Top: The Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Wilmot Konah
GBARNGA, Bong County – A court said it will hear the case against four suspected timber smugglers who operated at the Central Agriculture Research Institute (CARI).
Last week, Judge George S. Wiles Jr. denied a dismissal motion filed by a lawyer representing two Chinese Chaolong and Guoping Zang, a Turkish national Mehmet Onder Erem and their Liberian partner Terrentius Tidiboh Collins also known as Terrence Collins.
Defense lawyer Nathaniel Innis, Sr. had argued Forestry Development Authority’s board did not approve the lawsuit.
But Judge Wiles of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in Gbarnga, Bong County said the petition was unlawful. “For a party asserting claim not to have legal capacity to sue, it must be done in accordance with our law and practice,” read the ruling.
The FDA is suing the men for a 12-month prison term, US$25,000 and the forfeiture of their equipment. The court has seized the equipment and thousands of timber the men left at CARI.
The suspects deny any wrongdoing, saying they operated legally.
Top: Men work at a palm oil mill formerly owned by Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO) now run by Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated (LNPI) without the approval of the Liberian government or the consent of local people. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Varney Kamara
SHAMPAY CAMP – Liberia National Produce Incorporated (LNPI), an oil palm company that encroached on an abandoned palm plantation in Sanquin District, Sinoe County about a year ago, continues to run the facility despite not meeting legal requirements, including the consent of the local landowners.
In 2022, LNPI purchased the 8,400-hectare palm plantation in the Sanquin District for about US$445,000 from Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO), which had abandoned the facility three years earlier. However, LNPI has not regularized the takeover to operate. A DayLight investigation in August found that the company forced residents out of the plantation with the aid of armed police officers.
Now two months after the investigation, LNPI continues to operate the facility. New evidence and interviews conducted by The DayLight show that LNPI is not compliant with several Liberian laws and international best practices.
This supports the Ministry of Agriculture’s claim that it was unaware of LNPI’s operations. Legally, the Inter-ministerial Concession Committee, including the Ministry of Agriculture, the Bureau of Concessions and the National Investment Commission (NIC), approves takeovers.
The DayLight has seen a copy of the LNPI draft concession agreement, without key signatures, including then-President George Weah and then-Minister of Finance Samuel Tweah’s.
In a September response to The DayLight’s queries, NIC appeared to corroborate the Ministry of Agriculture’s statement. “The Government of Liberia… provided consent to the transfer, contingent upon the new buyer’s commitment to resuscitate the plantation and ensure compliance with all applicable taxes and regulations under [the] Liberian law,” wrote the Executive Director of the NIC Melvin Sheriff.
Evidence of LNPI’s operations is aplenty. The DayLight witnessed workers active at a palm mill the company renovated, with smoke rising from the facility overhead. Fresh brushing spots along the main road to the Shampay Camp, where workers of the defunct Butaw Oil Palm Company lived. A giant-wheeled transporter plied the road.
Before announcing the takeover, LNPI secured an environmental permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after conducting an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) between February and May last year.
With the help of armed police, LNPI has forced camp dwellers out of the plantation and allegedly seized their personal belongings. Nestled between hills and forests, Shampay Camp once thrived and served as a palm oil hub. People in and out of the area exploit the plantation to produce palm oil.
“We are living in hell here. They always make us scared. They took my freedom mill machine and spoiled it. We have no space to breathe,” said Fatu Sheriff, an elderly woman.
“One man from the company came to my house. He told me that if I did not stop buying and selling oil on the camp, he would order the security to beat me and take me away from the camp by force,” Sheriff added.
“Then, I looked in his face and told him that if he wanted to, he should go ahead and kill me, but I was not taking one foot from my house to go anywhere.”
Smoke billows from a palm oil mill in Sanquin District, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Sheriff’s comments and others The DayLight heard validate townspeople the newspaper interviewed in June this year. LNPI did not return emailed queries in response to issues in this story.
LNPI proposes that locals allow the company to operate. In the document, seen by The DayLight, LNPI proposes to pay benefits to the community, including a monthly payment of US$1,000 to the community development fund, rental fees, and engaging in community development. Once these conditions are satisfied, the agreement allows for the company to operate without “any disturbance or embarrassment.”
“This is manually agreed by the parties that the monthly payments are an advance on any community’s obligations the company needs to pay once the concession agreement has been approved by the Government of Liberia,” reads the proposed MoU.
The local community rejects the proposed MoU.
“The company is operating on our land without authorization,” said Ericson Pyne, a youth leader in Tarsue Chiefdom. “We have repeatedly asked them to show us the concession agreement, but they have refused.”
The Sinoe County’s Superintendent Peter Wleh Nyensuah sides with the LNPI despite its glaring illegitimacy. In a letter to the Tarsue Chiefdom last month, Nyensuah urged locals to let the company operate.
“The Taruse community having received benefits under the now expired MoU from LNPI, the community lacks the standing to question the legitimacy of LNPI. The community can renew or renegotiate another MoU through the Office of the Superintendent,” read Nyensuah’s letter. Locals had filed a complaint with the Superintendent’s Office, expressing dissatisfaction over the company’s failure to present its concession agreement.
The people of Tarsue Chiefdom in Sanquin District, Sinoe County are unaware of the operations of Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated (LNPI). The DayLight/Varney Kamara
Nyensuah’s comments are not based on facts. In the MoU he referenced, the Tarsue Chiefdom did not empower the company to run the plantation. Instead, it granted LNPI the sole right to purchase palm oil from locals.
‘Organic palm oil’
LNPI’s involvement with the plantation violates the Land Rights Act and the principles and criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a watchdog writing rules for the global oil palm industry.
Both the law and the RSPO rules recognize ancestral land ownership and communities’ right to consent to projects intended for their lands. Liberia created the law in 2018 and adopted the RSPO rules three years later. This means they were not nonexistent when EPO took over the plantation from Liberia Forest Produce Incorporated in 2008.
James Otto, a lead campaigner at the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), urges LNPI to inform the community of its intent to operate on their land and obtain a concession agreement.
“The company needs to have a well-designed concession negotiation through the FPIC process,” said Otto, whose NGO helped lodge the successful complaint against GVL in 2013 for communities. “The company needs to provide all the proper information to the community.
“There should be a formal lease agreement between the company and the landowners before the company starts operation,” added Otto.
LNPI is noncompliant with the Beneficial Ownership Regulation, which requires businesses in Liberia to declare their beneficial owners or the human beings who own them. This rule helps combat everything from money laundering to terrorist financing.
LNPI is a subsidiary of Konnex Investments Limited, with 51 percent of the company’s shares. The remaining 49 percent unsubscribed, according to LNPI’s articles of incorporation. However, the Liberia Business Registry said it did not have a list of the company’s owners, violating the regulation.
Also, there is no record of Konnex Investments Ltd. on the official public registry of all British firms. Konnex is not on OCCRP aleph, operated by the Organized Crimes and Corruption Reporting Project, one of the world’s largest public databases of companies.
A screenshot of a LinkedIn post of Uday Pilani, Konnex Investments Ltd.’s owner, claiming to be RSPO-complaint, producing organic palm oil and uplifting indigenous communities.
In a LinkedIn post last year, Uday Pilani, LNPI’s chairman per its website, identified himself as the owner of Konnex Investments Ltd. Pilani claims that the company uplifts indigenous communities, is RSPO-complaint and produces organic palm oil.
But the claims are the exact opposite of the company’s activities.
LNPI deceived locals into signing an MoU likely to gain control of the plantation before informing them about its takeover. It even violated the terms of the deceptive deal by extending it by several months.
That conduct breaks the RSPO’s first rule that requires oil palm companies to operate ethically and transparently. Because of the breach of that rule, the RSPO ordered Golden Veroleum Liberia to renegotiate an MoU with Tarjuwon, Butaw, and other areas after it was found GVL guilty of disrespecting those communities’ right to consent.
Then Pilani’s organic palm claim is not consistent with the definition of the phrase. Organic palm oil production involves sustainable farming that is environmentally responsible, socially equitable, economically viable, and prevents deforestation while protecting workers’ rights and the welfare of local communities, according to the RSPO. In contrast, LNPI’s activities undermine the descriptions of organic palm oil.
The Ministry of Justice, which negotiates concessions agreements, said it was investigating LNPI’s operations.
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: Sinoe County’s Superintendent Peter Wleh Nyensuah supports the illegal operations of Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated (LNPI) without the Liberian government’s approval. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Varney Kamara
GREENVILLE – Sinoe County’s Superintendent Peter Wleh Nyensuah is backing an oil palm company’s illegitimate operations against a local community demanding its rights and holding the firm accountable.
In 2022, Liberia Natural Produce Incorporated (LNPI) purchased a palm plantation in the Tarsue Chiefdom of Sanquin District from Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO). However, LNPI operates the plantation without the Liberian government’s approval, sparking a protest.
In a letter last month, seen by The DayLight, Nyensuah urged Tarsue to sign an MoU LNPI proposes, dismissing the community’s concerns over rights abuses and the LNPI’s illegitimacy.
“It is my strongest anticipation that you will work with the investors in our communities,” wrote Nyensuah. He even suggested he was open to playing a role in negotiating the MoU or drafting a new one.
Nyensuah had launched an investigation after tension brewed in the area following the community’s complaint.
He based his decision partly on a previous MoU that locals had signed with LNPI. “The Tarsue community having received benefits under the now expired MoU from LNPI, the community lacks the standing to question the legitimacy of the LNPI,” Nyensuah added.
But his reason for his decision is faulty. The document he referenced only gave LNPI an exclusive right to purchase oil from local producers, not to operate the plantation. A DayLight investigation established that LNPI likely used the document to gain control of the plantation during last year’s heated presidential elections.
In his finding, Nyensuah claimed that the government and LNPI amended the 2008 EPO concession agreement in March. However, there is no public record to support that claim.
Men at work at and palm oil mill in Shampay Camp, Tarsue Chiefdom. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
The government and LNPI have said the company’s operations have not been authorized. The Ministries of Agriculture and Justice, responsible for authorizing oil palm concessions, said it was unaware of LNPI’s operations. LNPI itself admitted that in a June interview with this newspaper, a fact it included in the draft MoU to Tarsue.
‘Bogus MoU’
Nyensuah’s unlawful decision has inflamed the situation in Tarsue and may have soured his relationship with the community.
“We are rejecting the MoU because it is a bogus agreement. We want to see LNPI’s Concession Agreement with the government,” said Ericson Pyne, a youth leader. We want to see their letter of authorization.
“I think Superintendent Nyensuah is not capable of leading this county because, as a leader of the county, before coming up with such a proposal, you must have properly read and understood previous agreements. We totally disagree with his suggestion,” added Pyne.
Pyne’s comments reflect the views of the people of Tarsue who have endured threats and intimidations at the hands of LNPI, with armed police forcing people out of the plantation.
Top: Participants of USFS’ timber identification workshop at CSIR-FORIG in Kumasi, Ghana. Picture credit: United States Forest Service
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA – The United States Forest Service (USFS) has sponsored the training of seven Liberian foresters in identifying timber species using science-based technology through smartphones as part of the institution’s commitment to supporting Liberia in combating illegal timber harvesting and trading.
Drawn from the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), the University of Liberia and the Forestry Training Institute (FTI), participants acquired skills to identify various commercial timber species with the Agritix Xylorix mobile app. The technology is used worldwide for timber tracking and networking.
“As part of the response to address illegal timber trafficking in Liberia, the US Forest Service is providing technical and logistical support to strengthen the capacity of in-country stakeholders, including government ministries, agencies and civil society organizations to achieve Liberia’s policy objectives,” said Dr Benedictus Freeman, USFS Liberia’s Country Coordinator.
Illegal timber trafficking has been on the rise for several years in Liberia, with traffickers exploiting the industry’s capacity gaps. “Kpokolo,” the newest form, involves traffickers shaping timber into blocks and smuggling them through containers, robbing communities and the Liberian government of revenue.
Illegal logs held by the FDA at the Klay checkpoint in Bomi. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
The workshop’s participants acquired skillsets in wood anatomy, imaging, and using the Agritix Xylorix platforms to review timber’s macroscopic features.
“A lot was achieved in wood anatomy,” said Moses Wenyanpulu of the FDA’s Research and Development Department.
“Like every human, every wood species has a unique and distinct fingerprint called anatomical features found within the wood structure. Understanding these features are very critical to properly identifying timber or lumber,” Wenyanpulu added.
USFS has been active in Liberia since 2003, alongside the USAID on several projects.
Apart from its anti-timber trafficking project, it has helped develop FTI’s curriculum, provided teaching assistance to the institute, and supported students’ programs. USFS also supports the ecotourism development of the East Nimba Nature Reserve and the Lake Piso Multiple Use Reserve.
GVL has lied about its operations several times in the last five months. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA—In August, The DayLight started a series of investigations into Golden Veroleum Liberia’s (GVL) operations. The newspaper has published over a dozen stories, pinpointing GVL’s abuse of communities’ rights and degradation of the environment.
Amid overwhelming evidence, the newspaper has published—documents, pictures/videos and interviews—GVL vehemently denies any wrongdoing.
But often those denials include false claims in attempts to mislead the public, as the company defends its well-documented, tainted record.
Behold six of the lies GVL has told in the last five months as the result of The DayLight’s reporting:
Must Seek Communities’ Consent to Share MoU
GVL has a list of MoUs it signed with communities on its website but the documents are not downloadable.
Before that first story, The DayLight asked the company for copies of the MoUs. However, GVL’s spokesman Alphonso Kofi denied the newspaper’s request.
In July, Alphonso Kofi, GVL’s spokesman, said that local communities needed to consent before the company could share the documents. “It can be shared if we obtained written consent for the communities,” wrote Kofi in an email.
Kofi’s claim contradicts the Freedom of Information Act and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s rules, known as principles and criteria.
Under the FOI Act, MoUs arising from concession agreements are public records.
Likewise, the first principle and criterion of the RSPO requires GVL to comply with such national law, and such documents are “made publicly available.” It even mandates GVL to keep records of requests for information and responses.
Concealing the MoU and GVL’s flawed interpretation of the document appears as a strategy to misinform the public. The DayLight obtained the documents from elsewhere, uncovering the company’s wrongdoings.
Unclear Responsibility to Maintain Hand Pumps
In response to the first part of The DayLight’s series in August—exposing GVL’s failure to build and maintain hand pumps in Tartweh-Drapoh, Sinoe County—GVL claimed that the MoU with the chiefdom was unclear as to who was responsible for maintaining the facilities.
A GVL signboard in Tartweh-Drapoh Chiefdom, Sinoe County. The DayLight/Harry Browne
“GVL acknowledges feedback from communities that some hand pumps that it has constructed are not operating properly and require maintenance,” it said in a press release. “We also recognize that more clarity is needed to define who is responsible for maintaining pumps built by GVL and other parties.”
That claim contravenes the MoU. There is no need for clarity as the document plainly obligates GVL to build and repair the pumps, and even train locals to maintain the facilities.
Environmental Audit Found No Issues
In the same August press release, GVL claim that a DayLight report that a routine, independent audit found the company’s operations of a palm oil mill in the Tarjuwon District polluted water sources.
“We also ensure that water testing is done annually by an independent party as required by EPA regulations, read the press release. “Recent assessments conducted in 2023 and 2024 did not identify any issues. The results are available to the public.”
Turns out, the audit found the exact opposite: improper management of wastewater led to pollution of watercourses in the area. It revealed that there was a high risk of runoffs from poorly managed empty palm husks empying into waterways. A University of Liberia laboratory test showed an illegal level of phosphate and other substances in water samples harmful to humans.
An elevated view of GVL’s plantation in Tarjuwon, Sinoe County, showing three wastewater ponds an environmental audit found to be mismanaged. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Also, water quality testing is done once every two years, not once every year.
A characteristically adamant GVL repeated the false claim earlier this month. The company accused The DayLight of inaccuracies and misleading views, without providing evidence.
Environmental Audit ‘Identified Recommendations’
In a press release earlier this month, GVL made more false claims, lessening the magnitude of the report’s findings. “While positive of GVL’s overall environmental record, the Tarjuwon [audit] identified a number of recommendations for improvement…,” read the release.
On the contrary, audit exposed a long queue of violations of GVL’s environmental permit and the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia. It did not merely recommend as GVL implies. GVL mentioned “recommendation” five times in publication, avoiding the report’s walloping, negative findings.
The report even found that GVL had backslide on gains in a 2019 audit, and that it had not implemented auditors’ recommendations.
Takes Community Complaints Seriously
GVL claims that it takes community grievances seriously, stating a self-styled commitment to addressing complaints. It claimed in a release last month that it welcomed and addressed complaints.
The 2019 audit report supports that claim. However, the Tarjuwon audit report shows that GVL has relapsed in that part of its operations. Auditors graded the company 50-75 percent from a perfect score.
An April 2024 environmental audit report found speedy GVL trucks leave dust, a foul odor and dead domestic animals in their wake. It said GVL did not take communities’ complaint seriously, grading the company’s redress mechanism 50 – 75 percent. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Land Authority ‘Decided Results’ of Land Dispute
In a periodic report to the RSPO last month, GVL appeared to suggest that the Liberia Land Authority had resolved a boundary dispute between the Du-Wolee Nyennue Township and the Numopoh District.
GVL claimed that the Land Authority would communicate “the result to both communities… in [the fourth quarter] of 2024 with new government officials.”
But the Land Authority dismisses those claims. The Chairman of the Land Authority Adams Manobah told The DayLight it was far from an outcome.
“We have not done that yet. The last solution we have is to go back and do the surveying and establish the boundary between the two communities,” Manobah said. “We are still waiting for the concession to provide the support so that we can have a definitive line between the two communities.”
The Green Livelihood 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: A GVL fieldworker at work in 2023.The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Esau J. Farr
TARTWEH-DRAPOH, Sinoe County – During a visit to Indonesia in 2015, then-Vice President Joseph Boakai urged Golden Veroleum Liberia to employ qualified Liberians in senior managerial positions. GVL welcomed Boakai’s comments while outlining its assumed employment history.
Nearly 10 years on, and Boakai at the helm of Liberia’s leadership, GVL is yet to fulfill that promise, including to Tartweh-Drapoh, one of its landowning, affected communities.
In 2014, Tartweh-Drapoh Chiefdom signed an MoU with GVL for 8,011 hectares of farmland in the Kpanyan District. The MoU was part of the GVL’s 65-year concession agreement with Liberia, covering 220,000 hectares in southeastern and southcentral Liberia. The agreement requires GVL to train and hire citizens of the landowning communities for top-level employment.
But GVL has failed to live up to the terms of the MoU. Tartweh-Drapoh citizens are only employed as fieldworkers, some of them university graduates.
This led to a protest in May last year. Residents stopped work at the plantation and prevented all GVL’s vehicles from plying routes in the chiefdom.
GVL then scheduled a meeting with citizens to hear their concerns. The parties signed a resolution in which GVL agreed to hire Tartweh-Drapoh citizens in senior positions in a month, among other things.
One document shows that the chiefdom submitted 10 names for as many senior managerial positions as possible. Some of the posts include human resource officer, finance officer, transport manager, safety officer, assistant manager and chief of security.
Two days later, Tartweh-Drapoh submitted five names for the human resource officer job upon the request of GVL.
Nunu Broh, chairman, Tartweh Agricultural Committee. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Gbarngo Quenah, a sustainability officer, requested individuals to apply and present qualification documents. In some cases, university graduates had to present high school papers, which—The DayLight has seen evidence—was done.
However, since then, none of the applicants have been hired, though GVL had said it would fast-track their employment. Earlier this month, GVL failed to open a clinic meant to be staffed by Tartweh-Drapoh residents per the resolution.
“I feel bad nobody has been hired by GVL,” said Nunu Broh, Chairman of the Tratweh-Drapoh agricultural committee. “Anytime they (GVL) go to management meeting, there can be nobody to represent the community.”
‘Abuse to education’
The DayLight interviewed two Tartweh-Drapoh graduates who, evidence shows, GVL employed as fieldworkers.
Some GVL fieldworkers in Grand Kru in 2023. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
One of the graduate fieldworkers, who preferred anonymity due to fear of reprisal, said over a year his job was to clear thick, combative bushes to plant palm trees.
Lawrence Doe, the other graduate fieldworker, performed the same task for about six weeks in 2020. A 2018 general agriculture alumnus of the University of Liberia, Doe had been advised by the elders of Tartweh-Drapoh to accept the job to get a supervisor post. But that never happened, and he left and found another job.
“And for me, knowing myself, I said it was an abuse to education,” Doe said.
“I felt it was useless for me to leave my home in Sinoe to go Monrovia and get a degree, come back and GVL gave me a cutlass to brush,” Doe added. Broh and Odune Dumbar, a prominent Tartweh-Dropoh citizen, corroborated his and the other man’s story.
In an email response to The DayLight’s queries, GVL claims that the Tartweh-Drapoh MoU does not guarantee residents top posts.
But that response contradicts the MoU. The document gives the chiefdom first preference when senior positions are vacant. It says, “In the case, GVL has vacancies for… junior and senior managerial posts in the concession area, the qualified citizens of the communities shall be considered for said employment…”
GVL has a concession with the Liberian government covering 220,000 hectares of land in Sinoe, Grand Kru, Maryland, River Gee and River Cesss. New Narratives/Harry Browne
Furthermore, there is evidence of such vacancies in Tartweh-Drapoh. In 2020, GVL laid off nearly 450 staff, including 28 in the chiefdom, who have not been reinstated or replaced. And the communication exchanges related to last year’s resolution prove vacancies exist.
Also, in the email, GVL claims it has senior managers from Tartweh-Drapoh. “Some are currently serving in key decision-making positions, ranging from the human resource, agronomy, transport, community affairs, health, etc.,” the company said without presenting evidence.
Like in the case of the MoU, the evidence does not support GVL’s employment comments. Again, the resolution-related exchanges show that there are vacancies in all those areas.
Quenah, the sustainability officer with oversight of the chiefdom, confirmed that in a communication in May last year. “We acknowledge your communication… submitting to the sustainability five [Tartweh-Drapoh] sons for the position of [Human Resource] officer,” her letter read.
Tartweh residents said they would hold a meeting to discuss the chiefdom’s next course of action. Meanwhile, President Boakai did not mention jobs on his visit to Indonesia for the Indonesia-Africa Forum earlier this month, rather investment in Liberia.
Green Livelihoods Alliance provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
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.”
An elevated view of GVL's mill in Tarjuwon, Sinoe.
Top: Smoke billows from the chimneys of GVL’s palm oil mill in Tarjuwon, Sinoe County in June 2024. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
By Esau J. Farr and Derick Snyder
WIEH TOWN, Sinoe County – For nearly 10 years, residents of Wieh Town have endured a pattern of pollution associated with a Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL) palm oil mill.
The hillside neighborhood in the Tarjuwon District of Sinoe is in the middle of palm wastes produced by the giant-sized mill. At the front of the town stands the mill itself. On the left are three large ponds of the mill-generated effluent or wastewater. On the right and rear are thousands of palm bunches whose nuts the facility turns into crude palm oil.
The smoke from the mill fogs the town, according to locals. The wastewater from the facility pollutes creeks residents once used for drinking, turning a large stream green. The ponds holding wastewater ooze a foul odor like a septic tank. Swarms of flies buzz across the community, attracted by the empty palm husks whose foul odor overwhelms locals.
“No more safe drinking water for us here,” said Levi Jarteh, General Town Chief of Lower Kulu Clan, where Wieh Town is located. “The chemical GVL is using is going into the creeks polluting them and because of that, we no longer use them to drink.”
Jarteh’s and other townspeople’s comments are largely consistent with GVL’s recent environmental audit report, documenting pollution of the mill’s operations. Water samples tested positive for excessive phosphate levels, a chemical compound that can cause human kidney disease. The tests, cited in the report, also show illegal levels of substances and particles.
GVL started to build the mill in 2015 and completed it a year later. It can process 80 metric tons of palm nut bunches per hour but produces 40 metric tons per hour. Two huge 2,000-metric-ton tanks and a smaller one are the facility’s most vivid components with a network of chimneys. Between 2020 and 2021 GVL exported 37,534 metric tons of crude palm oil valued at over 31.7 million, according to the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI), citing the latest available company data.
Ophelia Kumon, a resident of Wieh Town, uses a bucket attached to a rope to draw water from the well of an unfinished hand pump in Wieh Town. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
But behind the mill’s glamorous profile lies a history of landgrab and violence. In 2013, GVL did not get the Lower Kulu Clan’s consent before developing its plantation and constructing the mill.
So, Lower Kulu filed a complaint with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the body that writes the rulebook for the global oil palm industry. GVL is a member of the RSPO through its parent company, the Singapore-listed Golden Agri Resources through the US-based Verdant Fund LP.
Three large ponds of wastewater pollute the air and water in Wieh Town. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
The RSPO ruled in favor of the locals, ordering GVL to halt works on the mill until it signed an MoU with Tarjuwon, this time including Wieh Town and other Lower Kulu communities.
GVL’s appeal of the decision was denied. Subsequently, it quit the certification scheme and reentered shortly. It violated that order by continuing to construct the mill, clearing additional forests and building new homes for its workers.
The Liberian government has taken no actions against the company, despite its agreement requiring it to comply with the RSPO’s rules. The former Director General of the National Bureau of Concessions, Edwin Dennis, said he was unaware of RSPO’s decisions against GVL.
Buzzing flies
The land grab, which has left an everlasting scar on Lower Kulu communities, is compounded by the pollution from the mill. GVL uses the husks and wastewater for organic fertilizer. A plant breaks down the palm wastes with water and chemicals and then applies a mixture to the palm trees. However, rainwater mixed with wastewater and most likely runoff from palm husks enters watercourses, the audit found.
This outcome is a stark contrast to the past. Palloh Hill, where the mill stands, was believed to host the spirits of the ancestors of Lower Kulu. People consulted the hill for a good harvest and other things. Similarly, Sleni Creek was believed to give women children in addition to being the source of water in the vicinity. Now both landmarks are being used as part of GVL’s irrigation system, supplying water to palm nurseries.
Amid these issues, GVL has failed to provide hand pumps for the people here. It has been over three years since GVL began to build it, according to locals. This violates GVL’s environmental permit and MoU with Tarjuwon, which requires the company to build hand pumps in affected communities with over 150 people.
“Since GVL could not complete the hand pump… and we did not have any water to wash with or drink, we decided to use it as a well, instead of hand pump,” said Ophelia Kumon, a resident of Wieh Town. She spoke at the unfinished hand pump just a stone throw from the back of the mill. She and other residents use a bucket attached to a rope to draw water from the well.
Levi Jarteh is the General Town Chief of the Lower Kulu Clan in Tarjuwon District, Sinoe County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
But safe drinking water is not the only issue. Swarms of flies are also another nightmare for Wieh Town. Buzzing flies enter homes and sit on villagers’ foods threatening their health.
Though the open wastewater attracts flies, the largest swarms of the insects are mainly attracted to the palm husks. They contain hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur, scientists say. While the other gases are odorless, sulfur smells like rotten eggs, apparently explaining why it attracts so many flies. The environmental audit found that wastewater was likely to emit a gas with a foul odor that was harmful to the people and the planet.
“We are really suffering here. The fly situation is now worse to the extent that you have to buy fly [repellent] to be on the safe side,” Jarteh said.
“The rain is coming and the flies will be on our food and we will have to eat it,” he added.
‘By the grace of God’
Smoke from the mill is yet another problem, according to residents. Townspeople said at times they did not recognize the person next to them.
“Sometimes when GVL puts the machine on, there is certain smoke that comes out which can spread over the whole town,” Robert Maye, a resident of Wieh Town said. “It smells so bad to the extent that if you don’t have strong resistance, you can’t live in this town. It is affecting us greatly.”
The DayLight could not independently verify that claim and another regarding noise pollution. However, elevated images shot by a drone show white smoke billowing persistently from the chimneys of the facility, something the audit uncovered. It also said the mill discharged thick, black smoke that lasted about five minutes.
GVL sidestepped direct questions The DayLight posed to it on the issues. However, in a press release after the newspaper published two investigations regarding the company’s operations, GVL claimed it took pollution and communities’ grievances seriously.
GVL uses empty palm husks for fertilizer. However, residents backed by an environmental audit report say palm wastes pollute their environment. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
“We also ensure that water testing is done annually by an independent party as required by EPA regulations,” the release said. “Recent assessments conducted in 2023 and 2024 did not identify any issues.”
But the environmental audit report proves those claims are false and misleading. Like the pollution issue, the report found GVL did not address locals’ complaints, urging it to take urgent actions.
In Wieh Town, residents continue to brace themselves as their pollution war wages on.
Jarteh said, “We are just surviving by the grace of God.”
The Green Livelihoods Alliance (GLA) provided the funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
