Top: Some members of the network’s leaders at the Second National Land Conference last month in Ganta, Nimba County. The DayLight/ Harry Browne
By Esau J. Farr
GANTA, Nimba County – Communities in rural Liberia seek a customary deed to their ancestral lands but are plagued by boundary disputes.
Now, a new group, the Southeast Regional Network of Community Land Development and Management Committees, has been established to help resolve border conflicts and enable communities to acquire deeds much faster.
“We will identify the concerns and claims of communities, [and] involve the elders and traditional people for a peaceful resolution…,” says Augustine Dweh, chairperson of the network. Dweh spoke to The DayLight at the sidelines of the Second National Land Conference in Ganta last month.
“We understand that land disputes scare away development and that’s why we want to be serious about resolving disputes in our communities for us to live in peace,” adds Dweh.
Dweh’s community, Chedepo District, River Gee, does not have any dispute with its neighbors. However, several southeastern communities do. For instance, Lower Bokon, a clan in Sinoe’s Jaedae District, has had its quest for a deed stalled due to an issue with Neekleakpo, a town on the Grand Kru border.
Established this year, the network has more than 70 communities seeking a customary deed, according to the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), the Margibi-based NGO that helped form it.
The Land Rights Act of 2018 gives communities ownership of customary land, but their ownership must be formalized by meeting certain requirements.
The process begins with locals self-identifying as a landowning community. They are required to create a bylaw and constitution, organize a governance body and cut boundaries with their neighbors. Then the Liberia Land Authority should conduct an official survey and present that community a customary deed.
The network also seeks to build its members’ capacity and increase awareness of land rights and issues.
Communities in Liberia heavily depend on over a dozen NGOs and development institutions to guide them through legal requirements for customary land deeds.
To date, 30 communities have been issued deeds, according to the Land Authority. In addition, 21 statutory deeds have been issued, 50 communities have completed the survey process, and five are waiting for their deeds.
There is a growing call for the Land Authority to fast-track the process, while NGOs criticize the regulator for prioritizing certain communities. The Land Authority blames the delay on poor funding and the lack of coordination with NGOs.
SDI helped form the network with funding from the US-based Rights and Resources Institute (RRI). The network intends to use peaceful traditional means to resolve existing and future boundary conflicts without the direct involvement of NGOs.
Members of the SRNCLDMC and SDI’s staff. Photo credit: Sustainable Development Institute (SDI)
“Due to the absence of a regional and national body of the land sector, issues and challenges from the communities are difficult to handle or address,” says Daniel Wehyee, the coordinator of SDI’s community land protection program.
“The coming together of the communities will provide [them] opportunities to mobilize resources and strengthen its operations,” adds Wehyee. He says the establishment of the network presents an opportunity for community land rights actors to come together and champion their cause.
Last month, members of the network elected Dweh as chair, Mamie Freeman of Sinoe co-chair, and Jacob Nyamah of Maryland secretary general. Relevance Zeon of Grand Gedeh took the financial secretary position, while Tetoe Davis of River Cess and Anabel Sewon of Grand Kru clinched treasurer and chaplain, respectively.
The network seeks funding from national and international partners for the empowerment of its members at all levels. Lack of logistical support and funding to empower CLDMCs across the country delays customary land formalization processes.
“If we have bikes to visit our regional communities,” Dweh says, “it will help us settle boundary disputes to fast-track customary land formalization process.”
Top: A GVL truck transporting palm bunches in January 2023. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Matenneh Keita
DU-WOLEE, Sinoe County – Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) is progressing with a new MoU with affected communities in Sinoe’s Kpanyan District. However, that progress comes six years after the deadline given by the global oil palm industry’s regulator.
In 2018, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) ordered GVL to turn its current MoU with the Du-Wolee Nyennue Township into a permanent one within a month. The RSPO threatened to terminate GVL’s membership with the regulator, which could hurt the company’s brand.
But over six years after that order, GVL has not signed the new MoU, though it has recently relatively complied. The company presented locals with a daft MoU for the township’s input, according to several people The DayLight interviewed.
“We went to work, we finished with everything. Now we are coming to carry [the MoU] to them,” said Stephen Browne, Du-Wolee land rights committee’s chairman.
Progress followed pressure from the community. Augustine Jerbo, a member of Du-Wolee’s MoU committee, said townspeople had given GVL a year to draft the MoU. In March last year, the company presented the draft.
Liberia’s largest oil palm company, GVL signed a 65-year agreement with the country in 2010, covering 220,000 hectares of land in Sinoe, Maryland, Grand Kru, River Gee and River Cess. The deal costs US$1.6 billion.
After the agreement, GVL signed an MoU with Du-Wolee Nyennue, guaranteeing the company over 2,367 hectares in the township. However, it obligates GVL to build clinics, schools and roads, and provide water for communities affected by its operations.
In 2013, Du-Wolee Nyennue joined other communities to file a complaint against GVL with the RSPO. The township accused GVL of encroaching on their land and coercing them to sign an MoU.
In 2018, the RSPO confirmed the accusations and ordered GVL to redo the MoU. The watchdog commanded GVL to work with the Liberian government to settle boundary disputes related to lands it sought to develop.
GVL is complying with the order, based on documents and interviews with representatives of the townspeople.
The National Bureau of Concessions (NBC) is working with the communities to develop the MoU. “We are right now at the point of finalizing the type of MoU,” then-Director General Edwin Dennis told The DayLight in July.
“Either we consolidate all those MoUs into one MoU, addressing all of the issues or keeping [the MoU] community-specific,” Dennis added. He said NBC’s legal department worked with the communities but disclosed he was unaware of the RSPO’s order.
Similarly, GVL has obeyed the RSPO’s order not to develop 463 hectares between Du-Wolee Nyennue and its neighbor Numopoh. However, there is an issue regarding a claim the company made last month.
A GVL truck transports palm bunches. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
In a recent report, GVL appears to mislead the RSPO that the Liberia Land Authority had “decided” on the conflict’s “results.” The company said it would communicate the results to both communities between now and the end of the year.
But in an interview on the sidelines of the just-ended National Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County, the Chairman of the Land Authority Adams Manobah dismissed GVL’s claim.
“We are still waiting for the concession to provide the support so that we can have a definitive line between the two communities. Until that is done, the issue is not really resolved yet,” Manobah told The DayLight.
Proforest, a UK nonprofit, worked with the Land Authority, the NBC and other government institutions over the dispute.
Earlier in May this year, Proforest presented its findings, according to an RSPO document. The document said the RSPO would determine the findings.
Also, GVL has been late with reports on its compliance with the RSPO’s order. late. The company only filed the April-June report earlier last month, over 60 days after the quarter ended. It did the same for the January-March report. Typically, quarterly reports are made up to two weeks after the end of each quarter.
In all, GVL celebrates the progress. “We have actively reviewed all of our MOUs and are working directly with communities to provide clarity and resolution in cases where commitments are disputed or have not been fulfilled,” it stated in an August email.
The MoU is currently with the Du-Wolee MoU committee, according to Daddy Nyenswah, its chairman. Nyenswah said Du-Wolee Nyennue’s residents had made input in the document and next was the Monrovia-based citizens of the township.
“When this MoU is signed…, we hope that all that has been placed in the MoU should come to pass,” said Jerboe, Nyenswah’s colleague.
“It should not be like the first one that GVL is not complying with most of the things that were placed there.”
Green Livelihoods Alliance provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
Top: The Chairman of the Liberia Land Authority Adams Manobah speaks at the Second Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By James Harding Giahyue
GANTA, Nimba County – The Liberia Land Authority has refuted a claim by Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL), suggesting the government had settled a boundary dispute between two communities in Sinoe County.
In a recent report to Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which regulates the oil palm industry worldwide, GVL claimed the Land Authority had “decided” on the conflict between the Du-Wolee Nyennue Township and the Numopoh District.
“The communication session on the result to both communities will be [carried] out in [the fourth quarter] of 2024 with new government officials,” GVL said in the report.
But in an interview with The DayLight on the margins of the just-ended Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County, the Chairman of the Land Authority Adams Manobah rejected GVL’s assertions. Manobah said the Land Authority had conducted meetings with the two communities but was far from an outcome.
“We have not done that yet,” said Manobah.
“The last solution we have is to go back and do the surveying and establish the boundary between the two communities,” Manobah added.
“We are still waiting for the concession to provide the support so that we can have a definitive line between the two communities.”
GVL’s palm plantation covers thousands of hectares in Sinoe, Maryland, Grand Kru, River Gee and River Cess. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Manobah’s comments confirmed those of representatives of one of the communities. Augustine Jerbo and Daddy Nyenswah, two community leaders in Du-Wolee Nyennue, want the Land Authority to conduct the survey and end the impasse.
“This thing needs to come to an end,” said Nyenswah.
The RSPO had ordered GVL not to develop the 463-hectare land and to work with the Liberian government to resolve the issue in 2018. The order was part of the watchdog’s decision against the company for developing farmlands without locals’ consent.
GVL reports quarterly to the RSPO on the status of its implementation of the decision, over six years after the deadline.
[Additional reporting by Esau J. Farr, Derick Snyder and Matenneh Keita]
The Green Livelihoods Alliance provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
Top: Lower Bokan awaits the resolution of a border dispute between Sinoe and Grand Kru Counties to obtain its customary land deed. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Harry Browne
DIYANKPO, Sinoe County – An unsolved boundary issue between two towns in Sinoe and Grand Kru Counties is stalling a clan’s pursuit of a customary land deed.
Diyankpo, a town in the Lower Bokon Clan in Jaedae District, Sinoe County, has a boundary dispute with Neeklakpo in Grand Kru County. Lower Bokon is pursuing a customary land deed but has seen its efforts stall due to the disputed area, approximately 8,000 hectares.
“We could not proceed with the survey. We had to put a halt to it, come to town, and see how we can resolve the conflict before going back in the field,” says Dr. Mahmoud Solomon, the Acting Commissioner of the Land Authority’s Department of Land Administration. Solomon says Diyankpo and Neeklakpo recognized two different boundaries that must be harmonized.
“Diyankpo one of the towns in Sinoe County is showing points that belong to their land that falls in Grand Kru. Neeklakpo is showing points in Sinoe County that belong to Grand Kru,” Solomon adds.
Solomon discloses that the Land Authority engaged the Liberia Institute for Geo-Information Services (LIGIS), the National Election Commission and the National Legislature—all of whom have county border data—to resolve the dispute.
“The Acts that created those counties will be able to show the boundary. Even though it will not be clearly defined it will give us an idea of the commencement and all those towns that fall within a particular clan,” Solomon explains. He says the matter would be resolved soon.
‘It was so difficult’
Lower Bokon borders the Beah Clan along the Dugbe River. Beah Clan had recognized another boundary apart from the one both clans had recognized for generations. However, the Beah Clan later dropped its contention, ending the conflict.
A map of Lower Bokon Clan by the Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI). File picture
Lower Bokon had another situation with Neejlah Clan resolved in an MoU last December. Both parties now agree a local hill is their boundary. They have decided to use the boundary for future surveys, and that residents who violate the MoU be called out.
“It was so difficult in [resolving the boundary issues]. Other communities would say this is the boundary and other communities would disagree,” recalls David Sonpon, the chairman of the Lower Bokon Community Land and Development Committee.
“Some people, whenever you reach a boundary harmonization stage, they want to claim another side. That is the problem,” adds Matthew Weseh, a mobilizer with the Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI).
FCI has worked with Lower Bokon since 2019. The NGO’s work with the clan is part of a US$3.45 million project funded by the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility. The Margibi-based NGO also works in the same district as Gboyonnoh Karmbo, which awaits the Land Authority to survey the clan’s land area to get a deed.
A boy head-carries a container of water in Diyankpo, Lower Bokon Clan. The DayLight/Matenneh Keita
‘There must be an agreement’
Home to over 5,000 people in the Jaedae District, Lower Bokon identified itself as a landowning community in 2019. In these five years, it has established a governance body, the Community Land Development and Management Committee (CLDMC). It has bylaws and a constitution, and mapped its 7,283-hectares land, according to FCI.
The clan has a rich culture. Kru is the dominant language. There is a traditional council that is headed by a chair. The highest traditional person is the High Priest, who conducts the Poro Society or the school for men. The leader of the clan is the Clan Chief, while the heads of towns are the Town Chiefs. Beans cannot be planted on the clan’s land, and no one builds a house or hut there with thatches.
Road connectivity is a problem for the 13-town Lower Bokon Clan. Some of the communities—such as Sunshine, Diyankpo, Sunday Village, and Konwonkpo—are accessible by vehicle while Neponklee is by bike only. The roads to the rest of the communities are by walking.
Once the boundary dispute with Neeklakpo is resolved, Lower Clan will be ready to get its customary land deed. It has forests and a huge potential for gold. The Land Rights Act of 2018 empowers communities to own lands where their ancestors lived.
Residents of Lower Bokon welcome an opportunity to manage and benefit from their land, a right they have even without a deed.
“Before you can get into our forest, there must be an agreement,” says Theresa Wleh, the chairlady of Diyankpo and widow of four children. “When there is no agreement, we will not allow you to get into our forest.”
Top: The Chairman of the Land Authority Atty. Adams Manobah speaks to The DayLight on the margins of the Second Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By Esau J. Farr
GANTA, Nimba County – Delegates at the 2024 National Land Conference on Tuesday called on the Liberia Land Authority to speed up the issuance of deeds to customary communities.
Dozens of communities have completed the required process to obtain a customary land deed under the Land Rights Act but are yet to get their titles. Out of some 150 communities, only 36 have received their deeds since the creation of the law in 2018, according to available figures.
“There is a need to fast-track the formalization of customary land in Liberia, and grand their deeds after the Ganta conference,” said James Yarsiah, the chief organizer of the conference, the second in two years.
“Deeds are taking too long to process, the cost is too high and donors are getting concerned,” Yarsiah added.
The conference seeks to review the implementation of the Land Rights Act, which is hailed worldwide but has faced enforcement challenges. The Land Rights Act guarantees customary landownership but requires rural communities to complete a legal process.
Dozens of communities have completed the process but LLA has yet to conduct an official survey to confirm their land areas and present their deeds.
Last year a group of CSOs accused the Land Authority of delaying communities whose processes are funded by CSOs and speeding up those supported by the regulator. That point echoed at the event before hundreds of conference delegates.
“The issuance of titles should not be restricted to few communities,” said Loretta Pope-Kai, the executive director of the Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI).
FCI implements a project funded by the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility, an NGO based in Sweden. That project seeks customary deeds for 24 communities in seven counties, some awaiting deeds.
Representative Nyahn Flomo urges the Land Authority to rally the Liberian government for funding to support its community land deed processes. The DayLight/Harry Browne
“It is now time that the Liberia LLA exercises its mandate by issuing deeds to communities that are ready or have gone through the customary land formalization processes,” added Mrs. Pope-Kai.
In an interview with The DayLight, the Chairman of the Land Authority Adams Manobah said the regulator was cash-strapped to conduct surveys. Manobah said the government had not provided the regulator funding for customary land activities
“If the government does not make it a priority to fund the implementation of the Land Rights [Act], very soon the donors may withdraw from the field,” Manobah told The DayLight on the margins of the conference.
But Manobah’s comments do not reflect the whole picture. Even though the Liberian government has not funded customary-deed activities, international NGOs and foreign governments have.
The Tenure Facility project allots US$280,000 to the Land Authority over a three-year period.
The Land Management Activity, a five-year USAID project, supports the Land Authority’s surveys and deeding exercises.
Representative of Nimba County District #2 Nyahn Fomo called on the regulator to change its approach to mobilizing resources from the government. Flomo, a former land rights campaigner, urged the regulator to rally the support of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning and the House of Representatives.
He said the Land Authority was “crawling” in meeting timebound provisions of the law.
Top: Theresa Wleh, Chairlady of the Diyenkpo community sitting with a smile and children in the back. The Daylight/Matenneh Keita
By Emmanuel Sherman
DIYENKPO, Sinoe County – Theresa Wleh lives with her four children in the home of her late husband. Not just that house, Wleh farms on the plot of her late husband’s farmland, and she is fully recognized by her in-laws.
“I am happy,” Wleh tells The DayLight in an interview in Diyenkpo, a Sinoe town on the border with Grand Kru. It is the headquarters of the Lower Bokon Clan located in the Jaedae District.
“The reason that I am happy is since [my husband died], I am still sitting down here. When you want to move me, my kids are here,” Wleh adds.
Wleh knows that things have not always been that way. Under a decade ago, women had no right to own community land or participate in ancestral land matters. Generations of ill-fated customs and traditions discriminated against womenfolk, often leaving them to their male relatives’ mercy. On the other hand, powerful chiefs and elders, who were the custodians of lands, decided on matters without women’s consent.
All that changed in 2018 when Liberia created the Land Rights Act, which granted women customary land ownership. The new law also mandates women’s participation in community land governance.
“I am happy for the government of Liberia to give women the right to own their land and have their deed. The land deed is important to us mothers and our children because when we leave tomorrow…, it is for your child or children,” Wleh says.
‘I used to feel bad’
Together with women’s landownership, the new law recognizes community land rights, based on local customs and folkways. It is the main highlight of the law, turning around decades of marginalization of rural people.
While communities own ancestral lands by law, they should go through legal requirements to get a deed. Lower Bokon is at the boundary-harmonization stage of those requirements, having identified as a landowning clan, created a land body and mapped its assumed 7,283-hectare landmass. Several communities have obtained customary deeds, including Zolowee, Gbassa and Zor-Yolowee in Nimba.
But Lower Bokon has to resolve a boundary dispute with Neeklakpo, a town in Grand Kru, for the Land Authority to present its deed.
An elevated view of the Lower Bokon Clan, which covers an assumed 7,283 hectares of land in Sinoe’s Jaedae District. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
The Land Authority is working with other government agencies to resolve the dispute, according to Dr. Mahmoud Solomon, the Acting Commissioner for Land Administration. Solomon said the regulator was comparing data from those agencies, including the National Legislature, to determine the border points.
“We will soon resume to have it resolved amicably,” Solomon says in an interview at his Ashmun Street office. Bokon is one of the dozens of communities whose lands the Land Authority is formalizing as part of a US$3.45 million project funded by the International Land and Forest Tenure Facilityin Sweden.
Wleh cannot wait for the disagreement to be solved. She wants to witness the resolution as it is in the interest of the community. But she does not allow the impasse to spoil her party.
“I am happy for us to reach this level. During our forefathers’ time, they were blind to the system. I used to feel bad when people came to use the land. At the time we never knew anything,” Wleh recalls. “Whatever they wanted to do was what they would do here.
“If we have our land deed, it will be good for us. Nobody will come and say, ‘This place is mine.’ As long as I have my deed and you are coming on my land, there will be an agreement between us,” she says.
Wleh might be a bit cocky but her comments are not unfounded.
Lower Bokon is situated in a mining region, with little or no benefits to affected communities. Hummingbird, a British company, has operated there since 2019, according to official records. The records show that the Ministry of Mines and Energy has awarded 127 licenses in the region since 2013, predominantly for small-scale mining. Of that number 17 are active licenses.
Children fetch water at a hand pump in Diyenkpo, the headquarters of the Lower Bokon Clan in Jaedae District, Sinoe County. The Daylight/ Matenneh Keita
Despite these activities, the clan lacks a lot of necessities for its estimated 5,000 people. It lacks clinics, paved roads, and adequate water sources. Wleh and other Diyenkpo residents go to Karquekpo, the largest town in the region, for medication. The miners do not pay the clan anything.
The Land Rights Act empowers communities to buck that trend. With a deed, locals can enter into agreements with companies as parties to the investment, not just affected communities. They have the right to consent to or reject investment proposals.
“The kids we are having now, we want them to go to school so, that tomorrow we will benefit from them,” Wleh says. “When you come into our community and we tell you this is what we want and you cannot deliver, pack up your bag and leave.”
Top: An elevated view of an oil palm mill at a plantation Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO) abandoned five years ago. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By James Harding Giahyue, Derick Snyder and Varney Kamara
In August 2022, Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated (LNPI) purchased an abandoned palm plantation from Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO) in a deal worth approximately US$445,000
Publicity of the deal was scanty, limited to a LinkedIn post, a reference on LNPI’s website and an announcement hidden in EPO’s parent company’s annual reports.
The Liberian government has not approved of the takeover, with the Ministry of Agriculture and the lawmaker of that district unaware of the deal.
Yet, LNPI is forcibly operating the plantation, including a prewar oil palm mill. With the help of armed police officers, the company is throwing residents out of the plantation.
The company disregards local communities’ ownership of the land and their right to consent to the takeover.
SHAMPAY CAMP, Sinoe County – In June, armed police officers ordered Felecia Wesseh and other villagers to leave an abandoned palm plantation. A company called the Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated (LNPI) told the residents they were taking over a portion of the 8,000-hectare plantation from Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO), which had run it in 2019. Wesseh and other residents exploited the plantation and transformed the region into an artisanal palm oil hub ever since.
“I feel bad because number one, for me, this is my 25 years in this area. “The way the Emergency Response Unit [of the Liberia National Police] is coming here to take people from this place is not good,” said Wesseh, a mother in her late 30s. The DayLight interviewed her at her shop in Sankwehn Estate in Tarsue Chiefdom, Sanquin District locals have called Shampay Camp since the 1960s. A crowd of angry residents quickly gathered, questioning the legality of the takeover.
“By right, if you own the plantation or buy the area, I expect the Superintendent… to come with one of the lawmakers to show the people to us. Nobody brought them to show them to us,” Wesseh added.
Wesseh was right. There is evidence that LNPI bought the plantation from EPO. However, no one in the Sanquin District is aware of the takeover, and it has not been approved by the Liberian government.
EPO owned the plantation through its subsidiary Liberia Forest Product Incorporated (LFPI). LFPI signed the concession with the Liberian government in 2008 for 50 years, covering 8,400 hectares. However, in 2019, EPO ceased operations because there “were insufficient plantable areas,” making it “uneconomic” to run. It devalued the plantation by RM145.3 million (approximately US$32.2 million).
Scores of local palm oil producers, including Felecia Wesseh, depend on the plantation, which covers about 4,000 hectares of palm trees. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
But the deal was not entirely transparent. KLK, required to declare such transactions under Bursa Malaysia or the Malaysian stock exchange rules, announced the takeover in its 2022 annual report. However, there is no record that EPO—under a similar obligation with the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange—publicized the takeover. This likely breaches AIM’s rule, which mandates companies to publish such transactions. EPO did not return questions for comments regarding the takeover and KLK said it would respond.
‘Into a hole’
The Shampay Camp part of the story began on August 23, 2022, when LNPI signed a six-month memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the people of Sanquin District. Per the MoU, LNPI bought a five-gallon tin of palm oil for L$1,300 and L$1,500. LNPI paid the community US$6,000 and paved a major road there.
Local palm oil dealers had welcomed the agreement as LNPI prices more than double the L$600 artisanal palm oil producers had set, while chiefs and elders saw it as an opportunity for development.
“When they came, it was correct because they paid our royalties,” recalled Alfred Pyne, an elder of Sanquin.
But the MoU was too attractive to be true. While the community was entitled to several benefits, the MoU restricted LNPI to “purchasing of oil palm products such as crude palm oil, palm kernels and other palm derivatives,” and to operate “without any embarrassment and undue restrictions.”
LNPI’s true intent surfaced when it unilaterally extended the deal by three months. Following a year of anger, the parties met in January this year when LNPI finally disclosed it had taken over the plantation. The company was not merely a party to an MoU; it was claiming possession of Shampay Camp.
LNPI, aided by armed police officers, asked artisanal palm oil producers out of a plantation abandoned in 2019 by Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO) in Sanquin District, Sinoe County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
“When we saw Baccus Wiah with LNPI, I said, ‘A good thing is coming,’ not knowing we [were] getting into a hole,” said Eric Gbayon, the Township Commissioner of Tarsue Chiefdom. He was referencing LNPI’s administrative manager, who hails from that region.
In the end, the MoU was a disguise. By August 2022, LNPI had already signed the takeover, a negotiation it had started six months earlier, according to a document obtained by The DayLight. It had imported 117 consignments of electrical equipment and other instruments as of the 17th of last month. They were imported from India, Pilani’s home country, according to Volza, a Russian online marketplace, citing international data.
Workers at a palm oil mill recently rehabilitated by the Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
The DayLight videotaped workers test the mill, which has a capacity of five metric tons of crude palm oil per hour. For the first time since the start of the First Liberian Civil War in 1989, smoke billowed from the facility’s chambers into the gloomy Shampay Camp skies.
Before it disclosed the takeover to the people, LNPI had obtained an environmental permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after conducting an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) between February and May last year. It has asked for a renewal of the permit to extend the mill.
‘Not heard from them’
Tension has been brewing in Tarsue, particularly after the news of the takeover broke. After LNPI broke the news, locals asked to meet the company in Kommanah Town. LNPI instead requested to host the meeting at its headquarters in Shampay Camp, citing “continued threats of violence” from the community.
“If you are interested in meeting with me, please let me know so a time can be set that will be mutually convenient for both parties,” LNPI’s executive officer John Collie penned Paramount Chief John Koah a reply, seen by The DayLight.
Several receipts were issued by LNPI as part of its scam to operate a plantation it took over from Equatorial Palm Oil in August 2022 but has not been endorsed by the Liberian government. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Months later, locals lodged a complaint with Representative Alex Noah of Sinoe County District Three over LNPI’s illegal activities. In their letter, they listed the company’s takeover of the plantation and renovation of the mill without their consent. “We need our timely intervention concerning this matter before things go out of hand,” the letter read. Noah said he was unaware of LNPI’s operations and would visit the plantation when he returned from his travels out of the country.
LNPI’s disregard for the community’s right to consent violates the Land Rights Act, which recognizes ancestral land rights. Locals’ consent is a crucial principle of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the watchdog of the global oil palm industry. Liberia has even domesticated the RSPO’s principles and criteria.
The Liberia Land Authority (LLA), which plays a role in land-related concessions, had recommended that LNPI get the locals’ consent but the company ignored the advice. LNPI had visited the LLA in Monrovia to seek counsel.
LLA’s Chairman Adams Manobah told The DayLight in a WhatsApp interview he had advised the community to first “formalize its land ownership before transacting business with an outsider or any investor.”
Manobah added, “Since that encounter, I have not heard of them.” Wiah did not respond to emailed questions on that conversation.
In an earlier interview at the company’s headquarters, Wiah justified LNPI’s use of force. “Due to the violence that took place here, since we have completed the factory and are ready for operation, we decided to bring [armed police officers] to be here to serve as [a] deterrent,” he said. “Our people are afraid of gunmen.”
Another elevated view of Shampay Camp with the smoke billowing from a palm oil mill at the background. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Wiah admitted the government had not approved the LNPI’s takeover. An ex-EPO employee, however, Wiah claimed the approval was being processed. “The Ministries of Justice, and Agriculture have signed,” he told The DayLight. It is left with the Ministry of Finance, then it will go to the Senate, and finally to the President for signature.”
The Ministry of Agriculture dismisses Wiah’s claim. “It is important that we address this lack of awareness immediately,” Comfort Whitfield of the ministry’s communication division said in an email.
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series on illegal oil palm operations in the Sanquin District, Sinoe County. The second part will focus on the legality of the existence of Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated and its parent company Konnex Investments Ltd.
Top: Gboyonnoh Karmbo awaits the Liberia Land Authority to conduct a survey and confirm its land area. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Harry Browne
TITIYEN, Sinoe County – Gboyonnoh Karmbo could not progress in its quest to get a customary land deed without resolving a boundary dispute with the Kwiatuoh Clan. Gboyonnoh Karmbo argued the Klinlin Creek was the boundary but Kwiatuoh was firm on Gboyonnoh Karmbo’s side of the water, some 30-minute walk.
“Via oral testimonies, we were able to come together and identify one place,” recalls Harris Togba, the chairman of Gboyonnoh Karmbo’s land leadership. Togba speaks to The DayLight in Titiyen, one of four towns that own the land. The other three are Jogbawon, Chernyenkpo and Gbankpo. Predominantly Kru, it has a unique culture, with a traditional school for boys and girls to preserve their way of life and culture.
“We believe in the history of our people,” Togba adds.
Following the mediation of the NGO Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI) and the Liberia Land Authority, both clans resolved the dispute, agreeing that the creek is the boundary. FCI has worked with the community since 2019. Its current work in the region is part of a US$4.45 million project funded by the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility, styled “Keeping the Promise.”
It has been five years since Gboyonnoh Karmbo, a clan with 1,300 plus people in the Jaedae District, declared its intention to acquire an ancestral land deed. It has established a land governance body—known as the Community Land Development and Management Committee (CLDMC). It had set up bylaws and a constitution and mapped its presumed land area.
Togba and Jah Nagbe Chea in Titiyen Town, Gboyonnoh Karmbo Clan. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
With the Kwiatuoh Clan dispute settled, Gboyonnoh Karmbo had now established all the boundaries with its neighbors and completed that stage of the deed process.
“We together agree to clearly and finally establish the boundaries between our communities, and to desist from any further boundary conflicts concerning this area,” the MoU reads. It adds to the MoUs with Brutroh, Berh and Sayoh, another major dispute Gboyonnoh Karmbo resolved in 2020.
Next for Gboyonnoh Karmbo is the official survey after which the clan will be granted a customary land deed, marking the final requirement under the Land Rights Act. Liberia passed the law in 2018, recognizing customary tenure, a monumental right for the empowerment of rural communities.
Alexander Cole, FCI’s project coordinator, says the official survey would start this month, using special technology to cement boundary markers.
“FCI is happy that these communities will forever resolve land conflicts that existed because of conflict on traditional boundary markers,” Cole says.
The Land Authority says it has received resources from the Tenure Facility to “adequately” survey Gboyonnoh Karmbo, covering 13,462 hectares of land. Parley Liberia, a Bong-based NGO that works with FCI and the Margibi-based Sustainable Development Institute, confirmed that disclosure. The survey is scheduled for later this month.
“When it comes to this survey in Sinoe County, we are fully prepared to carry on this survey.” Dr. Mahmoud Solomon, assistant director for survey and mapping at the Land Authority tells The DayLight. “We do not want to survey with the old technology.”
Gboyonnoh Karmbo and Lower Bokon will add to the Sansen Clan as the communities that will have completed the legal steps to acquire a customary land deed. Sansen Clan completed its process earlier this year, while Lower Bokon will complete it alongside Gboyonnoh Karmbo.
‘We are the land’
By law, when Gboyonnoh Karmboe finally formalizes its land ownership, it will become easier for the clan to benefit from the land directly. It will have the power to sit and discuss with would-be investors, a sharp contrast from the past, where rural dwellers were denied such benefits.
A drone picture shows illicit miners on the Dugbe River in Gboyonnoh Karmbo Clan in Sinoe County’s Jaedae District. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Gboyonnoh Karmbo has a forest and the potential for minerals. Next to the clan is an oil palm plantation run by Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL). While there is no large-scale concession here, it currently hosts small and medium-scale miners, including illegal miners.
Reporters spot dredge miners on the River Dugbe, a form of mining prohibited by the Ministry of Mines in 2019, about the same time Gboyonnoh Karmbo started its process. There are two dredges on the right side of the Dugbe River Bridge. The miners had left their trail on the other side of the bridge along the riverbank, on farmland belonging to Francis Toe.
Toe admits to facilitating illegal mining. “When [miners] get the money, they give it to us and I take it to the committee board,” Toe says in an interview at his riverside home.
Togba, Gboyonnoh Karmbo’s chairman, promises that his leadership will combat illicit activities, using the community’s bylaws and constitution. “If we have the deed, we have to manage the land and go by regulations governing it,” he tells The DayLight.
“We are the land and we must have the land so that our generation now and the ones unborn can benefit,” Jah Nagbe Chea, Togba’s deputy buttresses. “This is our quest.”
Top: Villagers work on a farm in Jorpolu Clan in Jorquelleh District, Bong County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By Matenneh Keita
JORPOLU CLAN, Bong County – In 2019, one year after the Land Rights Act, people in a clan in Jorquelleh District, Bong County, declared their intention to acquire an ancestral land deed.
Jorpolu Clan declared its intention to obtain a deed, known as community self-identification. Then it set up a governance structure to oversee land matters. Now, people of the clan are cutting boundaries with neighboring clans to decide their land size.
But there is a problem. Jorpolu has four boundary disputes with the neighboring Behquelleh and Suakoko Clans. Under the law, communities own land on which their ancestors lived, farmed and hunted. However, they must resolve all their boundary disputes to be granted a title deed.
“We’re talking with [the neighboring clans] and they’re consenting to the discussion,” says Austin Leayne, the secretary for Jorpolu land leadership. “They all can come together for us to discuss the best way forward for everybody to live in peace and harmony.”
Initially, there were 22 boundary issues between the Jorpolu Clan and the adjacent clans. Eighteen have been resolved, with the balance of four issues outstanding. Of those four disputes, Jorpolu has three with Behquelleh and the other with Suakoko.
The first dispute in Behquelleh regards a town called Gbaota. The family of a deceased famous chief there is claiming about 10 acres of land.
The second is related to the first. The land the family claims runs through another town called Gowarmue. However, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been drafted for the disputing parties to sign, according to Josephus Blim, program officer with Parley Liberia. The NGO assists Jorpolu and other communities through the legal process of acquiring a customary land deed. Its work is part of a US$3.45 million project funded by the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility headquartered in Sweden.
Jorpolu landmass covers thousands of hectares of land, including forest. The DayLight/Charles Gbayor
“Those are just minute places,” Blim said. “I don’t think it would stop the customary process from going on.”
The third land dispute Jorpolu has with Behquelleh is over farmland between a town called Gbarney in Jorpolu and another town in Behquelleh called Kpanyan.
The people from Jorpolu who settled on the land want the land to stay under Jorpolu but a family in Behquelleh wants it to remain there.
Jorpolu’s dispute with Suakoko is the most major. It is a longstanding issue between the two clans over at least 150 acres of land along a creek.
The Woue Creek evenly divides both clans. It takes a deep curve between Gbenjema on the Jorpolu side and Galai on the Suakoko side.
Farmers in Gbenjema who crossed the creek to farm on the land are claiming it but the family of a late elder in Galai counterclaimed it.
“We have made a breakthrough in getting the heirs of the elder to reach a compromise with Jorpolu to resolve the dispute,” Blim said. He added relatives of the late elder attended a recent meeting Parley Liberia organized.
Once Jorpolu resolves all the disputes, the Liberia Land Authority is mandated to survey to confirm the clan’s land and give it a customary deed in line with the law.
Thirty-one communities across the Country lands have been surveyed, according to the Land Authority. About 22 communities have already been granted customary deeds, with Fessibu in Lofa the latest.
Martha Sheriff is a member of Jorpolu Community Land Development and Management Committee. The DayLight/Harry Browne
People in Jorpolu cannot wait to join the list.
“This land deed is very important to me because during those days women did not have the right to plant anything. Even to plant cocoa on your father’s land… your brothers would say, ‘You don’t have property here,’” says Martha Sheriff, a member of Jorpolu land leadership.
But now, I feel good because of the Land Rights Act that has given me the right to own land and plant cocoa, rubber, and other things on the land for me and my children’s future,” Sheriff added.
“My brothers can’t stop me.”
While a customary deed would solve the Sheriff’s familial problem, it promises enormous benefits for Jorpolu.
In 2021, Huiren Mining Inc., a mining firm, signed an MoU with few people in the clan and did not live up to it. Neither Jorpolu’s land leadership participated nor was it aware of the document.
Austin Leayne, the secretary of Jorpolu Company Land Development and Management Committee. The DayLight/Harry Browne
Following three years of heightening tension over social benefits, the Ministry of Mines and Energy recently halted Huiren’s operations. A meeting between the company and affected communities is scheduled for next month.
Johnson Kong-bai, the head of the Jorpolu land leadership, rues the marginalization. He believes Jorpolu possession of an ancestral deed will prevent such a thing, though communities are guaranteed customary ownership by the law.
“If I have my deed, I got the full right to go to the company and say, ‘This place you want to operate is my area,’” Kong-bai tells The DayLight. “‘Before you do anything here, you and I will have to sit and discuss what will be the community’ benefit.’”
Top: An elevated view of a portion of Teekpeh Clan’s 65,224.61 hectares of land. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Harry N. Browne
TEEKPEH – Liberia Land Authority has conducted surveys in four clans in River Cess County, the last stage for the communities to get customary land deeds.
The Land Authority conducted the surveys recently for Teekpeh, Ziadue, Dorbor and Gbarsaw, bringing to an end four years of quest for their ancestral land rights.
“I feel so glad because, for the time Liberia existed, we were [squatters]. For us to be the legitimate owners of our land, we really appreciate that,” said Fredrick James, the chairman of Teekpeh’s Community Land Development and Management Committee.
“If you do not have a deed for [your land] in Liberia, then … the land is not for you,” said Blessing Nagba, Town Chief of Zammie Town, one of Teekpeh’s largest communities.
Before the official survey, Teekpeh, Ziadue, Dorbor and Gbarsaw declared their intention to get title deeds for their lands. Later, they formed land governing bodies and conducted open mapping of their areas, requirements in the Land Rights Act of 2018 for a customary land deed.
The confirmatory surveys were conducted in a peaceful and orderly manner with all of the parties represented. Representatives of the four clans, the Liberia Land Authority, and civil society gathered at the various boundary points to witness the process.
Blessing Nagba, Town Chief of Zammie Town in Teekpeh Clan
Before that, the surveyors asked the representatives to walk them to the actual spot that all parties agreed to. Then they took points from each location and planted trees at those points. There are 39 border points among the four clans.
Representatives for the clans posed for a picture at each boundary point for evidence, using special equipment that processes and stores data on a memory card and to a satellite. The pictures will remain there as long as the satellite is in space.
Surveyors of the Land Authority survey Teekpeh and Ziadue in River Cess. The DayLight/Harry Browne
The advanced GPS equipment works directly with the satellite for accuracy. It had been recommended as part of a US$3.45 million project to assist communities get their customary deeds, funded by the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility of Sweden.
Before the survey, the Land Authority conducted a two-day workshop on how the instrument works for transparency’s sake.
The survey had lots of challenges. The teams traveled hours between clans to cut boundaries in hard-to-reach areas. The Thick, green forest features creeks, valleys, mountains, and wildlife. Townspeople, who knew the route well, helped carry the equipment on their heads under the forest’s shade.
The survey team walked for hours in the forest to confirm the land areas of Teekpeh, Ziadue Gbarsaw and Dorbor Clans in River Cess County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
“I am here for land, for us to cut our land boundary between, Ziadue and Teekpeh. [This] is the reason we came in the bush,” said Rebecca Miller, town chief of Zeegar Town in Teekpeh.
The four clans cover a combined 152,937.57 hectares of land. Of that total, Teekpeh is the largest with 65,224.61 hectares, followed by Dorbor with 34,276.06 hectares, Ziadue with 32,718.45 hectares and Gbarsaw with 20,000 hectares.
‘Give and take’
But the clans’ success did not come without challenges. They had to resolve several land crises.
Ziadue and Teekpeh fought for Yarvoe, a village that has a potential for gold, according to a survey by the Ministry of Mines and Energy. Teekpeh claimed the Yarvoe because it holds the clan’s ancestral graveyard. Ziadue’s contention was it (a 45-minute walk) is closer to the village than Teekpeh ( a two-hour-45-minute walk). In the end Teekpeh prevailed following six years of heightening tension.
“All we needed to do was to convince them that land business is give and take,” recalled James. “That was the only way we were able to convince our people and the exercise went on.”
Ziadue and Teekpeh also squared off with Dorbor over a place named Sand Beach Junction for two years. Once more the three clans agreed to turn over the land to Teekpeh following two years of standoff.
Dorbor had another conflict with Gbarsaw over a parcel of farmland across a creek. Dorbor surrendered the land to Gbarsaw
“We protected the communities until we went to all those boundaries. We did give-and-take,” said Tito Davis, the chairman of the Dobor Community Land Development Committee. We felt that we wanted deed so, Dorbor gave most of the land out.”
At times, the Land Authority and civil society were caught up in the conflicts.
Arthur Cassell, the geographic information system (GIS) specialist with the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), which works with the communities, experienced some of them. In one incident, townsmen, unhappy with a borderline they had drawn, chased Cassell and his team into a bush.
“You know the small creek in the bush have their names and sometimes through oral history. Somebody might miss the name or somebody might miss the location of the creek. That was the hold situation,” Cassell said.
“To see the four of them Ziadue Teekpeh, Dorbor and Gbarsaw get their confirmatory survey in one go, it is a plus for us,” Cassell added.
Children work on a farmland in Dorbor Clan, River Cess County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
The Land Authority is expected to grant the four clans their customary deed soon. They make it 11 communities in River Cess and 20 across the country whose lands have been surveyed. Eight communities have already been granted customary deeds, with Fessibu in Lofa the latest.
We are quite assured that in the next few weeks or so their deeds will be prepared,” said Jerome Vanjah Kollie, the National Coordinator for Customary Boundary and Harmonization at the Land Authority. “We have concluded the work.”
