Top: Isaac Tuker, Chief Officer, Mavasagueh Community Forest, District #2, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
By Emmanuel Sherman
COMPOUND TWO, Grand Bassa County – A community forest’s account has been unfrozen after a bank, allegedly heeding a lawmaker’s request, froze it nearly a year ago.
Last month, the Mavasagueh Community Forest accessed its account at the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI) for the first time since it was frozen last March.
“I feel a little relieved,” Isaac Tuker, Mavasagueh’s chief officer, said in an interview in Compound Two, Grand Bassa County. “I am happy that the community account has been opened, so we can do what we are supposed to do as a community.”
Tuker withdrew US$100 from the forest account, based on a receipt of the transaction, to prove that it was operational. The community has set up committees to begin development initiatives, according to Tuker.
The unfreezing of the account followed a community resolution that threatened to stop logging activities in the 26,003-hectare forest.
Last year, the C&C Corporation signed a logging contract with 39 towns and villages of Mavasagueh. However, a few towns and villages claimed they were sidelined, sparking a protest.
It was unclear who authorized the bank to freeze Mavasagueh’s bank account, though.
Clarence Banks, the representative of Grand Bassa’s District Two, and Superintendent Kadyue Johnson intervened in the matter.
Representative Banks alleged that the Tuker and his team had misapplied US$9,500.
Tuker denies any wrongdoing. He claims that the money was used to purchase a motorbike, pay forest guards, and on health matters.
Banks then wrote C&C, asking it to direct all payments to another account.
“I am asking the C&C Corporations to deposit all financial obligations to the affected communities of the Mavasagueh in the following named account with Account# 001USD42205927202 until the investigation is completed,” read the letter.
Deposit slip of US$45,000, to the Mavasagueh Forest Account by C&C, The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
As a result, Mavasagueh could not access the US$45,000 C&C Corporation deposited into the account, stalling local development efforts.
Representative Banks did not return interview questions, and LBDI said it could not disclose a customer’s privacy.
“The bank is bound by strict customer confidentiality obligations and, as such, is unable to disclose any information relating to customers’ accounts to a third party,” said Cllr. Regina Elliott, LBDI’s corporate secretary and in-house legal counsel, in reply to a DayLight inquiry.
Regardless, the evidence shows that the account was frozen unlawfully. The Community Rights Regulations, which created community forestry, only empower Tuker to operate the account with the Mavasagueh executive committee’s supervision.
Representative Banks is only a statutory member of the executive committee, which Abraham Sumo, a townsman, chairs.
Lawmakers’ restricted role is a product of forestry reform. It breaks away from the periods before and during the Liberian civil wars, where politicians marginalized local communities and mismanaged forest resources, fueling one of West Africa’s deadliest armed conflicts.
Top: Smoke billows from a sawmill operated by Krish Veneer Industries Incorporated in New Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/James Giahyue
By Emmanuel Sherman
Residents in communities affected by Krish Veneer Industries’ sawmill in New Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, complain of daily noise and air pollution
Krish’s environmental permit requires a 50-meter distance from any residence. However, satellite imagery shows several homes much closer to the facility.
An independent verifier finds Krish complies with its environmental permit, but inconsistencies undermine findings.
The evidence establishes that the verifier doctored the report, covering up the sawmill’s pollution trail.
NEW BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa County – Seedaye Mingo, a grandmother in her 60s, sits and washes in front of her house, just a few yards from a large sawmill. For her, living near the sawmill, a fresh breeze has become a distant memory.
“The smoke can be black,” Mingo said. “It can smell.”
Mingo is one of several residents in five communities in New Buchanan, Lower Hardlandsville, who are impacted by the sawmill. Residents say they are experiencing some of these health issues. They complain of nonstop chainsaw buzzing and rattling from morning to evening, and smoke from the factory’s huge chimney clouds the entire area, covering everything. A video, shot by one resident, shows smoke billowing from the sawmill into the community.
Krish Veneer Industries, an Indian-owned company, runs the gigantic sawmill. Established in 2019, Krish produces and exports timbers, plywood, and veneer, a decorative wooden material. It has a workforce of 300 people and processes between 25,000 and 27,000 cubic meters of wood yearly. It was dedicated last May by Vice President Jeremiah Koung, which is likely the largest sawmill in the country.
Krish’s environmental permit requires the sawmill to be at least 50 meters away from any residence to prevent pollution. However, satellite imagery, analyzed by Nerisa Group of Companies, a DayLight affiliate, shows that several homes are just a few meters from the facility.
This indicates that residents such as Mingo are exposed to noise and invisible particles suspended in the air. Noise exposure, scientists warn, can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep disturbances, and stress. Similarly, suspended particles can lead to heart and lung diseases in people, and impair visibility, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“The smoke is getting us blind and making our children sick,” says Junior Toe, a resident of Peace community, which hosts the sawmill.
“The pollution is a serious problem. The smoke affects not only adults but also children,” said Pastor Charles Gray of Success Community.
Daniel Larwubah, EPA Grand Bassa County Coordinator, said the agency needed to conduct a study to confirm the community’s concerns. He says he will inform the head office in Monrovia to send a team to the area.
The sawmill also poses a more direct threat to residents. Last year, ashes from the flames transferred to Pastor Gray’s makeshift house. Fortunately for him, neighbors ran to his rescue and cut off the fire.
On another occasion, flames from burning wood waste caught a resident’s clothes just outside the facility.
“I decided to take the clothes from the sun, but the flames from the fire in the fence had already burned the shirt,” says Beatrice Jacobs. Paul Harris, the chairman of Prosser, and other residents, corroborate Jacobs’ story.
A map showing several residences less than 50 meters away from Krish Veneer Industries, a violation of the sawmill’s environmental permit. Nerisa Group of Companies for The DayLight
After those incidents, the community wrote Krish in January last year, complaining about the danger the sawmill posed to the neighborhood, but got no reply. Harris says they also wrote to the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia’s Buchanan office, but also got no reply.
So, in June that year, residents complained to the Office of the Superintendent of Grand Bassa County. Before her death, Superintendent Julia Bono held a conference between the community and Krish in June, a Ministry of Internal Affairs document shows.
In the meeting, the late Bono asked the company to find somewhere else to dispose of its waste, according to Harris. She died that November. However, Krish obeyed and stopped burning its wood wastes in the open. The DayLight observed that following several visits there, it remains the case.
A Krish contractor, who asked not to be named because he was unauthorized to speak, confirmed the change. “We use matches to light the fire and put big wood in the oven. The fire would burn throughout the day from 8 am to 8 pm,” he tells this reporter.
Larwubah admits to discussing with Harris about Krish. However, he denies receiving any communication, though the community mentioned that in their letter to the Office of the Superintendent.
Krish did not reply emailed questions on The DayLight’s findings and the residents’ allegations. The newspaper contacted a Krish executive, but he hung up the phone once this reporter introduced himself.
Inconsistencies
The EPA of Liberia certifies independent firms to conduct an environmental audit to find out whether the project complies with legal requirements. By law, the regulator fines a company that violates its permit provisions, based on the audit’s findings.
Smoke chimney mounted on top of the building, in the saw mill compound. Emmanuel Sherman/The DayLight
In Krish’s case, the Monrovia-based Environmental Consultancy Incorporated (ENCO) conducted the audit of the sawmill.
“Krish Veneer Industry is operating in a very effective and proficient manner in safeguarding the environment and its workforce…,” the audit report reads.
But residents dismiss those findings, saying they are unaware that ENCO conducted an environmental audit on the sawmill.
“Nothing of such,” says Joshua Howard, a spokesperson for the community. “They never came here in the community.”
ENCO determined Krish was “compliant” with the 50-meter provision. It established that the facility was a “well contained and [fenced].”
The satellite imagery, however, shows several homes just a few meters away from the sawmill’s fence, some 11, 12, 16 and 22 meters close to the facility. This evidence supports residents’ stories of flames from the company’s yard ending up on their premises next door.
Also, ENCO found that Krish did not employ an officer to handle community complaints in line with its environmental permit. Yet, ENCO marked Krish “compliant” in that area, an inconsistency.
The DayLight found other inconsistencies in the environmental audit report. ENCO reports that Krish respected cultural and historical sites, even though there are none in the community.
It found that Krish’s raw materials were from “outgrown rubber trees,” and that the community was forested. In reality, New Buchanan, where the sawmill sits, does not have a forest. Instead, it is one of the fastest-growing suburban communities with mushrooming homes and businesses on the Buchanan-River Cess highway.
A screenshot of Krish Veneer Industries shows findings inconsistent with scientific evidence gathered with the aid of satellite imagery.
ENCO misplaces its recommendations for finding in the “noise pollution” and “air quality control” portion of the report. It also mistakes findings for recommendations.
These inconsistencies, along with residents allegedly not partaking in the audit, prove that ENCO doctored the report, covering up Krish’s noncompliance.
The evidence indicates ENCO copied details from a 2024 report it had compiled for C&C Corporation (CCC) on the Mavasagueh Community Forest in Compound Two, about a 30-minute drive away. Interestingly, CCC supplies Krish with logs, and both companies have the same general manager, Clarence Massaquoi.
The CCC report was as problematic as the Krish audit report. While assessing potential impacts of CCC’s operations, it consulted only 24 of 39 affected communities.
Townspeople would protest their exclusion, leading to fresh elections that ultimately incorporated the 15 towns and villages left out.
ENCO did not reply to emailed questions, and when contacted, declined to speak to The DayLight.
“Go and ask the EPA,” said James B. Konowa, ENCO’s lead environmental auditor, who is a mining engineer. “We are accountable to them, not to you.”
Integrity Watch Liberia provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained complete editorial independence over its content.
Top: West Water’s camp in Tonwein, Nimba County. The DayLight/Gerald Koinyeneh
ByEsau J. Farr
GAYPUE TOWN, Grand Bassa County – Local leaders in a Grand Bassa community forest have seized a logging company’s equipment for failing to pay their benefits.
Locals seized six West Water Group (Liberia) Inc.’s earthmovers, obstructing the company’s operations in the District Three B&C Community Forest in Grand Bassa.
“It is unfair for them to come and take away our resources and fail to live up to promises they made. So, the community people seized those machines,” said Jeremiah Whoe, Chief Officer of the B&C Community Forest.
“We seriously regret West Water coming into our forest,” Whoe lamented. “It would have been better for our forest to remain standing until better investors come and take over it,” added Whoe.
In April 2021, District 3 B&C Community Forest signed a 15-year contract, leasing 24,175 hectares to West Water for hand pumps, a clinic, and a school.
Four years on, it owes locals thousands in land rental, harvesting, and education fees. Moreover, it has failed to build a clinic, a school, and a market building in line with the agreement.
To date, West Water owes the community US$26,000, according to the community forest. The company has constructed four out of the eight hand pumps the contract requires in landowning communities.
West Water owes the community an unspecified amount in harvesting fees, having only paid US$6,100 in 2021. West Water exported 18,683.309 cubic meters of timber last year, according to the FDA records. That means the company should have paid locals US$28,024 for that shipment alone, based on their contract.
Locals also said they were holding West Water’s machines because it had abandoned hundreds of logs in the community forest. Deserting logs in the forest for over three weeks violates the Regulation on Abandoned Logs, Timber, and Timber Products.
Omega Jimmy, a local leader, said they seized the equipment because West Water ignored their warnings.
“We heard that they were about to take their machines from the bush and run away from the community. We quickly moved in and stopped them because they came and exploited our resources, and want to leave the community with nothing,” Jimmy said.
West Water has a 15-year contract with District Three B&C Community Forest in Grand Bassa County. Locals have seized the company’s equipment over unsettled debts. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Jeffrey Gao, West Water’s CEO and majority shareholder, admitted his company is indebted to the community.
“I did not calculate the exact amount that we owe the community, but it is similar to what the community said,” said Gao.
However, he blamed it on the community’s repeated disruptions of his operations.
“The community people have looted our properties and set up repeated roadblocks. They have caused me to lose over a million dollars to the extent that I am almost bankrupt,” added Gao.
The community rejects this claim, saying West Water was begging them on one hand and accusing them on the other.
“No, we did not loot anything,” Jimmy said. “This is a double standard. West Water cannot be begging us to go back to the negotiation table and at the same time accusing the community of damaging its properties.
Meanwhile, tension heightens in the area.
Last month, a meeting organized by the office of the Grand Bassa superintendent failed to resolve the dispute. Weeks later, community forest leaders called for the cancellation of West Water’s contract.
District elders have issued a traditional order, preventing West Water from removing its equipment from the community forest, Jimmy said.
Early June last year, West Water wrote to the Ministry of Justice, asking it to urgently intervene to save his company from “robbery, theft, and damage” to his properties.
“If not handled urgently, [this] could lead to the company closing its operations and leaving Liberia, something that would greatly impact the country negatively,” read the letter.
This was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ) production.
Top: C&C Corporation’s truckload of timber leaves Vambo Township in mid-March. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
ByEmmanuel Sherman
MONROVIA – The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and a logging company have asked the Commercial Court at the Temple of Justice to dismiss a US$5 million lawsuit against them for alleged damage to 3,200 acres of land in Grand Bassa County.
Khalil Haider, a Paynesville resident, claims that the FDA authorized C&C Corporation to harvest logs on the plot without his consent. He further alleges that the FDA honored a letter that forged Haider’s signature, ignoring his warning and approving C&C’s operations.
The land in question lies between the St. John River and Mt. Findley in the Vambo Township of Grand Bassa’s Compound Number Two.
The defendants challenged Haider’s claim and questioned the procedure through which he filed the lawsuit.
In its response, the FDA questioned the validity of Haider’s deed. The regulator argued that it was unlikely a deed was signed in 1958, 111 years after Liberia gained independence in 1847.
“Haider is a fabricator who would go to any length to tarnish the reputation of individuals managing the forestry sector, as evidenced by his assertions, which are all lies,” read the regulator’s petition.
The FDA added that Haider should have filed the lawsuit in his mother’s name instead of his own name. It denies receiving any communication from Haider, warning it about an alleged fake letter.
C&C’s only argument was about Haider filing the lawsuit in his name. It cited the Decedents Estate Law, a 1956 act that requires children to represent their late parents.
It is the prayer of [C&C Corporation] to dismiss [Haider’s] motion because it lacks legal basis,” the company’s petition read.
Haider’s counterargument
Haider insists on his US$5 million damages in his response to the FDA and C&C.
Khalil Haider. Picture credit: Khalil Haider
Haider counterargued that the FDA questioning of his deed’s validity was “unintelligible and lacked legal coherence.
“If counsel argument is that a deed executed in 1958 is invalid merely because Liberia gained its independence in 1847, such reason is unfounded,” read Haider’s response. “By that logic, all subsequent land transactions would be inherently fraudulent, which is patently absurd.”
On his lawsuit procedure, Haider said that Decedents Estate Law C&C referenced empowered him to sue in his name. He said his petition recognized his late mother as owner of the property. Haider’s response referenced a 1983 case and two 2001 cases.
“In view of the above, I pray respectfully that the Honorable Court deny Defendant’s request for dismissal,” said Haider, “as said request lacks legal merit.”
This story was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Logs felled on 3,200 acres in the Mavasagueh Community Forest claimed by Khalil Haider. Mr. Haider has filed a US$5 million lawsuit against the Forestry Development Authority and C&C Corporation. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
By Emmanuel Sherman
MONROVIA – A man has filed a lawsuit against the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and a logging company for at least US$5 million over alleged damages to his private property in Grand Bassa’s District Number Two.
Khalil Haider accuses the FDA of authorizing C&C Corporation of harvesting trees on 3,200 acres of forestland in the Vambo Township, according to court filings.
“The FDA took my client’s property, and awarded it to a company, and the company has been [harvesting] logs on the property without the consent and acceptance of my client,” said Cllr. Vaani-Faate Kiawu, Haider’s lawyer.
The FDA and C&C Corporation did not respond to queries for comments.
Alleged forgery
Last year, the FDA authorized Mavasagueh as a community forest, covering 26,003 hectares. Then the new community forest signed a contract with C&C Corporation, co-owned and managed by Clearance Massaquoi, a logger active during the Second Liberian Civil War.
Shortly after, Haider wrote to the FDA, claiming the land in the company’s harvest blocks for this year. Haider, a resident of Paynesville, is the administrator of the interstate estate of his late mother, Rosa E. Dillion of Montserrado, court filings show.
Later, Haider asked C&C Corporation to settle with him or halt the harvesting. Instead, the FDA acted on a letter that the lawsuit alleges was forged, misspelling Haider as “Hajder,” ignoring the plaintiff’s notice.
The lawsuit alleges that Rudolph Merab, Haider’s “cousin,” appeared to be “exploiting the relationship to deprive [Haider] of his property rights by granting permission to C&C Corporation.
“The C&C has been cutting logs for over four months without the consent of [Haider] despite every effort to resolve the issue amicably,” it added.
The suit cited a decade-old survey, which found 21 species and 778 trees in every 100 acres of the land, valued at US$672 million, using approved prices.
The lawsuit referenced a provision of the National Forestry Reform Law, which recognizes that the state does not own forests on private plots.
“Although the FDA is a government agency responsible for… the regulation of forest resources…, it has illegally granted C&C Corporation to cull logs from the private property of the plaintiff.”
This story was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ) production.
People at a canoe landing on a Greenville beach in 2023.
Top: People at a canoe landing in Greenville, Sinoe County in 2023. One of the canoes, marked “The Lord is my Shepherd,” transports timber to Buchanan. There, the timber are uploaded to a larger canoe to Ghana. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Emmanuel Sherman
BIG FANTI TOWN, Grand Bassa – Planks are scattered at various sites on a beachfront, a stone’s throw away from the Port of Buchanan, a fishing hub and a transit point for fishermen and fishmongers. Some are old, others fresh.
The wood are leftover of timber smuggling that involves fishermen. Fisherpersons, canoeists, villagers and businesspeople in Sinoe, Grand Bassa and River Cess confirmed that fishermen used canoes to smuggle timber predominantly to Ghana. Smugglers, aided by villagers and artisanal loggers, paid Fanti fishermen to transport wood, including to other countries, a DayLight investigation found.
“All the canoes can bring the planks, they can carry them to Ghana,” said John Kwakue, a Ghanaian fisherman who lives in the Buchanan fishing community of Fanti Town.
“I saw it for the first time in 2014 and I did a little bit before but I am doing something else now,” added Kwakue.
Kojo Ittah, another Ghanaian fisherman and a 15-year Fanti Town resident, said he had witnessed the smuggling on several occasions. “Last year, we went fishing, and I saw the canoe carrying [the timber] to Ghana. They are not just sticks. They are the fat, short planks, heavy and thick,” Ittah said.
Ittah’s description matched banned timber blocks that are prone to smuggling. However, until now, canoes had not been known to be used in illicit timber trafficking—at least not publicly.
Ittah’s story was corroborated by James Banney, a Ghanaian owner of a canoe called Exodus; Praise Jlamontee, an ex-Fanti Town leader; and Zebedee Bowin, a businessman in Buchanan.
Bonwin disclosed that “I used the boat one or two times.” The DayLight has investigated Bonwin before for trafficking chewing sticks to Ghana amid a Liberian moratorium.
Banney, with a Ghanaian accent like Ittah and Kwakue, revealed that the timber are taken to Takoradi, Ghana’s western region. A person, who did not want to be named, spoke of ferrying wood even to Mali, Guinea and The Gambia.
Boys in a canoe in Compound Number Four, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
Timber smuggling is bad news for Liberia, which lost 386,000 hectares of primary forest. That’s a decrease of 8.7 percent of all the country’s humid primary forest, according to Global Forest Watch, which tracks deforestation worldwide.
In 2023, the Associated Press reported that 70 percent of Liberia’s timber exports may have happened outside of the legal channel, citing diplomatic sources. Five years earlier, a report by the Switzerland-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime had listed Liberia as one of the main West African countries for illicit logging.
‘The Lord is my shepherd’
But where in Liberia do the fishermen get the timber from? The DayLight found the answer in Sinoe, River Cess and Grand Bassa, which lost nearly a combined 500,000 hectares of tree cover in the last 22 years, according to Global Forest Watch. Tree cover loss measures the removal of any woody vegetation at least five meters tall.
Evidence we gathered showed that smugglers transferred timber to Buchanan from Sinoe, River Cess and other places in Bassa. Once on the beach, they are transferred to larger, motorized canoes for at least a six-hour voyage outside Liberia.
In Sinoe, The DayLight interviewed Lama Jalloh, a Greenville resident and a Fulani canoeist, who spoke of a canoe with the service name “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Reporters caught up with the canoe on a Greenville beach, where local fishermen confirmed its suspected smuggling activities.
“Planks and timber are sawn and brought from various parts of Sinoe, and transported to Buchanan,” said Jalloh.
A fisherman who reporters encountered at the Lord is my shepherd canoe said he was not authorized to speak. Similarly, efforts to interview truckers allegedly involved in smuggling did not materialize because service names are unofficial, making tracking their owners difficult. And reporters were unable to get any license plate number.
‘King David’
While Sinoe smugglers used ocean routes to transfer timber, their River Cess counterparts utilize the roads. Earlier in Buchanan, Banney mentioned a place called Waterside in Cestos, River Cess’ capital. Now, reporters visited the seaside community and asked locals whether it was true.
“Yes, trucks can go to the waterfront to take goods and carry them,” said Michael Juludoe, a Cestos gardener, echoing other residents’ comments. “They pack [sand], sticks and planks.”
Two chainsaw millers in the Bush of Grand Bassa District Number four, while one is standing on the wood sawn, the other is looking on. The DayLight/Johnson Buchanan
Gathering timber in River Cess is the same as in Grand Bassa. Locals and fishermen alike identified a certain truck with the service name “King David” that hauled wood periodically. Also mentioned was another truck with the service name “Nimba Peking,” reporters spotted in a Compound Number Four town.
The DayLight tracked down the truck on the Big Fanti Town beach and Compound Number Four, where reporters videotaped villagers cutting trees.
In the footage, two men justify dealing with smugglers next to tree stumps and timber on the grass-carpeted forest floor. One of the men can be heard saying, “We have to survive.”
This story was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ) production.
Top: Community Assembly members are drafting a resolution to present to the Grand Bassa County authorities. The DayLight/Franklin Nehyalor
By Franklin Nehyalor and Emmanuel Sherman
GBOR JIMMY TOWN – A community forest in Grand Bassa County has threatened to stop a logging company’s operation for failing to deliver on development projects, barely two months after protesting for the same reason.
The Grand Bassa District 3 B&C Community Forest has vowed to stop the West Water Group Liberia’s operations for failing to deliver on community projects.
“We will stop their operation until the community gets all its benefits. We will hold onto their machines and prevent them from working,” said Jeremiah Whoe, the community leadership head.
“West Water lied to us. They told us that they would do five hand pumps, 25 market tables, build a junior high school, and maintain the two Bassa-Gio roads in the first five years, but none of those things happened.”
In April 2021, District 3 B&C Community Forest signed a 15-year logging contract with West Water, a Chinese-owned company. The community leased 24,175 hectares of woodland to West Wood in exchange for hand pumps, roads, and a school.
Community Assembly members are drafting a resolution to present to the Grand Bassa County authorities. The DayLight/Franklin Nehyalor
However, West Water has not lived up to its promises. Four years after signing the contract, it owes the community a substantial amount in land rental, educational benefits and other fees.
Between April 2021 and now, West Water has only constructed three out of eight hand pumps, according to community leaders. It owes US$4,500 for health and educational benefits, US$17,000 for land rental, and an unknown amount for the timber it harvested.
The planned protest would be the second in about four months. In March, the community staged a protest, halting West Water’s operations following several failed attempts to get their benefits. The protest ended after county authorities intervened, with the company making new commitments.
“We are demanding West Water to pay the remaining land rental and cubic meter fees, complete all major projects earmarked, and provide all community benefits before it continues operations here,” said Jeremiah Whoe, the community leader.
Meanwhile, as tension rises against West Water, the Nyuinwein Administrative District Development Association (NADDA), a local pressure group, is threatening court action.
“NADDA intends to push arbitration because the company cannot be trusted,” said Omega Jimmy, an NADDA executive. West Water did not respond to The DayLight’s request for comments.
The District 3B&C-West Water deal is one of the most controversial in forestry. In 2024, a DayLight investigation found it had exported 797 logs that it had illegally harvested.
Exporting timber without community benefits violates the Community Rights Law of 2009 and the Regulation on Forest Fees. The law and the regulation require that communities manage and benefit from forest resources, mandating companies to settle with communities before shipment.
This story was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ) production.
Top: Newly elected members of Mavasagueh Community Forest. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
By Emmanuel Sherman
VAMBO TOWNSHIP – Eleven townspeople have been elected to a community forest leadership in Grand Bassa County, calming months of tension over their towns’ alleged misrepresentation.
Mavasagueh Community Forest’s previous election, held in August last year, was marred by irregularities, prompting fresh elections. Those elected include representatives from Boe, Borbor Kaykay, and Togar Towns. Zeogar, the twelfth town, was disqualified because its representative serves as a town chief, debarred from direct community forest activities.
“Now that we have been elected, we will do the proper thing for the affected towns and the Vambo Township,” said Ojuku Kangar, a community assembly representative from Boe Town, one of the 11 elected persons.
Wooded areas get community forest status when they complete nine legal steps, including establishing a governance structure. This structure comprises a day-to-day forest management body, a supervising executive committee, and a topmost decision-making assembly.
“We will form unity with our counterpart as a community assembly to hold the company accountable to our contract,” added Kangar, a DayLight affiliate.
The election in Mavasagueh has eased tensions in the Compound Number Town area, following months of hostilities. Before the election, townspeople protested for representation in the leadership. There was an imbalance in the allocation of projects in the 39 towns that own the 26,003-hectare forest.
The elections could also lead to the unfreezing of the community forest’s account, which was frozen after funds were misapplied. Kangar said more signatories would be added to the account to reflect inclusion. “We will ensure the FDA includes us in the bank account,” he said.
Citizens blamed the FDA for the chaos. The regulator conducted inadequate awareness, leading to some towns not participating in Mavasagueh’s formation, according to civil society and locals. That finding was corroborated by an investigative series over the last five months.
Daniel Dayougar, the former Vambo Commissioner, was accused of handpicking representatives to serve on Mavasagueh’s assembly. Dayougar denies any wrongdoing.
Trucks carrying logs from the Mavasagueh Community Forest. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
Amid the chaos, C&C Corporation, the logging company Mavasagueh’s leadership signed a contract with, has been operating. So far, it has paved dirt roads in the area and has harvested logs that are being stored at Krish Veneer Industries, a sawmill in Buchanan, a few miles away.
“All of our logs are taken to Buchanan without benefit. This is what happened during RETCO days until we blocked the roads and chased them out,” said Zechariah Boima, of Togar Town. He was referencing RETCO Liberia Timber Industry, a company that worked here in the 1990s and paid the community L$10,000 (roughly US$90 today).
The FDA did not respond to queries. However, Kangar David, head of the agency’s sub-office in Buchanan, who conducted the election, urged the new leadership to work in Mavasagueh’s interest.
The election is yet another proof of Mavasagueh’s flawed formation. It has already been established that the FDA skipped legal steps in granting it a community forest status. C&C Corporation is illegitimate because its owner, Clarence Massaquoi, is an ineligible logger. Krish Veneer, the company’s buyer, operates on the FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab’s family land with an ineligible status. The forest overlaps a private land that two men are claiming.
This is a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ) production.
Top: Trucks transporting logs are stuck on a road in Vambo Township, Grand Bassa County, after community protesters set up roadblocks, demanding benefits. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
By Emmanuel Sherman
VAMBO, Grand Bassa – People claiming landowners of a community forest have protested against a company for allegedly sidelining them in a logging contract.
The aggrieved citizens of Vambo Township set roadblocks to prevent C&C Corporation (CCC) from transporting logs to Buchanan. Over 10 towns and villages, including Gblorso, Vahzohn, Baryogar, Boe, and Cee, participated in the protest.
“We have decided to set roadblocks because of the mismanagement of our resources without understanding,” said Abel Payway, youth chair.
“We did not sign the agreement with them, only a few groups of people. They formed a clique and did what they could without consultation with the citizens,” added Payway.
Last year, CCC signed a logging contract with 39 towns and villages adjacent to the Mavasagueh Community Forest, a 26,003-hectare woodland, in exchange for development.
But everything about the deal was illegal. An environmental assessment of the impacts of the CCC’s operation left out 15 towns and villages. Mavasagueh had been illegally established, and the company is ineligible for logging activities, a report review found, which a DayLight series corroborated. Some towns had criticized the Mavasagueh process for excluding them.
The protest followed months of failed negotiation. It echoes the illegalities of CCC’s operations and foreshadows likely future hostilities.
Rebecca Gblorso, a middle-aged protester, did not mince her words during a Daylight interview. “The company started extracting our logs without any benefit. They started hauling our logs last week Thursday. We feel bad and angry so we set the roadblock,” Gblorso said.
Jacob Cee, an elder in his late 80s was among the protesters.
“I am here to protect my township. I speak for all my elders, so when something is happening here and is not right I represent my community,” said Cee.
“The protest is a wake-up call for the company to meet our needs,” said Vambo’s Commissioner Nathaniel Clarke.
Daniel Dayougar, Vambo’s ex-commissioner and now CCC’s community liaison officer, refutes the protesters’ claim. “Togar Town is out,” said Dayougar, who is accused of handpicking the forest’s leaders.
Horace backs Dayougar. “Those towns that did the protest are not within the [contract area].”
The protest lasted three days and ended when police arrived on the third day.
Misapplication of US$6,000
Clarke and the protesters also demanded accountability for a US$6,000 CCC paid to the community forest leadership. The company had deposited the money into the community’s account.
Askew Varney, CCC’s bush manager, confirmed the company deposited the fund.
“My boss called and said the money given to the community had been mismanaged. I expected the [community leaders to meet] to say, ‘This is what the company has brought to us.’ There is no awareness going on. So, if they are going on with the protest they are right,” Varney said.
One of the roadblocks in Vambo Township that stopped C&C Corporation from transporting logs. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
But instead of spending the money on community forest guards and health benefits, Mavasagueh’s leaders bought motorbikes and pills, according to Stephen Horace, one of the leaders. Horace said he had not seen the money but confirmed it had been misapplied.
Last week, at a Buchanan meeting to mediate between the protesters and the company, Representative Clarence Banks of Grand Bassa Electoral District Two and Superintendent Karyou Johnson suspended Mavasagueh’s leadership.
However, Representative Banks and Superintendent Karyou do not have any legal power to suspend the leadership. That power lies in Mavasagueh’s community assembly, its highest decision-maker, and the FDA. The FDA did not immediately respond to queries.
Isaac Tukar, Mavasagueh’s leader, denied any wrongdoing. “I am not in the know of any suspension,” Tukar said. “I am in the Guehsuah Section and doing my work.”
Representative Banks, told Okay FM, a DayLight affiliate, Vambo was awaiting the outcome of a three-week ultimatum CCC to address the protesters’ concerns.
“It is my citizens, that closed the roads. Give me three weeks, I will work with the Superintendent,” said Banks. “If the company does not listen to the issues that will be raised, “I will close it down legally.”
[Additional reporting by Ojuku Kangar]
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
Top: Logs appear undersized and spread out, with an earthmover in the background. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
By Emmanuel Sherman
Editor’s Note: This is the third part of a series on the illegalities of a new community forest in Grand Bassa County.
VAMBO, Grand Bassa County – Early last month, The DayLight started a series on a newly established community forest, documenting a string of illegalities involving the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and a logging company.
So far, the series has published evidence that the FDA illegally established the Mavasagueh Community Forest in Compound Number Two, Grand Bassa County. The agency approved Mavasagueh’s logging contract with the C&C Corporation (CCC), owned by an ineligible logger, Clarence Massaquoi, who also, manages an illegitimate sawmill in Buchanan.
The DayLight has, however, gathered additional evidence of the FDA’s breach of forestry’s legal provisions, cementing initial findings of the regulator’s wrongdoings.
‘Embarrassing’
Twenty-four out of 39 or nearly 40 percent of the communities that own Mavasagueh participated in an environmental and social impact assessment conducted on the community forest, according to a report. The study, which took place between October and November last year, after the FDA awarded Mavasagueh a community forest status, shows the signatures of representatives of the participating towns.
A legal requirement for logging contracts, the report clearly shows that 15 towns and villages were left out of the process, including Gblorso Town and others in the Vambo Township, which hosts a large portion of forest in that area.
This evidence confirms a previous finding that many communities did not participate in Mavasagueh’s formation. Townspeople alleged that ex-Vambo Commissioner Daniel Dayougar handpicked members of Mavasagueh’s leadership, with some unaware of their roles. Dayougar, who was involved with another bogus deal in 2020, denies the allegation.
Civil society organizations flagged those issues when they reviewed Mavasagueh’s documents last year. They asked that the FDA ensure people participate in the boundary process. Residents The DayLight interviewed corroborated the findings.
Mavasagueh Community Forest supposedly overlaps 3,200 acres of private land. Picture credit: James Giahyue
The new evidence shows the forest’s original name, Vambo-Marloi, was changed to Mavasagueh, a play on Marloi, Vambo, Gorzoah and Sawbein. Like Vambo, Marloi is a township, while Gorzoah and Sawbein are clans.
The name Mavasagueh remains an issue, though.
“The combined name is embarrassing to every one of us,” said Nathaniel Clarke, Commissioner of Vambo Township. “We were not combined with any other forest.
The FDA did not answer why Vambo-Marloi, the name recorded in last year’s forestry sector review, was changed to Mavasagueh. The regulator did not respond to the newspaper’s questions, for this story or previous parts of this series.
A 2018 letter
The first part of this series established that the FDA ignored a claim laid by Khalil Haider, a resident of Monrovia, to 3,200 acres of land between the St. John River and Mt. Findley, which overlaps Mavasagueh’s 26,003 hectares. A Google Earth map of the area Haider’s claim falls within in the first compartment CCC intends to operate.
Then a second person Amos Lewis, a resident of Marshall, Margibi, is also claiming the same plot as Haider. Like Haider, Lewis has informed the FDA about his claim. Both men have presented a Tubman-era deed to substantiate their claim.
Lewis and Haider’s claims are sufficient for the FDA to call off the contract between Mavasagueh. The community forest handbook requires the FDA to investigate and potentially slice the problematic plot from the community forest. The claims prove that the demarcation and mapping of Mavasagueh was not participatory.
Mechanics standing by a CCC earthmover parked for maintenance in Vambo Township, Grand Bassa County. The Daylight/Emmanuel Sherman
The compromise has several implications, according to forestry experts. First, CCC has more forest blocks to cut in a season, as the size of the forest determines the number of blocks. Second CCC can harvest at a faster rate—even, if the company does not cut logs in the area Haider is claiming, since the forest contains the supposedly private plot. Third, Mavasagueh overlaps a private plot, contradicting a community forest’s description: a forest on a community or customary land.
But that is not all. One of the new pieces of evidence is a letter Haider wrote to the FDA in 2018, informing it about his claim to the 3,200 acres.
The letter, obtained by The DayLight, read, “We are getting ready to do some farming projects on our land. But because of the road condition and bridges, we are asking your authority to allow us to market the existing marketable species, which will enable us to generate some funds.” Haider claimed he wrote several other letters to the FDA over the years.
Haider’s letters prove one of two things: First, the FDA ignored his communication. Or the regulator lost it, leading him to write the agency again last year. Notably, this appears to confirm a flawed process, and a finding from last year’s forestry concession review that the FDA did not keep proper records.
An illegal compromise
FDA has sanctioned CCC’s operations despite the mounting illegalities associated with the Mavasagueh-CCC contract.
Photographs and videos shot by The DayLight show apparent undersized logs CCC harvested. The woods are visible in the video spread out in an open field.
Last week the Mavasagueh-CCC contract was read to residents. Though signed in August last year, it was the first time, the townspeople had seen or read the document.
Managing Director Rudolph Merab encouraged CCC and Haider to compromise to avoid the FDA from repeating the process, according to Haider, one of the private land claimants and CCC’s owner Massaquoi.
“I received a call from [Mr. Merab], stating that if I pursued it further, they would have to cancel everything until two to three years before anything,” Haider told The DayLight in January. He added he empathized with Massaquoi because CCC spent a lot of money paving over 15 kilometers of a major road in the community.
This Google Earth map shows Mavasagueh overlaps a supposedly private land, rendering the community forest area unlawful.
“Haider and I settled, and he would work with the community and me so, the FDA should let the document be processed,” Massaquoi told a DayLight interview.
Massaquoi, who conducted a failed logging operation in Grand Cape Mount in the 2010s, covering just 5,000 hectares, is confident of success this time around. He intends to sell logs to Krish Veneer Industries, an illegitimate sawmill in Buchanan he manages. A DayLight investigation found that the Indian-owned Krish is not a corporation, a legal requirement for forestry companies.
As organized as the plan seems, it is not backed by law.
Per the community forest handbook—based on the law—the FDA must “review objections, contact and meet with objectors, and use customary dispute resolution mechanism.” It further requires the FDA to work with the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and the Land Authority to establish a community forest area.
“If required, the FDA and [the] community repeat the demarcation process…”
