to track illegal activities. ArcelorMittal Liberia the project’s main funder, provides a monthly compensation for the guards.
The company has backed conservation projects in the region, including Sehyi Ko-doo’s neighbors: Blei, Zor and Gba Community Forests. It sees the protection of adjacent forests as an important part of managing the ENNR alongside the FDA.
But the support has proved insufficient. Sehyi Ko-doo wants that to increase the guards from 12 to 20. Volunteers lack training, and equipment and need a pay raise.
“Each patrol we make helps us to ensure our forest remains a home for wildlife,” says Emmanuel Flomo. We are also appealing so that the people can add some money to our pay because it is small.”
Emmanuel Flomo’s voice echoes in the forest as he speaks. There were no sounds or signs of logging, mining, or wildlife hunting. The noise from chainsaws and earthmovers that once vibrated in the rocky woodland has been replaced by the original cawing of birds, hooting of chimpanzees and rustling leaves from the footsteps of forest guards.
“What we earn here is nothing compared to the work we do. But we continue to work because the benefits of this project extend to the entire community,” says Charles Mele, the nursery supervisor.
Alternative livelihoods
The forest guard service aside, Sehyi Ko-doo runs an alternative livelihoods program to keep locals from the forest. It offers a variety of skills such as women’s arts and crafts, traditional tie dye, tailoring, soap-making, and computer literacy.
Also, Sehyi Ko-doo is building its headquarters in Sehyi-Geh. When completed, the structure will consist of a 250-person conference center and four offices.
It was built with US$42,000 from Solway Mining Inc., which had an iron ore exploration contract with Sehyi Ko-doo, and funds from ArcelorMittal.
Sehyi Ko-doo headquarters will host a 250-person conference center and four offices. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
“Our forefathers saw the need to protect the forest and its resources. As members of the current generation, we are under obligation to protect this heritage to save the unborn generation,” says Flomo.
“Now, we have a collective responsibility to repair the damage and ensure future generations benefit from the forest.”
Top: Korninga wants the FDA to supervise the review of a logging contract between it and Coveiyala Investment Enterprise. The DayLight/James Giahyue
By Emmanuel Sherman
KORNINGA CHIEFDOM – A Community forest in Gbarpolu County is demanding a review of its contract with a logging company, following five years of stalemate, contrasting with the celebrations that greeted the deal.
Korninga ‘A’ Community Forest and Coveiyala Investment Enterprise signed the 15-year contract in 2019 after the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) certified the community. Korninga leased 48,296 hectares of forest land to Coveiyala for logging purposes. However, the parties have not reviewed the contract as required by law.
“We are seeking renegotiation,” says Emery Ciapha, Korninga’s chief officer. “Up to the present, Coveiyala has failed to come and sit with the people of Korninga Community for the review.”
Legal battle
Coveiyala has had an internal conflict for over three years and counting, which has stalled the Korninga contract. In 2022, Lu Li, a Chinese national with 90 percent shares, and Anthony Urey, his Liberian partner and the company’s president, with the remaining shares, got into a fierce legal battle. It led the Commercial Court in Monrovia to halt the company’s operations.
The court lifted the injunction following an agreement between Messrs. Lu and Urey earlier this year. After that, Coveiyala began to focus on the contract’s renewal, with a series of communication exchanges with locals in May.
In an October letter, Urey suggested that the review be done in early November and the signing on the 15th of that month.
But Ciapha rejected his suggestion because Urey had allegedly singlehandedly made the decision. “It was not signed or attested. It is not an individual that the Korninga Authorized Community Forest is working with. We are working with an entity called Coveiyala, [not with Mr. Urey as an individual],” Ciapha tells The DayLight in a phone interview.
Urey refutes Ciapha’s comments, saying he often writes on behalf of Coveiyala. He also argues that Korninga did not raise any contention with him when he sent the letter.
“If it were so, they should have written me back and informed me and say, ‘Mr. Urey, it should be this way or that way,’” says Urey via phone. “If there was any document, definitely, I was going respond to it. I was going to say, “Ok, I accept it,’ and the three parties could sign it.”
Amid the disagreement, Korninga has asked the FDA to review the contract, Coveiyala’s debts, and the company’s failure to implement contractual projects.
Coveiyala owed the community US$102,304.75 in land rental, US$30,000 in scholarship fees, and unspecified harvesting and other fees, based on the contract, the community and documents.
Regarding projects, Coveiyala did not build health facilities and a wood science college as promised. It built two latrines but Korninga rejected them based on the construction materials.
“None of the promises made were actualized by the company during the five years the company has operated in the community. Based on this, we are calling for an immediate review of the agreement,” Korninga’s letter to the FDA read.
Emery Ciapha, the leader of Korninga A Community Forest. The DayLight/James Giahyue
It is unclear how much the Coveiyala owes locals for harvesting. However, before the lawsuit, the company left many logs in the forest and a log yard at Po River outside Monrovia.
Also, in August, Coveiyala sold over 237 cubic meters of logs to Kris Veneer Industries of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, FDA records show.
Saye Messah, the FDA’s media and communication consultant, did not respond to queries for over a month. However, in a June letter, the FDA urged Korninga to work with the company to find a suitable time to conduct the review.
“Management highly considers your concerns regarding the company’s alleged failure to abide by terms in the contract…. calling for review is by law as stipulated,” the FDA letter reads.
Internal conflicts
Besides the debt and abandoned logs, Korninga’s contract with Coveiyala has been marred by community-based corruption. In early 2022, three members of the community leadership were jailed for allegedly misusing US$76,000. The three men included Johnson Flomo, Austin Kamara, and Dennis Flomo, chief officer, Korninga’s executive committee’s chairman and co-chairman, respectively.
They were immediately suspended after an FDA inquest and the community’s account was frozen. As a result, an interim body was set up to manage the community forest for over two years.
The head of the interim body, Cephas says Coveiyala has to account for the three years it operated the forest.
“Failure to implement those plights would mean termination or cancellation of the agreement.”
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
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).
Top: An earthmover at work in Belleh Yalla, Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Varney Kamara
SALAYEA TOWN Lofa County – In early June, villagers seized a team of miners and their equipment for operating in the Salayea Community Forest without their consent and sued them.
A week later, the Salayea Magisterial Court dismissed the case because the miners had a valid license. It advised the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) to settle the matter administratively.
Salayea is the latest community forest for which the Ministry of Mines has issued a license without landowning communities’ participation. This practice abuses communities’ rights, undermines their efforts to manage forests, and leads to forest degradation. From 2002, Liberia lost 347,000 hectares of primary forest, with 20,000 hectares in Lofa County last year alone, according to the Global Forest Watch, an online platform that monitors forests worldwide.
Miners in the Korninga B Community Forest in Gbarpolu. Picture credit: Moses R. Quollin
“What is happening in the community is bad because they are damaging the forest that we are fighting to protect for our children and the future generation,” says Yassah Mulbah, the chief officer of the 8,270-hectare forest, one of a few conservation community forests countrywide. Home to important plants and animal species, Salayea received a community forest status in 2019.
“We are not happy because they are still destroying our forests, cutting down trees, and spoiling rivers and creeks because of gold-digging business,” adds Mulbah.
On the other hand, mining is a cornerstone of Liberia’s economy, with significant contributions to GDP and revenue. Last year, mining contributed $665.4 million to Liberia’s GDP and was a primary driver of economic growth along with construction, according to the World Bank. Continued growth of 5.3 percent is projected for 2024 and an average of 5.6 percent between 2024 and 2025, spurred by mining and structural reforms.
Lawsuits
Mining in community forests has led to several lawsuits countrywide in the last five years. Two cases ended with fines against the miners, while the other was withdrawn, giving the miners a clean slate.
In the first case, Korninga B Community Forest in Gbarpolu, 100 kilometers west of Salayea, locals sued Bea Mountain company for unauthorized entry into the community forest. They accused the company of cutting and destroying 2,800 logs while exploring for gold.
Later, the 16th Judicial Circuit Court in Bopolu found the Turkish-owned company liable and ordered it to pay over US$1.3 million in special damages and an additional US$3 million in general damages. The company eventually paid the community US$200,000 in an out-of-court settlement.
Solway explored Mt. Blei (pictured) and Mt. Detton, initially without the locals’ consent. Picture credit: James Harding Giahyue
The second case is the most infamous. In 2019, the Ministry of Mines and Energy granted Solway Mining Inc. an exploration license for patches of forest in Blei and Sehyi Ko-doo Community Forests without the communities’ consent. So, locals filed a lawsuit. Subsequently, Solway paid the communities a US$3,000 fine after a local court ruled its entry into the rocky woodlands unauthorized. However, Solway went on to sign an agreement with the two communities for its exploration activities.
The third case happened earlier this year, just before Salayea. Bondi Mandingo Authorized Community Forest in Gbarpolu filed a $500,000 lawsuit against Harming Mining Group of Companies. The community accused the company of cutting trees, digging large pits polluting water sources and establishing a camp protected by armed police.
Backed by chiefs and elders, the company purchased small-scale mining licenses the Ministry of Mines had awarded unknown to the community forest’s leadership. In the end, the community flipped and consented to the company’s operations.
Uncoordinated agencies
The cases expose the lack of coordination between the Ministry of Mines and the FDA, corruption other issues, forestry campaigners say.
A 2018 USAID report established that the Ministry of Mines weakened local forest management by authorizing mining in community forests without consulting local people and the FDA.
A 2021 Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) report highlighted weak coordination between the government offices in awarding semi-industrial-scale and small-scale mining licenses.
It found no redress mechanism for dissatisfied townspeople, except the courts, and that citizens’ participation in mining was low.
“In some areas, the FDA and Ministry of Mines and Energy lack the resources or capacity to enforce rules effectively,” says Dayugar Johnson, the lead campaigner at Civil Society Independent Forest Monitors.
“This leaves community forests and… protected areas vulnerable to unauthorized mining activities…” Johnson thinks corruption, high demands for minerals, limited awareness of the law and lack of alternative livelihood are a part of the problem.
Based on past and present mining authorities’ comments, there is more to the issue than the lack of coordination. It is also about the abuse of communities’ rights to forestlands.
A portion of the Sehyi-Ko-doo Community Forest in Nimba County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
In a 2020 interview, then-Assistant Minister for Exploration Rexford Sartuh disclosed that the Ministry of Mines did not recognize community forests. “They have their right to their land but when it comes to the issuance of mineral rights in Liberia, we don’t consider them. They believe that we should ask them before we issue [licenses]. We should not,” Sartuh said in the interview.
Sartuh’s view is the same as current Minister Wilmot Paye. In a WhatsApp chat with The DayLight, Paye suggested that the mining law was superior to forestry laws and regulations.
“Your query should further focus on what the Minerals and Mining Law of 2000 says,” Paye texted, and did not say anything else.
Paye’s comments contradict the facts. Though the mining law does not recognize communities’ rights—it is Liberia’s oldest extractive law—the Community Rights Law and the Land Rights Act of 2018 do. Both forestry instruments grant locals the right to consent and ownership of forestlands. The land law’s respect for community ownership is regarded as a landmark achievement in Liberia’s history.
Drafters of a new mining law, a draft seen by The DayLight, are proposing full recognition of all forestry and land laws and regulations.
‘Dissatisfied’
The FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab did not respond to queries. However, Merab’s predecessor, Mike Doryen, criticized the Solway deal in 2020.
“We are disappointed in the way the Ministry of Mines and Energy handled things,” said Doryen at the time. “We think it has the propensity of discouraging our donors from making any more investments in the conservation area of our country.”
Doryen’s comments were a reference to a fallout of Solway’s exploration in Blei and Sehyi Ko-doo.
The two conservation community forests are adjacent to the East Nimba Nature Reserve, a biodiversity hub home to the endangered Western Chimpanzee and the endemic Nimba toad. Both steep community forests and two others—Gba and Zor—receive support from ArcelorMittal Liberia and USAID.
Community forest guards with materials they seized from miners in Salayea Community Forest. File picture/Salayea Community Forest
Meanwhile, the situation in Salayea is not over. The court removed its stay order on the miners’ operations, leaving the community reeling.
Mulbah and co have decided to sue the miners at another court after consulting the FDA, which she says pledges to support Salayea.
“The community is frustrated, and people want to protest, but we urge patience as we seek help to protect our forest,” said Mulbah. “We are not satisfied because the government authorized us to manage our forest and resources.
