Top: A cleared farmland in Jacksonville, Sinoe County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Emmanuel Sherman
MONROVIA- Researchers have called for an open process to transform tribal certificates into title deeds, warning it could “corrode” customary land in Liberia.
“Tribal certificates are semi-recognized documents used by individuals, families and community to privatize customary or public land,” say Ali Kaba, Baba Sillah and Dr. Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei in a recent report.
“There is no standard template or chain of custody for tribal certificates, the number in circulation is unknown but believed to be extremely high,” they add.
A tribal certificate is a legal document issued by local authorities mainly under the Public Land Law of 1956 to show interest in the land, not to own it. It was introduced by former President William V. S. Tubman to exert and expand the state’s influence in the hinterlands. Powerful chiefs and elders often awarded the documents without consulting the rest of their community.
In 2018, Liberia passed the Land Rights Act, a landmark legislation that recognizes customary land ownership. The new law mandates the government to work with communities and turn all tribal certificates into title deeds by 2020.
But more than five years after the new land law, tribal certificates are yet to be transformed into deeds, except for a few, which were issued illegally.
The researchers cite the lack of information, competing claims, social and material differences, and expertise as factors in the delay in transforming these documents into proper deeds.
“So, a community has 1,000 acres of customary land, and in that same community you have 1,000 acres of private land,” Kaba tells The DayLight in an interview.
“Those two things cannot exist in the same place. So, it becomes a corrosive instrument to undo customary land,” Kaba says.
To avoid that problem, the researchers are calling for a fair, transparent, and inclusive process and a grievance mechanism for converting tribal certificates into title deeds.
A 2015 survey conducted by the Land Commission now the Liberia Land Authority revealed there are over 1,500 tribal certificates in Bong County, averaging 250 acres per claim. The figure represents 15 percent of the total land area of the central county, which is just over 877,000 hectares.
“Validating tribal certificates at the community level must include diverse viewpoints and interest prioritizes the perspective of vulnerable groups such as women and youths,” Kaba says.
An elevated view of Quikon Clan in Kokoyah District, Bong County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
“This mechanism must be easily accessible to civil society and community members, who must clearly understand the procedures involved and the rights and entitlements of vulnerable groups.”
The researchers urge the Land Authority to create a tribal certificate guideline or regulation that would scale up the definition of “developed” land in the Land Rights Act.
Under the Land Rights Act, holders of tribal certificates are entitled to all of the developed portions of the land the documents represent. Kaba and co recommend that the developed portion should not be limited to fencing, surveying, and conservation but must include basic use and claims rights.
Stanley Toe, executive director of the Land Authority agrees with researchers about the risk the delay in transforming tribal certificates poses.
Toe, however, discloses the Land Authority is at 90 percent completion of the work. He says the regulation would address the definition and the vetting process of tribal certificates.
“So hopefully in the next two to three months we should be done with this particular process,” Toe says.
“A committee inclusive of civil society, community members and vulnerable groups will be set up to validate [tribal certificates] and the developed portion.”
Top: New pieces of kpokolo in Gbaryama, Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/Gabriel Parker
By Esau J. Farr and Philip W. Quwebin
GBARYAMA – People in Gbarpolu are secretly harvesting Kpokolo, a boxlike timber the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) said it banned last year.
In late January, The DayLight photographed newly produced kpokolo in Gbaryama, a town in the Gbarma District about 79 miles from Monrovia. Hundreds of fresh kpokolo were placed on an open field just outside the town.
Townspeople revealed smugglers, who reside outside of the town, hired a gang of chainsaw operators to harvest kpokolo. Once harvested, the woods are transferred by a crane to a pickup, which then brings them to a location. Thereafter, they are loaded onto a container truck at night.
“They can hide it and take it away at night so, people can’t easily see them in the day,” Armah Dukuly, the Town Chief of Gbaryama Town. “We don’t get that power to stop them.”
More than three weeks later, The DayLight revisited Gbaryama and found that the kpokolo had been taken away. Journalists photographed tire impressions matching the description of a truck on the now-cleared field. About 14 pieces of the illegal wood remained there. The illegal loggers had transported the rest.
There were other kpokolo in the forest. DayLight journalists took a 15-minute ride from Gbaryama on a motorcycle taxi to a forest footpath leading into the woods.
In the forest, reporters saw short round logs that were meant to produce kpokolo. Timber remnants could be seen on the floor of the forest. Loud vroom noise from at least four chainsaws buzzed at different locations.
Dukuly and other chiefs and elders told The DayLight the four men negotiate with farmers in Gbaryama, enter into a verbal agreement and start the harvesting. They said the operators pay the farmers up to L$550 for a piece of kpokolo, corroborating previous reports of locals’ involvement in the illegal trade.
People said the illegal loggers built tents made of tarpaulins in the forest to conduct their operations.
“Most of the time, they are in the forest.],” said Varsay Sirleaf, one of the oldest persons in Gbaryama Sirleaf.
A recent report by the US-based Forest Trends found that kpokolo threatens local communities, chainsaw millers and Liberia’s revenue. It uses the chainsaw milling subindustry to veil its activities, using the same workforce and timber sources, the report said.
But the difference between them is stark. Chainsaw-milled timber measures two inches and below, while Kpokolo can be up to five times thicker, or more.
A few kpokolo remained in an open field more than three weeks after The DayLight photographed piles of kpokolo there. The DayLight/Esau J. Farr
The kpokolo in Gbaryama were between two and four times the industry-accepted size of chainsaw-milled timber. The ones on the opened field were about six inches thick, based remaining ones there.
‘I felled few’
Four men conduct the kpokolo activities in Gbaryama, three of which The DayLight had previously investigated. The men are Saah Joseph (not the Montserrado lawmaker), one only identified as Sahyo, James Kelley and Richard Flomo.
Joseph has harvested kpokolo in Gbaryama for over two years, according to elders and chainsaw millers. Dukuly said Joseph recently resumed his kpokolo operations in the town after negotiating with some farmers.
The DayLight gathered evidence of Joseph’s illegal activities in December 2022. Locals said a pile of kpokolo in the middle of the town and the forest belonged to him.
“I think he has some in the bush and he is supposed to come for it,” said Molubah Korlubah, a kpokolo logger, who said he worked for Joseph in 2022.
“The FDA people don’t come here. They focus on the gate,” Korlubah added.
Sahyo is a more conning operator than Korlubah, the evidence suggests. Originally from a town called Supermarket in Bopolu District, Sahyo harvests kpokolo even without the consent of farmers. Dukuly said he had had an encounter with him the night before The DayLight’s third of four visits to the town.
“I asked him how he entered there to [harvest] kpokolo. And he only said, ‘I entered there, I saw kpokolo and myself [harvested] the logs…. I felled few.’
“Then I asked him, ‘Who [did] you ask?’”
“I stopped him,” Dukuly added.
Morris Kamara, a resident farmer, confirmed Dukuly’s account of Sahyo.
“This year, Sahyo [harvested] in my forest and produced kpokolo there and left,” Kamara revealed. “They have already transported it out of the forest to Monrovia.
“He is presently in another person’s forest producing but I don’t know where.”
Efforts to contact Sahyo and Joseph on their kpokolo operations were unsuccessful. Everyone The DayLight interviewed in Gbaryama said they did not have the duo’s contacts. Follow-up phone calls to other townspeople yielded no other results.
‘From one forest to another’
There were indications Kelley and Flomo were bigger operatives and more familiar with Gbaryama than Joseph and Sahyo.
Kpokolo townspeople said owned by Saah Joseph (not the Montserrado lawmaker) were seen in plain sight in Gbaryama in December 2022. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Kelley lodged in a house in the town, where The DayLight interviewed him in December 2022. A middle-aged, light-skinned man, Kelley has been in Gbaryama since September that year, he said at the time.
Dukuly said Kelley asked him recently to harvest kpokolo on his farmland but he disagreed. Kamara and Moses Thompson, another elder, corroborated Dukuly’s account.
“Kelley is here among the [kpokolo operators] but I don’t know whose forest he is working in. They move from one forest to another in search of more woods,” Thompson added.
Kelley’s phone number did not ring when The DayLight tried to contact him. However, in that 2022 interview, he revealed that he had been involved with kpokolo since 2014. He produced kpokolo in Buchanan before coming to Gbaryama.
“Here in Gbaryama, our dimensions were 4X12X9.5 and 4X10X9.5,” Kelley said back in 2022. He meant four inches thick, 10 or 12 inches wide and nine and a half feet long.
But of all the kpokolo operators in Gbaryama, Flomo appeared to be the kingpin. Every farmer or resident The DayLight interviewed said they knew him. Even Kelley said in that 2022 interview Richard was his boss.
Dukuly said he called Flomo recently and informed him to halt the kpokolo operation but his order fell on deaf ears.
“He said, ‘Oh Chief, that one I just want y’all to give us a chance.’
“I said no. If I see it, you will lose it,’” Dukuly said. He added that Flomo tried to convince that it was the kpokolo operators that risked an arrest, not the townspeople.
Korlubah, the chainsaw miller, said he had harvested a container load of kpokolo for Richard in 2022. “There were 250 pieces of Kpokolo, 4X12 and 4X10,” Korlubah said then, confirming Kelley’s story.
“I worked for him in November. He paid me one piece for LD500.”
People said Flomo combed the region in this pickup in search of forest to produce kpokolo. They said it was he who introduced kpokolo to Gbaryama.
Efforts to contact Flomo did not materialize. No one in Gbaryama said they had his contact and Kelley had refused to share it back in 2022.
Molubah Korlubah, a kpokolo producer in Gbaryama, said he worked for Richard Flomo a kpokolo smuggler. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
‘There is no ban’
In February last year, said it had banned kpokolo. The unofficial pronouncement followed months of reports of widespread kpokolo activities involving the regulator.
Edward Kamara, the FDA manager for forest marketing and revenue forecast said kpokolo had become “prone to illegal exportation.”
The FDA has not published the ban or made awareness of it, except to discuss it in a meeting on Liberia’s timber trade agreement with the European Union last June. Forest Trends called on the Joseph Boakai administration to officiate, publicize and enforce the ban on kpokolo.
In Gbaryama, people are aware of the so-called ban but chiefs and elders find it difficult to keep the ban.
“If you ban kpokolo in someone’s forest, the forest owner will get vexed [at] you. That person will feel that you want to stop their family’s income,” said Dukuly.
Morris Kamara, the Gbaryama resident, blames the FDA for the illegal activities. “We are getting that information [about banning kpokolo] as rumors. I believe if the FDA banned kpokolo, they could not allow kpokolo to pass [through] their checkpoints.
The FDA has major checkpoints on Bopolu-Monrovia and Tubmanburg-Monrovia highways. There is one each at Sawmill, not far from Gbaryama, and Klay in Bomi—to name two.
“If the people [are] still passing with kpokolo, then it means that [there is no ban] on kpokolo,” Kamara said.
The FDA did not respond immediately to comments. The DayLight will update this story once it does.
[Additional reporting by Gabriel Parker]
This was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ). Funding for the story was provided by the Kyeema Foundation and Palladium.
East International Construction Company, which builds roads, got the lion’s share of the fines.
“East International is hereby fined US$55,000 to be paid in Government Revenue at the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) with an official receipt presented to the EPA,” Acting EPA Executive Director Dr. Emmanuel Yarkpawolo told a news conference on Tuesday.
An EPA investigation found East International operates under an expired environmental permit, Yarkpawolo said. Investigators also found the company liable for air pollution over its construction of the Roberts International Airport Highway.
“Some people reported respiratory problems such as coughing and asthma as the major health issues affecting them,” Yarkpawolo said. He ordered East International to follow the law.
The EPA shut down Fengshou International, an affiliate of East International.
Yarkpawolo said the company would remain closed “until a more sustainable method is approved by the EPA.”
The company unsustainably backfilled and was constructing a two-kilometer road on a portion of the Marshall Wetland in Margibi County, protected under a UN convention. The EPA also found that Fengshou extended its rock quarrying into the wetland and constructed a rock sale point there without authorization.
East International and Fengshou did not immediately respond to queries.
Wetlands
The EPA says it was taking wetlands’ protection seriously, and citizens closest to the mangroves.
“In the coming days, the EPA will conduct a thorough engagement with relevant institutions of government and other stakeholders to curtail the upsurge in the wave of wetland degradations,” Dr. Yarkpawolo said.
“Recent complaints and EPA field assessment reports have highlighted massive clearing of mangroves along the Police Academy SKD Boulevard, as well as backfilling activities, including Pago’s Island, New Matadi Fanti Town, Dixville, Jacob Town, etc,” Yarkpawolo said.
The EPA called on the media to help in providing public awareness and asked the public to cooperate with the agency in protecting wetlands.
“The EPA will be engaging with relevant law enforcement authorities to arrest all violators,” Yarkpawolo added.
The EPA fined Quezp Mining Company US$2,999 and ordered it to fund a US$12,999 restoration plan for two zircon-sand mines it operates in Brewerville and Royesville. The DayLight/Charles Gbayor
Earlier, the EPA ordered Quezp Mining Corporation Inc. to pay nearly US$16,000 for illegal sand mining activities in Brewerville and Royesville. A DayLight investigation showed that Quezp did not have licenses for the operations. The company’s mineworkers fled the area after the publication.
The EPA fined Quezp US$2,999 for mining without an environmental permit. It mandated the company to restore the environment it disturbed in the two communities with a US$12,999 plan.
Yarkpawolo said that the fines must be paid in three days after official communication with Quezp.
Terrence Collins, Quezp’s owner and CEO, did not respond to queries for comments on the matter.
Top: The headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tubman Boulevard in Sinkor. The DayLight/Mark B. Newa
By James Harding Giahyue
MONROVIA – The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered a mining company to pay a combined US$15,998 for operating without an environmental permit, and a restoration plan for its mines.
The investigation followed a DayLight publication, which showed Quezp had no license for a pair of zircon sand mines in the Montserrado communities.
The publication revealed the Brewerville mine had a plant where zircon sand was transported from Royesville with the involvement of residents.
The plant processed the zircon sand—a mineral used in the ceramics industry. Mineworkers placed the sand in 25-kilogram bags and then transported them elsewhere for export.
EPA investigators found that Quezp also bought zircon sand from other places, including Banjor, a Montserrado sea erosion hotspot.
“The direct beach sand mining being carried out by the company and community has resulted in serious coastal degradation and sea erosion,” the EPA report found. “This has impacted many landed properties closest to the mining operation.
Remnants of a Quezp’s illegal mining activities in Brewerville. The DayLight/Charles Gbayor
“The company’s operation has seriously impacted the mangrove forest due to the improper disposal of its mine waste,” it said.
EPA fined Quezp US$2,999 for mining without an environmental permit. It ordered the company to present a US$12,999 plan to restore the environment where it worked, according to the report.
The report also found that the miners were less than a kilometer from the beach, impacting houses closest to its illegal operations. It said Quezp encouraged residents to engage in sand mining, outlawed since 2012 to curb countrywide coastline loss.
EPA investigators urged the agency to officially inquire about the status of Quezp’s mining licenses. The DayLight found that the company only has two zircon-sand prospecting licenses in Kpayan District, Sinoe County.
The Investigators called for mining and environmental awareness in communities across the country.
Terrence Collins, Quezp’s owner and CEO, did not immediately respond to queries.
Top: A truck fleeing Brewerville with Quezp Mining Company’s equipment on Sunday, February 25, 2023. The company had illegally operated in the area for two years until The DayLight exposed it. The DayLight/Charles Gbayor
By Charles Gbayor
BREWERVILLE; ROYESVILLE – Miners operating two illegal mines outside Monrovia have fled the communities, three days after a DayLight investigation exposed them.
Over the weekend, mineworkers of Quezp Mining Company began fleeing Brewerville and Royesville, where they have mined zircon sand for the last two years. The mineral is used in the ceramics industry, with Australia and Africa as its newest markets.
The investigation unearthed that Quezp does not have a license for the suburban and rural Montserrado communities. Instead, it has two prospecting licenses for Kpayan District, Sinoe County.
Video and pictures shot by a resident and The DayLight show Quezp’s workers dismantling a plant and moving mining equipment away from Brewerville.
“We are happy that nobody will be mining sand on the beach anymore,” said Oliver Wallace, a resident of Brewerville. “What they were doing over there was [negatively] affecting the community.”
The DayLight photographed piles of abandoned zircon sand at Quezp’s transferring location in Royesville. Tire impressions in the area had been erased, indicating that the company’s earthmovers had not been there for some time.
A truck runs away with Quezp’s equipment following a DayLight investigation that unearthed the mining company’s illegal activities in Brewerville and Royesville. The DayLight/Charles Gbayor
Residents who worked with the company in the illicit trade expressed dismay and frustration over its abrupt departure.
“They are moving and I don’t know where they are going for now because no one is saying anything to us,” said Junior Sirleaf, a Royesville resident who was involved in the illicit trade. “I am just hurt that I and some Liberians were used in the illegal sand mining business.”
A machine dismantles Quezp’s mining plant in Brewerville. Picture credit: Alvin Kromah
Terrance Collins, the owner of Quezp, said an official had told him to shut down after the publication. Collins declined to identify the person.
“I don’t want to get in any more trouble as I am already in,” Collins told The DayLight via WhatsApp. He said he was in Turkey on a medical trip.
“When you’re wrong, you’re wrong,” he added.
The Department of Mines at the Ministry of Mines and Energy declined to speak on the matter.
Illegal mining carries a fine of up to US$2,000, a 24-month prison term, or both fine and imprisonment, if covicted by a court.
Funding for this story was provided by the United States Embassy. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
Top: Men make a dredging machine on the Zormue Creek in Bokomu District, Gbarpolu County after Weedor Gee, the owner, obtained clearance from the local representative of the Ministry of Mines. Picture credit: Korninga A Community Forest
By James Harding Giahyue
ZORMU, Gbarpolu – Illegal miners are set to dredge a sacred creek in a town in the Bopolu District of Gbarpolu County.
The miners who work for Weedor Gee, a businesswoman who hails from the region, built dredge on the Tumu Creek. Gee has no prior history of holding a mining license, records of the Ministry of Mines and Energy show.
Tumu Creek is revered in the Korninga Chiefdom, and it is a sacrilege to even put a canoe over it without a traditional rite, locals say.
Initial videos and photographs obtained by The DayLight show the miners building the machine. Others taken a week later reveal two miners assembling the makeshift machine on the creek, ready to operate.
In 2019, the ministry imposed a moratorium on dredging nationwide. The suspension, which is still in place, was meant to curb the pollution of water bodies across the country and the degradation of the rural environment.
But the dredging and other forms of illicit mining continue to proliferate in remote regions, polluting streams and threatening local traditions.
A copy of a clearance Samuel Fahn, a Ministry of Mines and Energy representative in Bopolu District, Gbarpolu County, issued to Weedor Gee. Gee built a dredge on Tumu Creek, a sacred water in the Konringa Chiefdom.
Samuel Fahn, the mining representative in the region, had issued Gee a clearance late last month. Gee paid Fahn US$400 for the clearance, with both of them confirming the transaction.
Clearance fees for mining agents are not legal but are accepted by authorities. An outgoing official of the ministry, who asked for anonymity, said it was meant to empower mining agents to function.
The leadership of the Korninga A Community Forest, in which the creek is located, raised qualms about the dredge, based on the videos and pictures.
“The document says class C but the materials they are carrying are for dredging,” said Emery Ciapha, the acting chairman of the Korninga A Community Forest.
“I know that the… Ministry of Mines and Energy is not offering a license for dredging in this country,” Ciapha added in an interview in Tawalata Town. He said he would monitor the situation “closely.”
Gee said in a phone interview that dredging would keep illicit miners away. “We want to stop people from invading our farmland, that is the main issue that carried me there,” she said.
“It is just to stop people from [encroaching on] the land because if a person gets a license, you cannot stop them from doing what they want to do.
“If you have the land and get a claim, you can do what you want to do with it,” Gee added.
Experts say illicit miners or wildcat miners pollute water sources in towns and villages, thanks to the remoteness of these places and corrupt mining authorities. The creek in Tawalata Town in Bopolu District, Gbarpolu County is one of their victims. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Gee disclosed that she had thought about farming but changed her mind to mining based on someone’s advice. She decided to dredge because it produced quicker results than mining on the land or the banks of the creek.
A dredge uses a vacuum to suck out mud and debris from the bottom of a water body. Then a water pump removes unwanted sediments and traps gold nuggets on a slanted platform. The process involves less labor but pollutes the water environment and makes it inhabitable for fish, experts say.
Fahn denies authorizing the businesswoman to dredge the creek. “I did not tell them to use dredge. If I come and see anyone mining with dredge, I will close them down,” he told The DayLight. Fahn had made those comments about a week before The DayLight obtained evidence that Gee built the dredge.
Gee refutes Fahn’s claims, though. She counterclaims that he was aware of her intent to dredge the creek from the beginning. She failed to provide any evidence to back that claim.
“Each time he goes there, he asks, ‘Where is the [dredge’s] key?’
“We say, ‘Here is the key. We are not working. “He says, ‘Are you working?’ We say, ‘No, we are working.’” Gee said she did not know dredging was outlawed and Fahn did not inform her.
A mineworker inspects a frame for a makeshift dredge owned by Weedor Gee, a first-time miner in Zormue Town, Gbarpolu County. Picture credit: Korninga A Community Forest
Fahn did not answer calls for a reply to Gee’s comments and he did not return the call. However, Fahn said in his original interview that the creek was mentioned so that Gee’s mineworkers could work on the banks of Tumu Creek.
The clearance also appears to vindicate him. The document marks class C as the license type. Multiple sources familiar with the industry said Fahn mentioned the creek to locate the claim, not to authorize dredging.
Asked about her relationship with traditional authorities, Gee said she had the support of chiefs and elders as their daughter.
George Ballah Sumo, the Paramount Chief of Korninga Chiefdom, denies that claim.
“Nobody has met up with my office about dredging,” Sumo said. “I will not allow people to dredge on that water because it will destroy the water source.”
Sumo said the community would only accept a medium or large-scale mine there to build its road network.
Mining on a sacred site without the authorization of local chiefs and elders is prohibited under the Minerals and Mining Law.
Funding for this story was provided by the United States Embassy. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
Top: Quezp runs an illegal zircon sand mine in Brewerville, where it operates a plant. The DayLight/Charles Gbayor
By Charles Gbayor
BREWERVILLE; ROYCEVILLE – Quezp Mining Company, a Liberian-owned firm, has a pair of licenses for mines in Sinoe County. However, it operates two illegal mines in suburban and rural Montserrado, according to an investigation by The DayLight.
Established in May 2022 by Terrance Collins, a Liberian businessman, Quezp acquired the two licenses to prospect for zircon sand in Kpanyan District, Sinoe, official records show.
But the company established two other operations in Brewerville and Royceville without any licenses. Official records show that it does not have any active licenses other than the ones in Sinoe. There are no records of a Quezp license being under review, surrendered, suspended, canceled, or expired.
Quezp has operated the illegal mines since February 2022, according to residents and people involved in the illicit operations. That was about three months before the company was established and more than a year before it obtained the licenses for Sinoe.
“I am here most often with my pickup for transportation business and I see them pass here with the sand most often,” said Saah Amara, a resident who transports building materials into Brewerville. “We want them to leave this place because they are not helping us at all.”
Mining without a license is an offense under the Minerals and Mining Law. Violators face a fine of up to US$2,000 and a 24-month maximum prison term, or both fine and imprisonment if convicted by a court.
‘We mine black sand’
Quezp conducts the two operations as one. The company buys zircon sand from Royceville and transports the mineral to its mine and processing plant in Brewerville.
Fifteen minutes from the VOA Junction, the Brewerville site is nearly surrounded by a huge, green mangrove and palm forest. It is several yards away from the ocean.
Denied access to the site, The DayLight used a drone to sight the mine. The elevated view showed the royal blue plant enveloped by giant-sized piles of zircon sands. A forklift loaded a truck with 25-kilogram bags filled with the mineral, used in the ceramics industry. China and Australia are the biggest importers of zircon sand, with Africa an emerging market. Global trade is estimated to reach US$3.69 billion by 2029.
Representatives of Quezp purchase zircon sand from residents in the rural Montserrado area for up to US$75 for a truckload, the residents said.
Gus Doe Howe, Sr., a trucker who lives in that region, commonly called Tony, transfers the sand to a particular location.
The records of the Ministry of Mines and Energy show that Quezp Mining Company does not have a license for its operations in Brewerville and Royceville
Afterward, the company transports it to Brewerville, processes and prepares the mineral for export, the residents said.
“I am a fisherman but I also do black sand mining for daily survival. The sand we mined has been sold at US$20 for a pickup load and US$75 for a truckload,” Jacob Jackson, a Royceville resident told The DayLight in an interview at the mining site.
“We mine black sand here and one guy named Tony comes here daily with his pickup to buy it and transport it,” Justine Gayflor another RoyceVille resident. Black sand is the local name for zircon sand.
The DayLight photographed about a dozen mounts of sand in an array on a Royceville beach. Large holes lined up nearby as the ocean gradually reclaimed the disturbed shoreline.
Quezp Mining Company illegally operates on a beach in Royesville, Rural Montserrado. The DayLight/Charles Gbayor
Tony confirmed his involvement in the illegal activities in a phone interview. He had left the area four hours earlier when The DayLight arrived there, residents said. Tony, however, denied buying the mineral on behalf of Quezp.
“I, just go there with my pickup to transport the sand for them from the mining site and I take it to a point where the guys who buy from the company can get it,” Tony said.
Collins, Quezp’s owner, is linked to other companies—Wayful Mining Company Limited, Hauli Company Liberia Limited and Glorious Mining Company, to name some. They hold some of the 52 zircon sand licenses the Ministry of Mines and Energy issued from 2012 to last year, the records show.
Collins declined an interview with The DayLight.
[This version of the story corrects an earlier version that spelled Royesville “Royceville.”]
Funding for this story was provided by the United States Embassy in Monrovia. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story’s content.
Top: Dr. Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo, New Acting Executive Director, EPA: Picture credit Yarkpawolo’s Library
By Emmanuel Sherman
MONROVIA – Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo, a renowned environmentalist, is now the Acting Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Yarkpawolo was appointed over the weekend by President Joseph Boakai. He replaces Wilson Tarpeh, who held the post since 2020.
Tarpeh had wrongly claimed he was entitled to a seven-year tenure. However, the tenure only works after the formation of a National Environmental Policy Council, according to the EPA Act. Appointed by the President, the council comprises various ministries and vets the executive director, and ensures a seven-year tenure same as the council members.
Yarkpawolo will serve as Acting Executive Director until the council is formed to approve the mandatory tenure, according to the law.
Yarkpawolo holds a PhD in environment and resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in 2018 in Wisconsin, USA. He is a professor of environmental science and leadership at the Everglades University in Florida, USA.
Yarkpawolo brings a wealth of experience to the Job. He has worked in the environmental sector, mainly land, agriculture and education, for more than 10 years.
Key amongst Yarkpawolo’s contributions to national development is the passage of the new Land Rights Act of 2018, a landmark law that recognizes customary land ownership.
As a former Country Representative for Landesa, an international NGO working on land rights and climate resilience, he worked with lawmakers, government officials and civil society to promote land, environmental and agriculture legislation and policies.
In 2016, Yarkpawolo worked with Gregg Mitman, a US professor, to create “Land Beneath our Feet,” a documentary of Firestone’s land grab in the 1920s and its implications today. He won many awards, including outstanding leadership in advocating for Land reform in Liberia.
Yarkpawolo was the running mate to Tiawon Gongloe of the Liberia People’s Party in the 2023 elections.
‘Not a place to steal’
The new EPA boss declared his assets on Monday morning at the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) before taking over at the EPA at midday. He has a net asset of over US$200,000, his affidavit shows.
“The law is not preventing public officials from acquiring wealth,” Yarkpawolo told his takeover ceremony in a reference to the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, which has been violated over time. “It is to ensure that wealth public officials acquire commensurate with their earned incomes in a just and justifiable way.
“A better Liberia is possible if and only if the government becomes a place to serve and not a place to steal.”
Gongloe urged Yarkpawolo to work transparently as he steers the affairs of an agency that can transform Liberia.
“You are the first person from the LPP so ‘Think Liberia, love Liberia and build Liberia,’” Gongloe told the ceremony in an allusion to President Boakai’s mantra.
Tarpeh did not attend the ceremony.
Yarkpawolo comes at a time when the environmental sector of the country is in shambles, with violations of the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia rife. Extractive companies are skipping an environmental impact social assessment (EISA), impunity for polluters, disregard of the rights of local communities and the widespread misuse of wetlands.
Yarkpawolo also comes at a time when Liberia is preparing to trade on the international carbon market. Last year, the George Weah administration failed in their attempts to sign a deal with Blue Carbon of the United Arab Emirates.
Top: Coveiyalah’s majority and minority shareholders have been in court for about two years, staling the company’s agreement with Korninga A Community Forest. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Emmanuel Sherman
GIANKPA, Gbarpolu – Villagers celebrated when Korninga “A” Community Forest signed a logging contract with Coveiyalah Investment Enterprise in March 2019.
“Within the next five years, I am hoping to see the community prospering when it comes to roads, sanitation, education and healthcare,” said Armah Johnson, a member of Korninga A’s leadership, at the time.
In the agreement, Korninga A leased Coveiyalah 48,296 hectares of forest in exchange for development. There is even a provision for a wood science college, which campaigners criticized for being “unrealistic.”
Nearly five years on, Johnson and other villagers find themselves longing for even the realistic projects, common to community forest deals. There are no latrines, concrete bridges, health facilities and—obviously—wood science college.
For the last two years, the shareholders of Coveiyalah have been embroiled in a fierce lawsuit, leaving the community without their benefits.
In 2022, Anthony Urey, Coveiyalah’s 10 percent shareholder, sued Lu Li, the company’s 90 percent shareholder, according to a court document.
The DayLight saw a notice from the Commercial Court in Monrovia at Coveiyalah’s camp in Giankpa, halting its work. The company’s log yard and personnel lodge were all overtaken by bush.
Levi Laban, a former liaison officer with the company said the company left many logs in the bush due to the case.
The court filing posted on an earthmover at the company’s sawmill shows Urey petitioned the court for an indemnity bond and his partner objected. An indemnity bond ensures a remedy against a partner in a contract if that partner fails to uphold their obligations.
Efforts to get the case file did not materialize as the matter is still before the court. Attempts to get it elsewhere proved unsuccessful.
Two years in court has been two years of wait, lack and frustration for Korninga A.
Korninga A Community Forest, which covers 48,296 hectares, signed an agreement with Coveiyalah Investment Enterprise in 2019. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
“There have been no payments done, land rental, [harvesting], or scholarships,” said Emery Ciapha, the head of the community leadership of Korninga A.
Coveiyalah constructed two toilets but the community rejected them. Our reporter who visited Giankpa said grasses overran the facilities due to abandonment.
“That is not what we want,” Ciapha said. “They are not the modern toilets we agreed upon.”
Urey told the community leadership that they would make the payment after the case, according to Ciapha.
It was unclear how much Coveiyalah owes the villagers as Ciapha said he did not have the information. However, an analysis of the company’s previous payments, the agreement, and records of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) places the amount to at least US$66,407 in land rental fees, US$55,058 in harvesting fees and US$30,000 in scholarships. That is US$151,465 in total.
Emery Ciapha, the head of an ad-hoc leadership of Korninga A Community Forest in Bokomu District, Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Urey did not respond to The DayLight’s inquiries on Korninga A and the case with his partners.
The case is the latest of Korninga A’s nightmares. In 2022, the leaders of the forest misused US$76,000 and were jailed for it.
With the case still not being finalized, the FDA and civil society conducted an election in which Ciapha was elected head of an interim committee in September last year. It has a six-month mandate.
The community must review the agreement with Coveiyalah in May. In forestry, the community has the right to sign a 15-year agreement with the FDA to comanage its forest. Thereafter, villagers can sign a third-party agreement with a logging company of their choice with the FDA’s approval. Then every five years, they are required to review the third-party agreement.
Ciapha said Korninga would push to cancel the contract with Coveiyalah.
“Time is about to elapse for the revision of the document, which is May 25,” Ciapha said. “We are not thinking about the renewal of their contract after review because implementation is poor.”
Top: Gbarquoita is one of the affected communities of Bondi Mandingo Community Forest, which wants to cancel a logging agreement with Indo Africa Plantation Liberia Limited. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By Esau J. Farr
FARWHENTA – A community forest in Gbarpolu wants to cancel its logging contract with Indo Africa Plantations, a Singaporean-owned company.
Bondi Mandingo Community Forest signed a 15-year agreement with Indo Africa in 2018 in anticipation of development in their area. However, five years on, the company has not honored the agreement.
It owes Bondi Mandingo over US$400,000 in land rental and harvesting fees, and mandatory development projects, barely exploiting the forest.
“We are now pushing to cancel the contract,” said Darkanel Gbarto, the chairman of the Bondi Mandingo forest executive committee. “There has been no progress on the side of the company.”
Bondi Mandingo’s contract covers 37,222 hectares with Indo Africa, one of four contracts held by a Singaporean family, the Guptas.
The company agreed to pay the community US$46,527 as annual land rental fees. It promised to make an annual payment of US$35,000 as a scholarship fund and US$25,000 for yearly support to community healthcare.
Additionally, Indo Africa promised to recondition roads, construct modern latrines, a youth center and a paramount chief office in affected communities.
But Indo Africa did not live up to the agreement. It only began work in late 2021, nearly three years after the agreement, a violation that is a ground for termination. It harvested 7,183 logs, according to the company’s production records.
Protest
In late 2021, after several failed efforts to get their benefits, Bondi Mandingo youth protested, setting up roadblocks in the contract area. They demanded the company settle all of its debts to the community. They called off the protest after local authorities intervened and the company paid US$5,000.
Indo Africa began work in the Bondi Mandingo Community Forest in 2021, three years after it signed an agreement with the community. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
In early 2022, Bondi Mandingo passed a resolution, calling Indo Africa to pay 60 percent of their social benefits before transporting logs out of the forest.
Indo Africa paid US$65,000 for land rental and harvesting fees and promised to make regular payments as of April 2022.
But that would be the last time the community received a payment from Indo Africa. Bondi Mandingo has exerted several unsuccessful efforts for its benefits.
As it stands, Indo Africa owes Bondi Mandingo over US$400,000 in harvesting fees, scholarships and medical funds. It also failed to provide any of over a dozen mandatory projects.
It informed the FDA about their plight. The agency requested a breakdown of the debt, which locals did. “The company failed all of the social responsibilities. Therefore, we are kindly asking you to give us your technical advice…,” the community wrote the FDA in a June 2023 letter.
Indo Africa shut down, with Mukesh Gupta, its CEO and owner, leaving Liberia and has not returned for nearly two years now. The family also owns Sing Africa and Starwood, which have contracts with Bluyeama and Matro Kpogblen community forests in Lofa, and Grand Bassa respectively. Another community is Korninga B which cancelled its contract with Indo Africa last year over non-compliance issues.
All community contracts are subject to a five-year review under the forestry reform law of Liberia. Bondi Mandingo forest contract with Indo Africa was expected to be reviewed last December but failed due to the absence of representatives of the company in Liberia.
Gupta did not respond to questions The DayLight sent to him. However, in a previous communication, Indo Africa blamed the delay in its payment on the coronavirus pandemic.
“The global economic slowdown and lockdown of the markets declared by several countries have adversely affected our cash flow situation,” the company said at the time.
Those comments are not backed by facts. None of the Guptas’ companies, including Indo Africa, declared a force majeure during the pandemic.
Sing Africa was active as the pandemic took its toll. Between 2019 and 2021, Sing Africa produced 2,166 logs in Bluyeama, according to the FDA’s records. The DayLight saw WhatsApp message exchanges between Mukesh Gupta, CEO of Indo Africa, and Mark Dennis, the chief officer of Bondi Mandingo.
Mark Dennis is the chief officer of the Bondi Mandingo Community Forest. The DayLight/Harry Browne
Last September, who runs the business of Bondi Mandingo, sent Gupta a citation for a meeting.
“Mark Dennis… I will be coming back after the elections in Liberia. I will settle community dues and other obligations,” Gupta replied. “Requesting you to have a meeting after the election. Thanks.”
“Chairman, we have waited for so long and never [heard] from you,” Dennis said. “Presently, we have embarked on court actions.”
In October 2023, Gupta replied to Dennis saying, “We are ready to pay land rental. I will be coming back to Liberia after Christmas.” Gupta, however, did not return up to writing time.
The agreement between the parties calls for the process of arbitration before cancellation in a dispute arising from performance and other things.
To cancel their agreement, Bondi Mandingo must inform Indo Africa about its decision, according to the document. Then both parties are required to present one arbitrator each, with another from the FDA. The three arbitrators will preside over the exercise, hear both sides and make a final decision.
Gbarto told The DayLight that the community started the arbitration but the process did not go through as Indo Africa “cannot be found.” He said there were issues with the FDA arbitrator and the venue of the process. The FDA did not respond to queries for this story.
Gbarto said the community would consult a lawyer on the way forward with the cancelation.
Other communities have embarked upon terminating their contracts with Guptas. Bluyeama in Zozor, Lofa and Matro Kpogblen in District Number 4, Grand Bassa, have also considered cancelation of their contracts with Sing Africa and Starwood.
Bondi Mandingo Community Forest covers 37,222 hectares in the Bopolu District of Gbarpolu County. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
Last year, Korninga B, a neighboring community, terminated its contract with Indo Africa over non-compliance.
Given their experiences with Indo Africa, locals now prefer conservation to commercial logging. The Community Rights Law… gives them the right to make that choice with the approval of the FDA.
“The community has now shifted its initial plan from logging to conservation,” Dennis said. “They are looking at the benefits of conservation to the environment.”
Bondi Mandingo has decided to distribute US$65,000 they received from Indo Africa among all six affected communities for projects, according to documents seen by The DayLight.
Totoquellie and Farwhenta selected a maternity center and auditorium, while Sappima, Loloma, Guyanta, Gbarquoita chose a guesthouse each.
