Top: Logs EJ&J Logging Company abandoned in the Ziadue & Teekpeh Community Forest. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
By Esau J. Farr
ZAMMIE TOWN – Villagers in River Cess County have made efforts to cancel a contract it has with a logging company over unpaid benefits and unfulfilled promises.
EJ&J Investment Corporation signed a 15-year contract with Ziadue & Teekpeh in 2018. However, five years after logging in the 24,649-hectare forest, the company has failed to live up to the agreement.
“The community said [it is] not willing to work with EJ&J again and therefore has decided to cancel its contract,” said Philip Tarweah, chief officer of Ziadue & Teekpeh’s community forest management body (CFMB).
EJ&J owes the community more than US$72,000 for land rental, harvesting, scholarships and clinic support funds, according to our calculations as of November last year.
EJ&J failed to construct 16 handpumps and pit latrines each within major towns of the Kploh Chiefdom, where the forest lies. It also did not construct the two schools it promised the community.
In the last three years, Ziadue & Teekpeh has made several failed attempts to get their benefits.
In a June 21, 2021 letter obtained by The DayLight, the community sought a meeting with the company the following month. However, EJ&J did not honor the invitation, according to the townspeople.
The parties finally met three months after and the company promised eight handpumps in five months but has not delivered for more than a year.
Stanley Whilzar, EJ&J’s general coordinator, blames his company’s failure on the coronavirus outbreak.
“When it comes to the pit latrines, the elementary schools…, when we entered the first and second years [it was] when we experienced the COVID-19,” Whilzard said. “We couldn’t lay our hands on those projects.”
Whilzar’s remarks are not backed by facts.
Records of the FDA show EJ & J, harvested 2,150 logs or 13,275 cubic meters of logs from 2020 to 2021, during the height of the pandemic.
There is no evidence that EJ&J declared force majeure to suspend its operations and debts. No logger company did.
‘…More logs in the forest’
The DayLight photographed several large piles of logs EJ&J abandoned in the forest for more than two years. The logs were scattered on both ends of the grassy road that leads to the community forest.
Abraham Wizard, a member of the leadership of Ziadue & Teekpeh Community Forest in River Cess. The DayLight/Carlucci Cooper
A former worker of the company, who asked for anonymity for fear of reprisal, pointed at several locations in the forest where he said logs were. Villagers corroborated the ex-worker’s story.
“They have felled more logs into the forest, more than 10,000 logs. They are just wasting there,” said Abraham Wizard, a forest leader in Ziadue & Teekpeh.
EJ&J production records appear to support Wizard and other townspeople’s comments. Not one of the 2,150 logs it harvested during COVID-19 has been exported, the records show.
“We have been informing the company and FDA but they are not doing anything about it,” Wizard added.
The FDA did not respond to queries on the issue. However, the agency announced last November it would begin the process of auctioning abandoned logs across the country. It had made that pronouncement at least two times in the past and failed to take any concrete actions.
The FDA shares the blame for what has happened with Ziadue & Teekpeh.
FDA ignored the recommendations of a government-backed report in 2012 by approving EJ&J’s contract with Ziadue & Teekpeh.
Investigators of the Private Use Permit (PUP) Scandal had asked the FDA to set up a panel to assess EJ&J’s financial and logistical capacities before awarding it future contracts.
Investigators uncovered that Eliza Kronyanh, EJ&J’s owner, did not have the financial means to operate independently. They gathered evidence that her company signed contracts only to subcontract to other companies, exploiting locals.
[Additional reporting by Aaron Geezay in River Cess]
Funding for this story was provided by the Kyeema Foundation and Palladium. It was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Eleven contract holders studied in a recent review are not compliant with the laws and regulations of Liberia’s forestry sector. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By Gabriel M. Dixon
Monrovia – A review of forest concessions has found logging companies and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) violated the sector’s laws.
The report says none of the 11 logging concessions appraised was in good standing with sector laws. It says companies do not hold a forestry license, have a legal corporate identity, or post a performance bond. The review is a requirement under Liberia’s US$150 million agreement with Norway.
The report accuses the FDA of failing to ensure forestry is regulated and sustainably managed.
The FDA could not tell which of more than 70 logging companies are active or have met all legal requirements, it says.
The report, released recently, was produced by Forest Trends, an international organization that focuses on conservation research.
Researchers say the FDA does not have an adequate recordkeeping system to track legal compliance. Researchers had to get information from elsewhere to gather their findings.
The report also focuses on local communities’ benefits from their forests. It says forest people have received only US$3 million for an expected US$21 million in the last 15 years. Most social agreements between logging companies and community forests are not been met due to several reasons, including the lack of oversight and ineffective management systems.
The report points out that the FDA broke its laws and compromised the goal of forestry reforms. It says the agency awarded contracts to unqualified companies and individuals, including those debarred for their participation in the Private Use Permit (PUP) Scandal.
The PUP Scandal remains the biggest in forestry since the end of Liberia’s two timber-fueled civil wars, where over 2.5 million hectares of forestlands were illegally awarded.
Top: The Commissioner of Gbarma Alfred O. Bah illegally imposed L$500 on trucks transporting planks from Gbarpolu County. The police may have taken advantage of Bah’s wood truck restriction to allegedly solicit a bribe from transporters. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By James Harding Giahyue and Tenneh Keita
GBARMA DISTRICT, Gbarpolu – Three or four years ago, Alfred Bah, the Commissioner of Gbarma District, decided to collect money for trucks transporting wood from the western county.
“When I took office, I was informed that the outgoing commissioner used to at least talk to the [wood dealers] … for district development,” Bah recalled in an interview at his office. “Whether I could do the same, I said ‘yes.’ For me, what I will do I will call the [wood dealers for] a meeting.’”
The meeting was held and the parties agreed that trucks carrying wood from Gbarpolu must pay L$500. The money would be used to repair a major stretch of road linking Gbarma to other parts of the county.
That day, Bah added to a list of county officials who misuse their power to exploit wood dealers across the country. The officials do not have the authority to impose a fee on wood or other goods, according to the Local Government Act and the Chainsaw Milling Regulation. The former law restricts such function to county councils, governance bodies which have not yet been formed in most counties, including Gbarpolu. The latter empowers the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and local communities or private landowners.
This is The DayLight’s third story on the subject after an August investigation exposed the involvement of the Superintendent of Lofa County William Tamba Kamba in the illegal deal. The first implicated a regional collector of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA). The series sheds a light on an unregulated subsector of forestry engrossed in corruption and impunity.
An unissued receipt created by the Commissioner of Gbarma Alfred O. Bah and a representative of local plank producers meant for trucks carrying wood and other goods as part of a so-called scheme to repair a major route in Gbarpolu County.
‘L$500 for each trip’
Varney Freeman, a representative of plank dealers in Gbarpolu, worked with to Bah organize the scheme. They imposed L$500 on each truck carrying wood. A vacant receipt we obtained brandishes: “Gbarpolu Road Maintenance Official Receipt” and “L$500 for each trip.”
Freeman was responsible to make other plank dealers comply, though aware that the fee was illegal. “The [Commissioner] doesn’t have the legal power to impose fees on trucks plying the county’s roads but we are businesspeople,” Freeman said in an interview on his farm in Okai Village in November last year. Gbarpolu is one of the most forested regions in Liberia and a goldmine for many wood dealers. They are known in forestry as chainsaw millers from their use of the handheld device to make planks.
“If we want to fight all the legal things, we will not get our business going,” Freeman added.
So, trucks carrying wood began to pay the fee. A subbranch of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) at Sawmill on the Bopolu highway collected the fees, according to Bah and Freeman. Rangers at the subbranch corroborated their story.
Bah claims he collected between L$16,000 and US$17,000 only, which was used to repair the road. Gbarpolu Superintendent Keyah Saah dismissed the claim, saying he (Saah) organized the youth to rehabilitate it instead.
The FDA rightfully collects US$0.60 on each plank transported across the country. However, those payments are not turned over to the Liberia Revenue Authority, the agency of the government that collects taxes. There is no public record the FDA accounts for the funds. It took the agency more than a decade to devise a regulation for the subsector yet it is not enforcing it. Such lawlessness makes it easy for Bah’s toll system and other illegalities to succeed.
But Bah’s system soon encountered a problem that would ultimately lead to its end, at least openly. First, some wood truckers refused to pay, arguing they did not take their planks from Gbarma and could not pay the district any toll. Second, there issues about the receipt capturing the entire county rather than just Gbarma. And dealers argued their vehicles were smaller than those of logging companies, several of whom operate in Gbarpolu.
“I insisted that I will not pay the L$1,500,” said Kent Mamay, a plank dealer in the VOA Community. “There was a heated argument between them and myself and at the end of the day they were able to release my truck.”
Amid the pressure, Bah halted the collection last year. He claims Gbarpolu County Assistant Superintendent for Development Joseph Akoi had ordered him to do so to avoid further problem. Akoi denies that, telling The DayLight in an interview in Bopolu he had not heard of a plank toll in Gbarma.
But plank dealers and drivers The DayLight interviewed said they still paid the fee while the system was halted. Varney Tulay, another wood dealer in VOA, said no receipts were being issued this time around.
Gbarpolu County, largely covered with forests, is a workplace for many plank dealers or chainsaw millers. The DayLight/James Harding GiahyueWood truckers protested a toll system established by the Commissioner of Gbarma, Gbarpolu in which they had to pay L$500 to ply a major route in the county. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
“Like four to five months ago, they have stopped issuing receipts,” said Tulay in a September interview with The DayLight. “I came a month ago, last month August, and the [Commissioner] toll was paid…” Bah denies Tulay’s claim.
‘Let [all] the vehicles pass’
After the protest, Bah ordered the police detail at Sawmill not to allow any wood truck ply that route during the rainy season last year. He repeated that this year, power a commissioner does not have.
“With [an immediate] order, please stop all heavy equipment, wood trucks and coal trucks from using the main road from Bomi to Gbarpolu,” this year’s communication posted on the wall of the police detail read. It excluded vehicles transporting petroleum and food items.
Bah said his action was not a reaction to the wood truck drivers’ protest but the aspiration of the community. “The citizens are complaining that if people [do] not stop using this road and damaging the road they would demonstrate and I don’t want them to demonstrate,” he said.
Asked why he did not inform the Ministry of Public Works about the road situation and about the illegality of his order, Bah said he did not know how to contact the ministry. “I don’t have the authority now to say I’m going to meet [the] public work minister to say ‘My feeder road is damaged and I want you to go fix it,’” Bah said. “It is not so easy, except where we are call in a workshop maybe I can raise this concern there maybe it can be looked [into].”
Bah might have halted collections but perhaps unscrupulous police officers are allegedly taking advantage of his order to exploit wood dealers. During the day, they pretend to enforce the illegal order but solicited a bribe from wood truckers at night and allow them to pass. Residents of Sawmill, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, spoke of long queues of trucks that formed up to dusk and disappeared by dawn.
Wood dealers, who backed up the residents’ account, dared to speak out.
“They will demand us that the car can’t go. Then, certain time of the night, they will free us,” Tulay the VOA dealer told The DayLight. “Sometimes we pay L$2,500 at the gate just for the car to go.” Tulay said he reluctantly paid that and other fees and increased the prices of his planks. Furniture-makers we interviewed said they were buying wood at higher prices compared to previous years.
Murphy Collins, the acting police commander at the Sawmill detail, neither denied nor confirm the claim. However, Collins disclosed that officers collected L$600 from trucks passing through the checkpoint, something Tulay and other dealers had mentioned. He said he used the money to run a generator and for other things. “At night, we collect those small money and put it in our coffers to buy gas on a regular basis,” Collins said.
Aware of its turnout, his vehicle restriction has caused, Bah now wants to rescind it. In fact, he may have already chosen the wordings for that communication to Collins.
“Since you don’t want to give me the respect, you’re allowing this act, then let [all] the vehicles pass,” Bah told The DayLight.
“Sometime when you’re a leader [and] you’re not careful how to do things, …your name can [ be spoiled].”
The story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ). It was originally published by the Daily Observer, an editorial partner of The DayLight.
Top: Kpokolo seized at the FDA checkpoint in Klay, Bomi County. A report by U.S.-based Forest Trends launched today says kpokolo threatens Liberia’s rainforests and undermines the country’s climate change efforts. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By James Harding Giahyue
“Kpokolo,” a new form of illegal logging threatens Liberia’s rainforests, provides little benefit for the country and undermines its climate efforts.
Kpokolo harms small-scale loggers, who are the sole suppliers of wood to the domestic markets. Big companies are taking advantage of the illegal trade
The report calls on President-elect Joseph Boakai to take clear steps in banning kpokolo and punish violators of the ban
MONROVIA – Thick, four-cornered and expensive timber produced illegally across the country and smuggled in containers, are a threat to Liberia’s forests, and undermine its efforts to combat climate change, a report launched today by the US-based Forest Trends, has found.
The report—“‘Kpokolo’: A New Threat to Liberia Forest”—found that block wood or kpokolo, as it is commonly called, has no legal basis and harms small-scale loggers, rural communities and the country. It calls for a ban imposed on the illegal logging earlier this year to be made clear and official.
“The illegal exploitation takes advantages of weaknesses in enforcement, corrupting officials and compromising processes…,” Arthur Blundell one of the report’s two coauthors, told The DayLight.
“The newly elected president should take immediate steps to halt this illegal exploitation by confirming an official ban of kpokolo, including devoting resources for the enforcement of the prohibition,” Blundell added.
Based on interviews and media reports—including from The DayLight—the report suggested that kpokolo might have begun in the 2010s. It operates within the plank subindustry. However, the size of planks, which are two inches thick, differs sharply from kpokolo, which can be up to 12 inches thick, the report said.
Between October and December last year, researchers interviewed 267 community dwellers, chainsaw operators and wood dealers in eight counties for the kpokolo report. It is an update to a 2016 report on the wood market in Liberia.
The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) did not immediately respond to questions for comments on the report. The agency had, at least officially, sanctioned the illegal operation, collecting fees from operators to transport the wood.
‘Economic sabotage’
The report did not find sufficient evidence on the scale of kpokolo but found enough cases where the new form of illegal logging posed a threat to the country. It said kpokolo undermined Liberia’s climate change efforts, and the protection of the country’s forest, West Africa’s largest remaining rainforest. Liberia has pledged to the United Nations to reduce deforestation by 50 percent by 2030 among other commitments.
The coauthors of the report called for the entire industry to rally against kpokolo.
“Without such a whole-sector approach, Liberia risks allowing illegal logging to undermine not just [sustainable forest management] but governance in rural areas more broadly as kpokolo has a corrupting influence on local authorities and community leaders,” Blundell said.
The report gathered evidence that large companies were exploiting the kpokolo situation to “squeeze out artisanal operators who supply the local wood markets.”
Operators, known in the industry as chainsaw millers, perhaps need to promote a recently adopted regulation to limit kpokolo, the report suggested.
Though chainsaw milling has been largely unregulated since its emergence in the 2000s, the subindustry has been allowed to supply much-needed wood to the domestic markets. One FDA report dubs it a “necessary evil.”
Squared timbers, commonly called “Kpokolo” illegally harvested in Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
People researchers interviewed said companies were exporting the wood to Ukraine before its war with Russia. Researchers learned that kpokolo timber were being exported for railroad ties, which matched the dimensions of the illegal wood.
The report quoted people stating companies were smuggling kpokolo through containers, one of them Akewa Group of Companies, a Nigerian-owned firm that has violated nearly every forestry law. There is a mention of Askon Liberia General Trading Inc., which was debarred from forestry over its illegal operations, with its Turkish owners arrested in May. Akewa did not respond to questions over its alleged involvement in kpokolo.
In February, three months before the ban, the FDA had announced that it had banned kpokolo. In June Liberia also discussed the ban at an annual forestry meeting with the European Union.
Those steps were not enough and that kpokolo could still be ongoing as operators could claim they are unaware of the ban, according to the report. Forest Trends recommends that President-elect Joseph Boakai makes a detailed announcement of the ban, capturing legal instruments supporting the ban, the definition of kpokolo, and penalties for violating it.
“If the ban is not carefully detailed and widely disseminated, it is unlikely to be effective in the face of powerful business forces involved,” said Kristin Canby, a senior director of Forest Trends’ Forest Trade and Finance Initiative that led the report.
“The ban must be followed by a clear demonstration of enforcement,” Canby said in a press release.
David Young, the other coauthor of the report said violators of the ban should be punished in line with forestry laws and regulations, “including economic sabotage for complicit officials.
“As part of a renewed commitment by the FDA under the new administration, enforcement should include punishing kpokolo operators and buyers of their wood, as well as the corrupt officials that allowed the illegal exploitation,” Young told The DayLight.
Top: The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) has failed numerous times to punish forestry violators. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Ralitsa N. Massah
MONROVIA – On Monday, The DayLight published an investigation revealing the illegalities of a logging company named Delta Timber Corporation. The report shows how the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) approved Delta’s contract for a community forest in Sinoe despite a regulation disqualifying its owner, a well-documented wartime logger.
Apart from the illegal approval of Delta’s contract, the story also highlights how the FDA failed to penalize Delta for a string of unlawful activities—illegal logging, abandonment of logs, and prolonged indebtedness to local communities.
However, illegal operations are characteristic of the forestry sector and happen with impunity. Here are seven other times that cases of illegal logging have gone unpunished
Leaked Video Exposes FDA Ranger’s Illegal Logging Operations
In August last year, leaked videos and pictures exposed the illegal logging operation of Varney Marshall, a ranger of the Forestry Development Authority. The video shows an open field of more than a thousand timbers and exposed Marshall’s illegal logging operations, which led to his dismissal.
Marshall was arrested and jailed in an unrelated case—and has not been indicted—but has faced no punishment for his illegal logging operation. He is a candidate for the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) in District Two, Bomi County. He has not been sued for economic sabotage, the crime when an FDA staff conducts commercial logging activities.
FDA Fails To Punish Firm For Chain Of Illegal Logging
The Masayaha Logging Company used illegal deals with locals and harvested about 641 cubic meters of expensive, ironwood out of the Worr Community Forest in Grand Bassa, its contract area. The forest covers 35,337 hectares in Compound Number One “B” but the company traveled about 100 kilometers to the Doe Clan in Compound Number One “A” to harvest first-class logs. Harvesting out of contract area is a grave violation in forestry yet the company received no known penalty.
Company Cuts About US$2M Logs Outside Concession
Sing Africa Plantation Liberia Limited illegally harvested probably 5,693 logs or 32,576 cubic meters of logs in the Bluyeama Community Forest in the Zorzor District on Lofa’s border with Gbarpolu. The harvest took place in a part of the forest not included in its contract with the community. It is worth an estimated US$2.2 million. The company was also involved in the unlawful transportation of logs, a violation of the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber and Timber Products.
Akewa: The Nigerian Company Breaking Liberia’s Logging Laws Unpunished
Akewa Group of Companies, a Nigerian-owned logging company, has repeatedly broken Liberian forestry laws for over a decade. The company has carried on illegal logging in Grand Bassa, Margibi, and Grand Cape Mount.
Except for a US$1,000 fine, Akewa has not been punished in line with the gravity of its offenses.
Rotten logs at the Port of Greenville, Sinoe County, owned by Delta Timber Corporation (DTC). The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Minister Breaks Laws With Shares In Mining and Logging Company
Cllr. Cooper Kruah held on to his five percent shares in Universal Forestry Corporation (UFC), a company actively mining and logging in Nimba, while he served as Minister of Posts and Telecommunications. That is a violation of the laws governing the mining and logging industries as well as the Liberian Constitution and the Code of Conduct for Public Officials.
The FDA breached the Regulation on Bidder Qualifications by approving UFC’s contract with Kruah as one of the company shareholders. It failed to take any actions against the company after its illegalities were unearthed. It remained that way until Kruah was dismissed in March in an unrelated incident.
Deputy Foreign Minister Runs An Illegal Logging Company
Tetra Enterprise Inc. is a logging company run and likely owned by Thelma Comfort Duncan Sawyer, the Deputy Foreign Minister for Administration, according to letters and her lawyer.That violates the Liberian Constitution, the Code of Conduct for Public Officials and the National Forestry Reform Law.
Tetra has bearer shares that are held by an unregistered individual, which Liberia’s Business Association Law prohibits. The Company has abandoned 28,039.6 cubic meters of logs and, as of March, it owed locals US$70,574.93.
The company began work in Garwin in the absence of a new agreement, which is against the Community Rights Law of 2009 with Respect to Forest Lands that created community forestry.
Another Company Illegally Cuts 550 Logs in River Cess
The African Wood & Lumber Company illegally harvested 550 logs in the Gbarsaw and Dorbor Community Forest, a violation of the National Forestry Reform Law and the Code of Harvesting Practices. The company had signed a five-year agreement with Gbarsaw & Dorbor Community Forest in 2019 but did not obtain the FDA’s approval to harvest logs. The offense warrants a range of penalties, including a prison term, a fine and cancelation of the company’s contract.
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: A graphic depicting BlueEarth Capital’s CEO Augustine Jarrett and townsmen of Ziadue Clan. The DayLight /Rebazar Forte
By Esau J. Farr
BlueEarth Capital, a company seeking a carbon contract with Ziadue Clan, River Cess, gave locals money ahead of an agreement, undermining villagers’ right to free, prior and informed consent.
The proposed agreement targets over 55,000 hectares of forest, more than Ziadue’s uncontracted forest area
Liberia has no laws or policies for carbon trading, and the duration of the proposed deal is not backed by existing laws
Many townspeople The DayLight interviewed said they were not aware of a proposed contract with the company, another red flag.
Locals expressed concern over BlueEarth’s lack of expertise in the emerging carbon credit market and are uncertain about their fair share of benefits
ZIADUE CLAN – The ongoing negotiation between the Liberian government and the UAE-based Blue Carbon would affect parts of River Cess. But a community in the southcentral county is negotiating its own carbon agreement with another company—and under similar controversial circumstances.
Ziadue, located in the Central River Cess District, is negotiating a carbon credit memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BlueEarth Capital, an American-owned company. The parties had earlier signed a letter of intent. The company wants to harvest carbon from over 52,000 hectares of forest and trade the carbon credits it obtains on the international carbon market.
But BlueEarth Capital has been providing food and transportation fares for community leaders reviewing the agreement, according to the company itself and townspeople. Recently, the company gave the community cash for the same purpose.
“We hosted a meeting to view this thing (draft agreement) that they brought here… So, they sponsored the meeting that time,” said Emmanuel Roberts, the chairman of the Ziadue’s community land development and management committee. Under the Land Rights Act, the CLDMC, which comprises locals from towns and villages, represents customary communities in land matters.
Roberts claimed that BlueEarth provided about L$25,000 for a recent meeting in a town called Gbardiah he used to buy food and reimbursed attendees’ transportation fares.
Friday Wesseh, the treasurer of the CLDMC, told The DayLight Roberts informed him that BlueEarth had sent him US$10 but had yet to receive it. Roberts denied that claim, saying he had only promised Wesseh on his own accord.
“Even though Wesseh did not attend the meeting in Gbardiah, being a CLDMC leader, I decided to give him something from my pocket,” Roberts told The DayLight in a phone interview.
BlueEarth’s payments to local has undermined the principle of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), a right granted to rural people in the Land Rights Act and the Community Rights Law… The word “free” in FPIC means void of intimidation, coercion or manipulation.
Augustine Jarrett, BlueEarth’s sole owner said the payments were not meant to influence villagers. Jarrett said the payments were part of a tradition for people seeking to work with communities.
“We did facilitate bringing people to areas… We don’t expect them to come with their lunches…,” Jarrett told The DayLight in an interview at his Tweh Farm office outside Monrovia. “We are not attempting to induce anybody to do anything they are unwilling to do.”
Emmanuel M. Roberts, Ziadue’s CLDMC Chairperson. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
But Jarrett’s claims are not backed by facts. Companies underwrite expenses for communities’ meetings It is true in forestry. However, that happens in cases where such payments are captured in an existing agreement, and not an FPIC engagement.
BlueEarth’s proposed MoU also flouts the FPIC standards in other ways. Ziadue and BlueEarth have been negotiating the deal since February but many townspeople said they were unaware of it. Only three out of 40 CLDMC members had signed the letter of intent, the document shows.
“That’s my first time hearing about it,” said Patience Smith a member of the CLDMC.
“The one I know about is… [the logging company],” added Betty Gaywea, a women leader. She was referencing EJ&J Logging Company which works in Ziadue.
In order for a community to give its consent, all of its representatives must have their say through a transparent process. That is according to the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Liberia has ratified, and Liberia’s own FPIC Policy.
Jarrett claimed his company respected FPIC and would get the community’s general consent in time. He wrongly claimed that FPIC “continues over the entire life of the project.” Actually, FPIC must occur prior to the approval or commencement of a project, according to the United Nations.
‘Not a forestry company’
BlueEarth eyes a 25-year contract with Ziadue, subject to a 10-year review. Those timeframes go against the Community Rights Law of 2009 with Respect to Forest Lands. The law sets a 15-year ceiling for community forest-related contracts, with a five-year review period.
BlueEarth seeks over 55,000 hectares of forest in Ziadue, River Cess, which the clan does not have. The DayLight/Carlucci Cooper
Jarrett said BlueEarth’s proposed MoU was not a forestry contract, so, 15 years was not attractive enough for investors.
“How can I ask a person to invest in Liberia’s forest conservation if we can’t guarantee that we are going to conserve the forest over the next… 30 years?” Jarrett said.
“We are not regulated under the forestry law, we are not a forest company and we are not going to extract forestry assets,” he added.
Those points are largely misleading. While Liberia does not have any specific legal framework on carbon credits, the emerging industry is more related to forestry than other sectors. The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) is playing a key role in the negotiation between Liberia and the UAE-based Blue Carbon. The FDA has also added carbon credits to its communities, conservation and commercial pillars. Liberia’s first-known carbon negotiation about 15 years ago targeted 400,000 hectares, the maximum under the National Forestry Reform Law.
The size of the forest is another issue. BlueEarth’s MoU targets 55,123 hectares of forestland but Ziadue does not have such land area to lease. Ziadue’s uncontracted forest covers only 47,000 hectares, according to BlueEarth. That is 8,000 hectares less than BlueEarth’s target.
Moreover, that 47,000 hectares is questionable. Blatoe, a town arguably in Ziadue across the Cestos River, has a boundary issue with a town in the neighboring Beaworn Clan. That problem has stalled Ziadue’s quest to acquire its ancestral deed, a journey the clan started in 2020. (Under the Land Rights Act, a community must resolve its border issues before the government surveys its lands and gives its deed)
A collage of BlueEarth’s map (left) and the Sustainable Development Institute’s map of Ziadue
Early last month, monitors of the Liberia Land Authority (LLA) found Ziadue was unready for an official survey, a requirement for the issuance of the document. This week, the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), which is assisting with Ziadue in getting its deed, told The DayLight that the Blatoe issue had been resolved. However, LLA did not confirm the information.
Jarrett declined to comment on that matter.
‘Think carefully’
Locals have consulted SDI on the proposed MoU.
“We are waiting on our consultants for advice before we accept or reject BlueEarth,” said Samuel Morris, a member of Ziadue’s CLDMC. “For me, I am not yet encouraged whether BlueEarth is a good company or not because I do not know anything about carbon.”
Elijah Garsuah, the acting clan chief of Ziadue, even feared BlueEarth Capital would end up like EJ&J Logging Company. The firm contracted a portion of the forest Ziadue shares with its neighbor, the Ziadue and Teekpeh Community Forest in 2018 and did not live up to the agreement. In fact, the leadership of the community forest has resolved to cancel its agreement.
Under the MoU, BlueEarth will pay land rental fees of US$82,684 for a one-year feasibility study at US$1.50 per hectare.
After that period, the company will pay Ziadue 10 percent of the total sales of carbon credits on the voluntary carbon market, according to the document. Companies trade carbon credits to other companies that want to offset their carbon emissions on the voluntary carbon market.
Critics say Liberia does not have the expertise and laws to regulate such a complex industry.
Elijah Garsuah, Acting Clan Chief of Ziadue. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
BlueEarth was founded in February last year, with Jarrett as its sole American owner, according to the company’s article of incorporation. Jarrett was the chief finance officer of Liberia Wood Industry, a parent company of International Consultant Capital (ICC), which holds a logging contract for forest in River Cess and Nimba. However, he does not have any experience in carbon trading.
SDI said it was analyzing the proposed MoU and had observed that the proposed 10 percent share for Ziadue from potentially generated revenue from the carbon project in the agreement is not fair to the community.
“We advise the community to think carefully before signing this deal,” said Nora Bowier, the coordinator of SDI’s land rights program.
“We know that development opportunities are crucial for these communities but proper due diligence is necessary to ensure that communities do not make the same mistakes of the past by signing agreements with companies that had no capacity to deliver.”
Top: Carbon Harvesting Corporation (CHC) proposed a carbon credit deal for 400,000 hectares of forest in River Cess that would have left Liberia US$2.2 billion poorer. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Well, that is not true. Liberia’s first carbon trading discussions occurred more than one-and-a-half decades ago with a Carbon Harvesting Corporation (CHC), based in the United Kingdom, and worth US$2.2 billion.
The CHC deal went on to become one the biggest scandals of the administration of then President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. It sparked cross-border investigations, with Monrovia requesting London to extradite a British businessman involved.
Liberian investigators found officials connived to grant CHC the carbon concession without any bidding. Evidence showed that Liberia would have lost millions of dollars, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) board of directors and violated Liberian procurement law.
The CHC cross-border scandal had all the ingredients of a crime story: fraud, bribery, other violations of Liberia’s concession-related laws, and even plagiarism of an American study.
The four-year criminal activities ended with the arrest of the British businessman, a presidential pronouncement for the prosecution, reprimand and dismissal of the officials involved, and the impeachment of the senator.
From a carwash to theOffice of the President
In 2007 about this time of the year, George Antwi, a Ghanaian, approached then River Cess senator Jonathan Banney about a carbon trading investment in the county. Antwi had been hired by Michael Foster, the owner of Carbon Harvesting Corporation (CHC), a firm based in Liverpool.
The deal appeared simple to Banney: CHC wanted to sequester carbon on 400,000 hectares of forestland in the southcentral county, obtain carbon credits and then sell them on carbon markets to companies wanting to offset their own carbon emissions. It would take eight years for the world to adopt carbon offsetting as a way to combat climate change at the Paris Climate Summit. However, experts, some in Liberia, were setting the pace for the global carbon trading market, a process still being done today.
Banney bought Antwi’s proposal right away.
“[Antwi] informed Mr. Foster about my eagerness of wanting investment to go to River Cess,” Banney would later tell investigators.
“Thereafter, I got an email. I informed the President about this investment proposal and that I wanted to extend [an] invitation to the investors. She agreed,” Banney would add.
In December of that year, Banney arranged a meeting between President Sirleaf and CHC represented by Foster, Antwi and other members of the company.
Things moved with lightning speed thereafter. By July 2008, there were meetings with the President and John Woods, the Managing Director of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) at the time. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the chiefs and elders of Yarnee District, River Cess had been signed and Banney paid the FDA approximately US$15,000 for a biomass study.
Then in July 2008, CHC presented its proposal to the Liberian government to sell carbon credits on the unregulated and unverified carbon market at the rate of US$4 per tonne. It claimed that it had to trade below the international estimate of up to US$15 per tonne because Liberia’s rainforest was not recognized by the Kyoto Protocol, the UN operational mechanism for reducing carbon emissions.
That was followed by an analysis cost and benefits of its investment CHC claimed to have done, which found Liberia would benefit more from carbon credits than from commercial logging.
UK Police Arrests Foster
Then in February 2009, Woods informed the board of directors of the FDA and asked for the Public Procurement Concession and Commission (PPCC) for the CHC contract to be single-sourced, which was granted in December that year.
It was Woods’ efforts to get the green light from the Inter-ministerial Concession Committee (IMCC) that coincided with the demise of the CHC deal.
The Chairman of the National Investment Commission Dr. Richard Tolbert question the legality of the FDA negotiating the CHC instead of the IMCC. Tolbert suggested that the CHC proposals be sent to all members of the IMCC, including the Ministry of Justice and Finance. “I assume that the IMCC, constituted by the President for forest management contracts is the same body to act on this matter,” Tolbert said in a letter to Woods in early 2010.
Michael Foster faced extradition from the United Kingdom to Liberia between 2010 and 2015 for alleged bribery, fraud and criminal conspiracy over a carbon credit deal. Picture credit: Liverpool Echo
Tolbert’s communications on the CHC deal continued until President Sirleaf requested him to constitute an IMCC negotiation of the CHC deal.
It emerged that the company had calculated that Liberia would save 423 tonnes of carbon emissions in each hectare of the River Cess 400,000 hectares of forest. That meant 162 million carbon credits to Liberia, the Guardian of the U.K. reported.
Downing said the carbon credit figures were “unreasonably high” and had “no commercial value” for Liberia. GEMAP was created by Liberia and the international community to help combat corruption after the country’s civil wars.
“I had understood that the Carbon Harvesting proposal had been definitively rejected. Thus, I was surprised to hear that it still enjoyed some support,” Downing said.
“The proposal, if adopted, would be quite damaging to the FDA. Indeed, it could cost [Liberia] hundreds of millions of dollars,” he added.
Liberia investigates the CHC deal
Back in Liberia, hell broke loose. President Sirleaf set up an official inquest into the CHC scandal. The head of the CHC Investigation Committee was Cllr. Negbalee Warner, the future dean of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia. Future deputy police chief Rose Stryker and one William Massaquoi completed the team.
“The President’s communication to the committee suggested that certain procedural requirements relative to the granting of such [a] concession might not have been followed,” Warner told the Guardian at the time. “For example, the proposal was recommended to the inter-ministerial committee without any open competitive bidding process.”
In roughly four months, Warner’s committee was back with its findings. It interviewed 19 people and institutions, including forest watchdog Global Witness and the United Nations Panel of Experts.
The committee recommended Banney be impeached as senator for abusing his legislative functions and bribery. CHC paid Banney over US$20,000 for arranging a meeting with President Sirleaf, getting River Cess communities’ consent for the project, running errands and pressuring the FDA and other entities to grant the concession.
Minister of Internal Affairs Ambulai Johnson was recommended to face prosecution for allegedly soliciting a US$2 million bribe from CHC. The committee heard the company asked him for help when it faced “obstacles” from other officials.
The committee recommended the dismissal of the Executive Director of the PPCC Peggy Meres. She allegedly influenced the procurement process through which CHC, a gaming company until now, single-sourced the concession.
The committee asked that Augustine Johnson, the agency’s geoinformation service manager, and Joseph Neufville, an adviser at the PPCC, be dismissed immediately. It found the duo allegedly solicited and accepted bribes and committed a procurement offense.
Woods, who was now replaced at the FDA over his poor health, was asked to be reprimanded over his alleged role in the scandal. “The MD has been paid and is on our side as he is dependent on us in the future,” the investigation found CHC officials bragged among themselves.
The committee also found that Woods had allegedly ignored the pieces of advice from Downing and Silas Siakor, the executive director of the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), and others.
The Carbon Harvesting Corporation deal plagiarized a study from the United States Forest Service estimating that it would capture 423 carbon credits in one hectare of tropical rainforest in Liberia. It was exposed following an investigation by a special presidential committee headed by Cllr. Negbalee Warner. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Downing’s case was more startling. The committee found that he had informed Woods that CHC’s so-called cost and benefit analysis was plagiarized from the United States Forest Service’s study on a California rainforest. Downing shared copies of the plagiarized study with Woods severally and both men even viewed the two documents.
Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs Amara Konneh was reprimanded for issuing CHC a concession certificate in breach of the procurement law. Konneh denied any wrongdoing, saying the report was politically motivated.
The committee recommended Foster and Antwi face the law in Liberia for alleged fraud, bribery and criminal conspiracy. Both men denied the allegations.
President Sirleaf agreed with the committee’s recommendation and took the actions it had suggested. She called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to request the extradition of Foster and announced additional restrictions on presidential visits.
But President Sirleaf later rescinded her decision against the Liberian officials. About a month later, she dismissed her entire cabinet, except for one minister.
Foster extradition case lingered until 2015 when police dropped all charges against him. U.K. police said they could not obtain evidence in key areas of their investigation.
The story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: A collage showing townspeople from the Central River Cess District, River Cess County and Gibi District, Margibi County. Graphic by Rebazar Forte and pictures by James Harding Giahyue
By James Harding Giahyue
YARPAH TOWN; GIBI – Communities that would be affected by a potential carbon credit deal between Liberia and the United Arab Emirates-based Blue Carbon are demanding their right to consent.
The Liberian government has been negotiating with Blue Carbon to sequester carbon on more than a million hectares of forestlands as part of a US$50 billion deal that also involves Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and possibly Angola. The potential 30-year deal would affect towns and villages in Margibi, Sinoe, Lofa, Gbarpolu and River Cess.
But local people who own the forest have not given their consent as required by Liberia’s land and forestry laws. More than a dozen people The DayLight interviewed in potentially affected communities in River Ces and Margibi expressed dissatisfaction.
“We think we should be contacted and we should be apart because carbon has something to do with the community people,” said Matthew Walley, a local forestry leader in the Central River Cess District, River Cess County. The proposed Blue Carbon agreement targets over 57,000 hectares of forest in the region.
“We want the government to halt the arrangement and they should come to us and sit with the community,” Walley added.
But national and international campaigners have criticized the deal for—among other things—disregarding the rights of rural communities. The Land Rights Act and Community Rights Law… with Respect to Forest Lands guarantee locals’ free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) for land and forest-based concessions.
A draft of the controversial agreement, seen by The DayLight, shows that the government intends to get communities’ consent between August and November. However, that should have happened prior to the government’s initial MoU with Blue Carbon, based on the principle of consent.
“The government feels that they have power over [us who] live within the communities. So, they do things on their own they don’t inform us,” added Marthaline Smith, a member of the leadership.
“If they want to really give our forest out to company or NGO, we have to sit down and discuss it…,” Smith added.
Yarpah Town, River Cess is one of the communities that would be affected if Liberia signs a carbon credit deal with Blue Carbon of the United Arab Emirates. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
“The government has to talk to me first,” said Harry Lawgar, an elder in the Poye community Gibi District, Margibi County.
The deal targets the Gibi Proposed Protected Area, covering over 88,000 hectares of forest. Like in River Cess, Lawgar and other people in Gibi The DayLight interviewed raised qualms for being overlooked.
“Everybody should be inclusive,” said Jerome Poye a townsman also in the Poye community.
“The community has to get the understanding of it,” Lawgar added.
Locals said they needed to know exactly what was in the agreement for them.
The current draft agreement apportions 70 percent of carbon royalties for Blue Carbon and 30 percent for the Liberian government in the first 10 years and 50 percent apiece thereafter.
It also sets aside 50 percent of the carbon royalties, 40 percent interest from the government’s shares and a five percent interest payment from the government’s stakes in the project for the communities.
But it does not say how the carbon credit will be valued and traded, and how the carbon saving will be generated. It also fails to say what certification standards it would use. Experts say these are the major components of the carbon market, which is still emerging globally.
The international community criticized the “vague” proposed deal when they discussed it on August 3, according to a document seen by The DayLight.
Gibi District, Margibi County, is one of the communities that would be affected if Liberia signs a proposed carbon credit deal with Blue Carbon of the United Arab Emirates. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Villagers in Central River Cess and Gibi, two of Liberia’s remotest regions, demanded to know about their benefits. They said they needed everything from clinics, roads, schools and livelihood programs.
“We want to know the calculation. If I get 57,000 hectares preserved as carbon area, what will be the calculation?” said Walley of River Cess. “Through what kind of benefit-sharing mechanism?”
“How the calculation will be done we don’t know because they will not just come and give the community US$50 or US$100, saying that it is our benefit,” Walley added.
Top: A graphic depicting an elder, illegal logs, abandoned logs and camp, and harvesting maps from an unlawful plan the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) approved. The DayLight/Rebazar Forte
By Esau J. Farr
CONIWEIN, Grand Bassa County – One day in late 2020, Abednego Davies spotted some loggers felling trees on the way to his farm.
The forest does not fall within the Marblee & Karblee Community Forest so, what were they doing there, Davies thought to himself. The land belongs to Coniwein a section in the Marblee Clan in Grand Bassa’s District Number Two.
Surprised and suspicious, Davies headed back to his village and told the elders, who proved his suspicion was right. In no time, the elders summoned a representative of the African Wood and Lumber Company and halted the illegal operations.
African Wood conceded it encroached on the villagers’ territory and began to negotiate to continue but that would not happen, according to documents The DayLight obtained and elders we interviewed.
The elders knew the harvesting was happening on the Coniwein’s land and so it was illegal. Back in 2019, Coniwein had opted to be part of the Marblee & Karblee Community Forest but African Wood refused, according to Gonaweh Gbiahgaye, one of the elders. The following year, the elders had warned African Wood from their land while the company prepared to harvest.
“Coniwein is a section with a substantial deed, which, if you want to do anything, you should meet the citizens,” villagers said in a May 2020 letter to African Wood at the time. Coniwein’s land covers 6,760 acres, a copy of the community’s deed, seen by The DayLight, shows.
Having ignored Coniwein’s warning, African Wood now tried to convince the elders to continue the illegal operations. A meeting by the parties ended in deadlock, according to Gbiahgaye.
The elders wrote Joshua Howard, a manager of the African Wood, rejecting its proposal to keep the logs in question and cut additional ones. Then they asked the company to pay for the logs it had harvested.
“We are telling you not to touch any of the logs or cut down any logs until we all meet and come down to one conclusion,” the January 2021 letter read.
The DayLight photographed the stumps of trees of African Wood and Lumber illegally harvested in Coniwein private forest in Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
Such negotiation is prohibited in forestry. Communities are under a legal obligation to inform the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) in such matters, according to the Regulation on Confiscated Logs, Timber and Timber Products. It requires the FDA to investigate and seek a court’s approval to confiscate and then auction the logs in question. It also sets a penalty for logging outside a contract area.
But amid their rowdy negotiation, a huge pile of the illegal logs adjacent to Davies’ farm disappeared between March and July, according to some villagers.
African Wood had taken the logs not long after Davies discovered the illegal operations, former workers of the company said. One account had it that the company smuggled the woods overnight. However, The DayLight could not independently verify the claim.
“When they felled the logs, they took some and some remained in the bush. Our work was to extract logs from the bush for the company,” said David, whose duties included fastening the tags bearing barcodes to the logs.
Another former worker, Daniel Muopoe, corroborated the account. He said, “[African Wood] felled our logs from our community but they never carried [all of them].”
A handwritten letter from Coniwein to African Wood, warning the company against its encroachment on the community’s land. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
In total, African Wood harvested about 200 logs, according to Muopoe and other ex-workers who participated in the illegal operations.
A team of reporters from The DayLight photographed and videotaped some of the logs in a forest near a town called Wayglon before and after the disappearance. White tags clearly brandishing “African Wood & Lumber Company” were attached to the wood. Some standing trees had tags on them, suggesting they had been earmarked for harvesting. Felled trees lay in the forest in a number of locations, some rotting.
With no logs nor money and three years after Davies’ discovery, Coniwein has decided to inform the FDA about the incident.
Actually, elders attempted to inform the agency but a townsman tasked to lodge a complaint did not do so. “I have not gone to the FDA because I don’t know how to get to them,” Patrick Karngbo, who serves as Coniwein’s land administrator, told The DayLight.
What Coniwein did not know was that the FDA had authorized the harvesting on their land.
The FDA had illegally granted African Wood and six other companies access to excess forests to harvest in short timeframes. The most infamous of the seven was the West African Forest Development Incorporated (WAFDI). A Ministry of Justice investigation discovered WAFDI had harvested the illicit forest area for nearly three years, exporting thousands of round logs.
Gonaweh Gbiahgaye, an elder of Coniwein Section in District Number Two, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
But African Wood’s harvesting of the illegal FDA-approved forest area remained unreported—until now.
African Wood’s harvesting plan for 2019-2020 shows the FDA authorized the company to cut trees on 5,600 hectares. However, the plan further shows that 6.95 percent of the FDA-approved area was outside Marblee & Karblee, including in Coniwein.
Doryen wrongly claimed in the letter that the plan conformed with the Guideline for Forest Management Planning and the Regulation on Pre-felling Requirements. “After thorough review… by the joint team…, we hereby approve said plan, having met all basic requirements,” Doryen wrote African Wood’s CEO Cesare Colombo on June 17, 2019.
On the contrary, the plan broke all those legal instruments. Doryen did not respond to questions The DayLight emailed to him for this story.
African Wood’s operations in Coniwein are not the company’s first logging offense.
Adjacent to Coniwein’s woodland, African Wood has neglected the Marblee & Karblee Community Forest, leaving the landowners with about a US$140,000 debt and abandoning 2,682 logs, according to official records.
Colombo did not respond to questions for comments.
Top: The Superintendent of Lofa County William Tamba Kamba unlawfully imposed fees on planks produced in the county. Graphic by Rebazar Forte
By James Harding Giahyue and Mason Kollie
The Superintendent of Lofa William Tamba Kamba illegally collects money from plank producers and dealers in the county
Forestry laws and regulations do not give a superintendent any power to impose fees on wood
Vahun District fought against the Kamba toll system and halted all payments to him
Kamba has failed to account for the funds he has collected in three years and counting
VOINJAMA – The Superintendent of Lofa William Tamba Kamba collects fees from plank producers and dealers in the northwestern county, breaking the law and regulation governing a lucrative but secretive subsector of forestry.
Under the National Forestry Reform Law and the Chainsaw Milling Regulation, superintendents have no such power. Practically, only the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), the plank workers union, communities or individuals who own forestlands have.
But since 2020, producers and dealers have had to pay Kamba up to L$1,500 to make or transport planks, according to documents and interviews.
Dealers who transport the woods outside Lofa pay L$1,000 or L$1,500 per truck, depending on the size of the vehicle. Dealers within Lofa pay L$1,500, receipts obtained by The DayLight show. In fact, truck drivers transporting planks must present their toll receipts to pass an FDA checkpoint. Our reporter witnessed some of the payments and checks in Voinjama and Zorzor.
“Now as we are talking, I get two trucks on their way coming I know they took the county fees and the town toll as well,” David Kesselly, a wood dealer in Paynesville, said earlier this month.
Even people who fell trees to make planks, known in the forestry industry as chainsaw millers, pay L$15 per plank and sometimes more.
Kamba introduced the fees in Vahun in 2020 before replicating it across Lofa, plank dealers in the district said.
A truck carrying hundreds of planks. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Initially, local officials supported the scheme, according to Duana Momo Kamara, a resident who collected the fees for Kamba at the time. “Many planks were piled in the area as the result of that conflict,” Kamara recalled.
Despite a partial ban on the exportation of planks, those who paid were permitted to export their planks to Sierra Leone, Kamara added. The ban is meant to stabilize the supply of planks on the domestic market, which largely depends on the chainsaw milling subindustry for everything from furniture to construction. Under the regulation, planks can only be exported when barcoded and registered into Liberia’s timber-tracing system, something forestry authorities are yet to put in place.
A toll receipt Superintendent William Tamba Kamba’s office issued to a plank dealer late last year. The DayLight/Mason KollieA receipt shows records of Superintendent William Tamba Kamba’s collection of illegal fees from plank dealers in Vahun, Lofa County. The DayLight/James Harding GiahyueA receipt a truck driver received from the Office of the Superintendent of Lofa after paying L$1,000 on New Year’s Day. The DayLIght/Mason Kollie
One receipt from Kamara’s records shows he collected L$53,125 at one point in 2021. Out of the amount, L$5,000 was for Kamara, L$10,000 for the Office of the Commissioner of Vahun and L$3,500 for Garmai Kennedy, Lofa’s chief accountant. Kennedy signed several other receipts seen by The DayLight. She declined an interview, referring our reporter to her bosses instead.
Kamba’s Vahun collection continued until last year when Julie Fatorma Wiah, the Representative of Lofa County District #3 halted it. Local officials began to oppose it, over allocation issues and control.
“I told them to stop giving [the] Superintendent money because he is receiving funding for operations from the government,” Wiah told The DayLight. “If the situation continues and we cannot find a common ground, we will have to inform the central government.”
Kamba eventually discontinued the toll system in Vahun sometime last year, with local officials now presiding over the illegal collection.
“I was not happy about the money that goes to the Superintendent because we’re supposed to use the money in the district,” said Christopher Brima, Vahun’s youth president. “We’re not supposed to give it to the Superintendent.”
There is no public record of the money Kamba has received in the three years of his toll system neither is there any account for its expenditure. Kamara claimed that some of the funds were used to transport players of Lofa in the 2022 County Meet but provided no evidence.
“Please help us as a journalist to find out from the FDA and the Superintendent where they are using the money they collect from us,” Armah Ansu, a wood dealer in Voinjama, told our reporter.
Kollie Zumah, a dealer at Liberia’s oldest wood dealership in Sinkor, expressed the same concern. “I cannot tell who the superintendent toll goes to,” he said.
The Office of the Superintendent evaded every effort by The DayLight to access the information. In November last year, Kamba referred our reporter to Kennedy, who said she needed permission from Flomo Jomah, the Assistant Superintendent for Fiscal Affairs.
A chainsaw miller at work in Kpasagizia, Lofa County in November 2022. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
When contacted, Jomah said he was in Monrovia, promising that he would give The DayLight a copy of the toll record upon his return to Voinjama. He has since been out of the county and other efforts to obtain the document up to writing time were unsuccessful.
Plank dealers, who pay a variety of other fees, said Kamba’s toll hurt them. They said the toll—and a high gasoline cost—made them increase prices, with customers paying more for the same or lesser planks.
“As a business person, you will not like to lose. Therefore, for every expense made on the planks, I have to include it during the sale of the planks,” said Kesselly, the wood dealer in Paynesville. He said he pushed the price of his smallest plank from L$1,200 to L$1,350.
“So, obviously, the toll payment makes me increase the prices of the planks,” Kesselly added. The Liberian Chainsaw Miller and Timber Dealers Union (LICSATDUN) confirmed some of its members have complained about the toll.
‘Under our own creation’
Normally, plank dealers pay US$0.60 to the FDA and L$5 to the Liberian Chainsaw Miller and Timber Dealers Union (LICSATDUN) per plank. They also pay unspecified fees to the towns or villages where they fell trees, in some cases, farmers who claim forestlands or “bush owners.”
These fees might be normal but they are not entirely legal. The FDA has failed to regulate the plank sector over the past one-and-a-half decades since it emerged. It has not been transparent about the funds it collects from hundreds of chainsaw millers across the country. The agency did not respond to questions for comments on the matter.
Plank producers, known in the forestry sector as chainsaw millers, make planks in Berkeza, Lofa County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
In that November interview, Kamba wrongly claimed that the Local Government Act gave him the right to impose the toll, which he said affected other goods.
“We organized the toll system that is intended to really aid the county to be able to address the number of administrative and some issues that affect the county,” Kamba told our reporter. He claimed to use the fund to maintain the county’s roads and buy stationery “under our own creation.”
But the Local Governance Act, one of the first two legal instruments President Weah signed into law back in 2018, does not give superintendents the power to levy fees on any good. It only gives local governments the authority to raise revenues, done by increasing prices and supplies of goods, etc.
The law gives the power to levy fees or taxes to county councils, governance bodies that comprise chiefs, the youth, the disabled communities and pressure groups. Moreover, the Lofa County Council has not been formed yet, only neighboring Bong County has so far. And Superintendents are not even members of county councils, according to the law.
During our interview, Kamba claimed that the toll system was “[un]functional in most parts of the county,” except in Voinjama, Zorzor and Foya. However, chainsaw millers in Kolahun, Berkeza, Kpasagizia and Salayea told The DayLight they were still paying superintendent toll and some provided receipts.
Kamba’s claim that he uses fees he collected from businesspeople for road repairs appears not to fit the reality. The main route to Lofa is generally currently impassable by vehicles, except for motorcycles and certain cars. It has been that way for decades.
[Emmanuel Sherman, Prince Mulbah and Tenneh Keita contributed to this story.]
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
