The illicit mine in Paboken, Jaedepo District, Sinoe County, where the Ministry of Mines made the seizure. Picture credit: Ministry of Mines and Energy
ByVarney Kamara
ZWEDRU, Grand Gedeh – The Ministry of Mines and Energy has seized machines at an illicit mine in Sinoe County, ordering its closure.
Over the weekend, the Ministry held an excavator and a mini washing plant at the mine in Paboken, Jaedepo District. The mine owner, identified as Mohamed Kamara (no relation to this reporter), fled the scene, said Awell Aloysius Carr, the Director of Mines at the ministry.
“Based on the scale of illicit mining activities we saw in this area, we immediately issued a closure and seizure order,” Carr, the told The DayLight in the Zwedru. “I saw massive footprints. I mean areas that were excavated, water courses were diverted, vegetation was destroyed.”
Carr said the ministry would take the matter, and had informed local chiefs and elders, urging them not to shield the alleged perpetrator. Mining without a license violates the Minerals and Mining Law, with a fine, a prison term, or both for violators.
The seizure forms part of a broader crackdown on illegal mining across the country, particularly artisanal and small-scale mines. However, it was the authorities’ first visit to Paboken.
Recently, the ministry appointed a mining agent to the area after recalling the previous one in a move to reform one of the government’s most important yet challenging sectors. The ministry has established County Mining Offices to counter illegal mining.
“I am not going to sugar-quote this,” Carr said.
“We want to say to people out there… that gone are the days you will come and destroy our forest, deplete our resources, and you think that you will go scot-free.”
People at a canoe landing on a Greenville beach in 2023.
Top: People at a canoe landing in Greenville, Sinoe County in 2023. One of the canoes, marked “The Lord is my Shepherd,” transports timber to Buchanan. There, the timber are uploaded to a larger canoe to Ghana. The DayLight/James Harding Giahyue
By Emmanuel Sherman
BIG FANTI TOWN, Grand Bassa – Planks are scattered at various sites on a beachfront, a stone’s throw away from the Port of Buchanan, a fishing hub and a transit point for fishermen and fishmongers. Some are old, others fresh.
The wood are leftover of timber smuggling that involves fishermen. Fisherpersons, canoeists, villagers and businesspeople in Sinoe, Grand Bassa and River Cess confirmed that fishermen used canoes to smuggle timber predominantly to Ghana. Smugglers, aided by villagers and artisanal loggers, paid Fanti fishermen to transport wood, including to other countries, a DayLight investigation found.
“All the canoes can bring the planks, they can carry them to Ghana,” said John Kwakue, a Ghanaian fisherman who lives in the Buchanan fishing community of Fanti Town.
“I saw it for the first time in 2014 and I did a little bit before but I am doing something else now,” added Kwakue.
Kojo Ittah, another Ghanaian fisherman and a 15-year Fanti Town resident, said he had witnessed the smuggling on several occasions. “Last year, we went fishing, and I saw the canoe carrying [the timber] to Ghana. They are not just sticks. They are the fat, short planks, heavy and thick,” Ittah said.
Ittah’s description matched banned timber blocks that are prone to smuggling. However, until now, canoes had not been known to be used in illicit timber trafficking—at least not publicly.
Ittah’s story was corroborated by James Banney, a Ghanaian owner of a canoe called Exodus; Praise Jlamontee, an ex-Fanti Town leader; and Zebedee Bowin, a businessman in Buchanan.
Bonwin disclosed that “I used the boat one or two times.” The DayLight has investigated Bonwin before for trafficking chewing sticks to Ghana amid a Liberian moratorium.
Banney, with a Ghanaian accent like Ittah and Kwakue, revealed that the timber are taken to Takoradi, Ghana’s western region. A person, who did not want to be named, spoke of ferrying wood even to Mali, Guinea and The Gambia.
Boys in a canoe in Compound Number Four, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
Timber smuggling is bad news for Liberia, which lost 386,000 hectares of primary forest. That’s a decrease of 8.7 percent of all the country’s humid primary forest, according to Global Forest Watch, which tracks deforestation worldwide.
In 2023, the Associated Press reported that 70 percent of Liberia’s timber exports may have happened outside of the legal channel, citing diplomatic sources. Five years earlier, a report by the Switzerland-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime had listed Liberia as one of the main West African countries for illicit logging.
‘The Lord is my shepherd’
But where in Liberia do the fishermen get the timber from? The DayLight found the answer in Sinoe, River Cess and Grand Bassa, which lost nearly a combined 500,000 hectares of tree cover in the last 22 years, according to Global Forest Watch. Tree cover loss measures the removal of any woody vegetation at least five meters tall.
Evidence we gathered showed that smugglers transferred timber to Buchanan from Sinoe, River Cess and other places in Bassa. Once on the beach, they are transferred to larger, motorized canoes for at least a six-hour voyage outside Liberia.
In Sinoe, The DayLight interviewed Lama Jalloh, a Greenville resident and a Fulani canoeist, who spoke of a canoe with the service name “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Reporters caught up with the canoe on a Greenville beach, where local fishermen confirmed its suspected smuggling activities.
“Planks and timber are sawn and brought from various parts of Sinoe, and transported to Buchanan,” said Jalloh.
A fisherman who reporters encountered at the Lord is my shepherd canoe said he was not authorized to speak. Similarly, efforts to interview truckers allegedly involved in smuggling did not materialize because service names are unofficial, making tracking their owners difficult. And reporters were unable to get any license plate number.
‘King David’
While Sinoe smugglers used ocean routes to transfer timber, their River Cess counterparts utilize the roads. Earlier in Buchanan, Banney mentioned a place called Waterside in Cestos, River Cess’ capital. Now, reporters visited the seaside community and asked locals whether it was true.
“Yes, trucks can go to the waterfront to take goods and carry them,” said Michael Juludoe, a Cestos gardener, echoing other residents’ comments. “They pack [sand], sticks and planks.”
Two chainsaw millers in the Bush of Grand Bassa District Number four, while one is standing on the wood sawn, the other is looking on. The DayLight/Johnson Buchanan
Gathering timber in River Cess is the same as in Grand Bassa. Locals and fishermen alike identified a certain truck with the service name “King David” that hauled wood periodically. Also mentioned was another truck with the service name “Nimba Peking,” reporters spotted in a Compound Number Four town.
The DayLight tracked down the truck on the Big Fanti Town beach and Compound Number Four, where reporters videotaped villagers cutting trees.
In the footage, two men justify dealing with smugglers next to tree stumps and timber on the grass-carpeted forest floor. One of the men can be heard saying, “We have to survive.”
This story was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ) production.
Top: A townsman speaks with the Land Authority and Parley Liberia fieldworker in Gbarmue, a town in the Jorpolu Clan, Jorquelleh District in Bong County. The DayLight/Varney Kamara
By Varney Kamara and Harry Browne
GBARMUE – Townspeople in a Bong clan have registered their homes to own the land on which their houses sit. It is the first since Liberia passed the Land Rights Act nearly seven years ago.
The law requires communities to set aside residential areas in parts of customary land for homes and protect residents’ rights; however, this provision has not been enforced since it was established in 2018.
“The fact that this project is going on in the community, people have already started coming together to settle land disputes, leading to reconciliation among our people,” says Moses Kotogboe, Jorpolu’s Clan Chief, whose house was registered earlier during the exercise.
“This will allow us to preserve our culture and inheritance from our ancestors. This is important and unique for us. It’s a blessing for our community.”
In Gbarmue, 17 kilometers from Gbarnga, the capital of Bong County, enumerators visit houses, recording GPS coordinates and collecting household details, including the owner’s name, number of rooms, and exact location.
Parley Liberia, a Gbarnga-based NGO, is leading this first residential registration, also taking place in Grand Bassa, River Cess, and Bong Counties.
Nearly 300 homes have been registered under the trial, and the process is expected to be replicated in other parts of the country. Fieldworkers are recording all structures in the town, using geolocation.
Roseline Mulbah, Parley Liberia’s senior project officer, marks a house in Gbarmue, Jorpolu Clan, as part of a residential plot registration. The DayLight/Harry Browne
Gbarmue, for “tall palm tree” in the Kpelleh language, is the headquarters of the Jorpolu Clan, Jorquelleh District. It has applied and demarcated its borders with neighboring clans. It has only the Liberia Land Authority to conduct an official survey to acquire a customary land deed.
Though a moratorium on public land transactions, imposed in February, has stalled Jorpolu’s quest for a deed, the restriction does not affect the residential home registration. People will get a certificate at the end of the exercise, legalizing their ownership.
Gbarmue’s townspeople welcome the development, including women. Despite their legal rights to ancestral plots, their male relatives and traditional beliefs continue to deny them.
“Hearing about people like us receiving certificates for our homes and the land we are sitting on, I am too happy,” says Nancy Weedor, a Gbarmue resident and owner of a four-bedroom house. “This will enable us to plant our cassava to earn something … and allow us to support our homes.”
In the coming weeks, a full list of homeowners will be published for verification and thereafter, residents will apply for residential certificates, according to organizers.
“Residents will apply to the LLA for residential certificates, which will be signed by the [community land leaders] and the town chief before issuance,” says Roseline Mulbah, Parley Liberia’s senior project officer.
Top: The newly renovated Ministry of Mines and Energy is part of an ongoing reform by Minister Wilmot Paye. The DayLight/Harry Browne
By Varney Kamara
MONROVIA – A bold, new signboard brandishes the phrase: “Ministry of Mines and Energy.” The walls glitter with freshly painted gray and white. Just beyond the lobby, a fenced yard holds items seized from miners. Inside, lighted corridors beam with hope and accountability.
These are part of a sectoral reform Minister Wilmot Paye is instituting for a bewildered yet promising mining sector. In an exclusive interview with The DayLight, Paye explains the reform, which ranges from employees’ productivity to combating illicit activities.
“That’s not where we want to be. We had to get the basics right. If we don’t get the basics right, how can we regulate two key sectors of our economy: the mining and energy sectors?” Paye tells The DayLight.
“Former South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said, ‘If you can’t measure it, you can certainly not manage it.’ So, first, we need to have the capacity. You have to have the personnel. You have to boost the morale. You have to have the equipment.”
Part of the internal restructuring, the ministry purchased office computers and equipment, according to Paye. Next, the administration stabilized electricity and restored order. Workers are now coming to work as early as 8 am and departing offices by 4 pm, in line with civil service rules.
Furthermore, the ministry has relocated the Liberian Geological Survey and Liberian Hydrological Survey on the Old Road to the ministry’s headquarters on Capitol Hill. The two offices collect and analyze rocks and water data to support mineral exploration.
Recent surveys suggest Liberia has vast mineral potential beyond its traditional mineral resources. However, the lack of scientific, evidence-based data has prevented the full realization of this endowment. Paye says the refurbished geological and hydrological surveys, with modern equipment, will help bridge that gap.
Minister of Mines and Energy Wilmot Paye speaks to The DayLight on June 10, 2025. The DayLight/Harry Browne
Recently, the ministry embraced new data from a Chinese-funded study that revealed over a dozen previously unidentified minerals, moving beyond iron ore, diamonds, and gold to seeking complete geological mapping of all ten quadrats nationwide, with only one section surveyed so far, he says.
Also, the ministry has abolished voluntary work, which has plagued the mining sector for decades. A 2021 General Auditing Agency (GAC) report found that 65 percent of the ministry’s workforce were volunteers. So, Paye dropped 225 volunteer inspectors, mining agents and patrolmen who did not complete high school, and retained 85 who did.
“When you have volunteer inspectors who were deployed across the country to help implement the mining laws and regulations, you are simply saying to them, ‘Go and pay yourselves, and that’s what happened,’” says Paye.
“What has happened over the years is that we had mining agents and people assigned to regulate the sector and implement the mineral mining laws—some of whom didn’t even finish high school. So, how can you monitor what you don’t understand?”
Eighty-five geologists and mining engineers have been incorporated into companies in line with the Minerals and Mining Law, and that number could rise to 114 in the coming months, according to Paye. The law requires firms to give preference to employing skilled Liberians in senior roles.
“The companies are legally obligated to provide what is called a “sustenance allowance” for two years. Some young professionals are earning about US$2,000. So, imagine a young person just leaving university and becoming part of the system. This is one way of grooming an industry, producing future industry leaders and decision-makers who can then be deployed and recruited across the country.”
That aside, the ministry has assigned 30 additional geologists and mining engineers to newly established County Mine Offices. Established in all 15 counties, these structures help to fight illicit mining activities. They, Paye says, are equipped with GPS devices and other tools whose lack hinders supervision.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy is enforcing a legal provision through which Liberian geologists and mining engineers work at mines, including Bao Chico in Gbarpolu County, seen in this elevated view. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
Newly established county mine offices would oversee all mining and energy-related activities in their respective counties. Mining agents, the ministry’s highest local officers, will report to these offices, which in turn will report to the central office, Paye says. He adds the ministry has purchased GPS equipment and drones for fieldworkers to make their work easier.
Asked whether new county mine officers would not usurp existing mining agents’ function, Paye says, “No, there won’t be a clash. The county mine offices will oversee all mining and energy-related activities in their respective counties. The mining agents employed at the lower levels will report to the county supervisory offices.
“The only way to effectively curtail illicit mining activities is to have people on the ground with the technical knowledge to implement sustainable and environmentally friendly mining programs. We must consider the entire ecosystem of the mining sector: community welfare, the rights of license holders, and protecting investors, while preventing illicit operations. The real risk here is that we are losing a lot as a country due to illicit activities,” Paye says.
“What we are doing is establishing a serious presence across the country. Once we achieve that, we can hold people accountable, because there will be decentralized oversight,” Paye says. “We want to know what mining activities are taking place in River Gee County, for example—who is operating there, and who holds a license.”
‘Kata-kata’ machines
Illicit mining undermines Liberia’s mining sector, which contributes 15 percent to the country’s GDP. It is linked to pollution, deforestation, and annual losses of US$200 million, according to a 2021 report by the Global Financial Integrity, a US-based think tank dedicated to researching and combating corruption, illicit trade, and money laundering worldwide.
Men operate a mining machine, locally known as a kata-kata machine, in Grand Cape Mount County in 2019. Picture credit: James GiahyueTwo dredges on the River Dugbe in Sinoe County. The DayLight/Derick Snyder
From the start of this year, the ministry and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have shut down illegal and noncompliant mines countrywide. Coordinating with the Ministry of Justice and the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), the crackdown has led to fines and prosecutions.
One of the areas of concentration is the use of devices in the artisanal mining subsector, locally known as “kata-kata” machines. Normally, the Ministry of Mines issues permits for kata-kata machines in difficult terrain. However, miners are using the machine so widely without the ministry’s approval. Illicit miners are also using dredges, which pollute rivers with mercury, destroy habitats, and pose a risk to public health.
In addition to those illegal activities, noncompliance is commonplace. There are government officials with shares in or control over companies, creating conflicts of interest. Some firms do not meet requirements, and there are issues with foreign staffers’ residency and work permits. Some companies have vague ownership structures, a breeding ground for terrorist financing, tax evasion and money laundering.
Paye calls on journalists and the public to join in the fight against illegal mining.
“We always tell our people to push their government to do the right thing,” Paye. Don’t side with companies. They’re not here because they love your country. They’re here because of what they see. Push your government to act right so the citizens benefit.”
Top: Newly elected members of Mavasagueh Community Forest. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
By Emmanuel Sherman
VAMBO TOWNSHIP – Eleven townspeople have been elected to a community forest leadership in Grand Bassa County, calming months of tension over their towns’ alleged misrepresentation.
Mavasagueh Community Forest’s previous election, held in August last year, was marred by irregularities, prompting fresh elections. Those elected include representatives from Boe, Borbor Kaykay, and Togar Towns. Zeogar, the twelfth town, was disqualified because its representative serves as a town chief, debarred from direct community forest activities.
“Now that we have been elected, we will do the proper thing for the affected towns and the Vambo Township,” said Ojuku Kangar, a community assembly representative from Boe Town, one of the 11 elected persons.
Wooded areas get community forest status when they complete nine legal steps, including establishing a governance structure. This structure comprises a day-to-day forest management body, a supervising executive committee, and a topmost decision-making assembly.
“We will form unity with our counterpart as a community assembly to hold the company accountable to our contract,” added Kangar, a DayLight affiliate.
The election in Mavasagueh has eased tensions in the Compound Number Town area, following months of hostilities. Before the election, townspeople protested for representation in the leadership. There was an imbalance in the allocation of projects in the 39 towns that own the 26,003-hectare forest.
The elections could also lead to the unfreezing of the community forest’s account, which was frozen after funds were misapplied. Kangar said more signatories would be added to the account to reflect inclusion. “We will ensure the FDA includes us in the bank account,” he said.
Citizens blamed the FDA for the chaos. The regulator conducted inadequate awareness, leading to some towns not participating in Mavasagueh’s formation, according to civil society and locals. That finding was corroborated by an investigative series over the last five months.
Daniel Dayougar, the former Vambo Commissioner, was accused of handpicking representatives to serve on Mavasagueh’s assembly. Dayougar denies any wrongdoing.
Trucks carrying logs from the Mavasagueh Community Forest. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
Amid the chaos, C&C Corporation, the logging company Mavasagueh’s leadership signed a contract with, has been operating. So far, it has paved dirt roads in the area and has harvested logs that are being stored at Krish Veneer Industries, a sawmill in Buchanan, a few miles away.
“All of our logs are taken to Buchanan without benefit. This is what happened during RETCO days until we blocked the roads and chased them out,” said Zechariah Boima, of Togar Town. He was referencing RETCO Liberia Timber Industry, a company that worked here in the 1990s and paid the community L$10,000 (roughly US$90 today).
The FDA did not respond to queries. However, Kangar David, head of the agency’s sub-office in Buchanan, who conducted the election, urged the new leadership to work in Mavasagueh’s interest.
The election is yet another proof of Mavasagueh’s flawed formation. It has already been established that the FDA skipped legal steps in granting it a community forest status. C&C Corporation is illegitimate because its owner, Clarence Massaquoi, is an ineligible logger. Krish Veneer, the company’s buyer, operates on the FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab’s family land with an ineligible status. The forest overlaps a private land that two men are claiming.
This is a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ) production.
Top: The Bushrod Island Magisterial Court conducts preliminary hearings in the case against two suspected timber smugglers from Caldwell, following a January DayLight investigation. The DayLight/Varney Kamara
By Varney Kamara
MONROVIA – A Montserrado court has begun preliminary hearings into a case against two suspected timber smugglers, exposed in a DayLight interview.
In late January, the Bushrod Island Magisterial Court charged Amara Fofana and Suleyman Karabacak, officials of Libfor Forest Corporation, with smuggling and economic sabotage. The pair had been at the Monrovia Central Prison for weeks after failing to secure a US$100,000 bond.
Their detention came within 48 hours after a DayLight investigation that unearthed Libfor traded timber outside the legal system.
Their case commenced recently after months of delay, and will resume later this month when the suspects’ lawyer returns. A court document shows that Cllr. Alhaji Sesay traveled to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage and medical reasons. He returns to Liberia on June 27, 2025, according to court filings.
“In view of the above, movant counsel humbly requests an excuse for all pending matters,” the document read.
The case will move to a circuit court, as magisterial courts lack the authority to prosecute cases of economic sabotage. However, the preliminary hearing is a legal requirement for the case to be transferred to a higher court.
This story was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ) production.
Top: Moussa Abdul Karim, who The DayLight found allegedly evaded government taxes, at the opening of the Fisheries college at the University of Liberia in April. The DayLight/Franklin Nehyalor
By Varney Kamara
MONROVIA – Multiple government agencies are investigating a Lebanese businessman for allegedly committing forestry, financial, and immigration crimes. The news comes after a DayLight investigation foundthat Moussa Abdul Karim, the owner of several companies, smuggled timber, evaded taxes, and declared multiple nationalities, winning a World Bank contract worth nearly half a million dollars.
The Liberia National Police, the Liberia Immigration Service, the Liberia Revenue Authority, the Ministry of Labor, and the Association of Liberian Construction Contractors have started to investigate Karim separately. If found guilty, he risks several fines and prosecution.
Court documents show that the Financial Crimes Division of the Liberia National Police obtained a subpoena on May 5 for the tax records of a company Karim owns “to enhance an ongoing criminal investigation surrounding alleged money laundering.”
The police are seeking the tax records of Mak Timber Group Liberia Inc., a company Karim used to export a US$350,000 worth of timber in 2022.
The police’s probe follows up on evidence that The DayLight published that the export occurred outside the legal channel. One year after the export, Karim won a US$498,203.52 World Bank bid to construct a fisheries college at the University of Liberia, the newspaper reported.
Likewise, immigration authorities are investigating Karim’s alleged failure to obtain a resident permit. The DayLight reported that he allegedly defrauded the government of thousands of dollars by evading the permit for close to a decade. Under the Alien and Nationality Law, Karim is required to pay US$750 for a resident permit for the first time and US$350 for renewal.
“He appeared today and is due back here on Monday,” Augustine Wolo, an immigration officer, told The DayLight last Thursday.
Immigration authorities are also looking into suspicions that Karim has multiple nationalities. DayLight cited an immigration source and official business documents identifying him as Lebanese and Guinean.
Moussa Abdul Karim’s business headquarters are on the Old Road, Congo Town Township. From here, he conducted business for at least three companies: Mak Enterprises Inc., Mak Timber Group Liberia Inc. and Atlantic Developer & Logistics Inc. The DayLight/James Giahyue
Living in Liberia without a resident permit as a non-Liberian is a crime punishable by a fine or deportation. Using multiple identities constitutes fraud and can lead to expulsion, deportation, and criminal prosecution.
The Ministry of Labor said they were also investigating Karim for allegedly failing to obtain a work permit. The DayLight publication alleged that Karim had not gotten a work permit in the last nine years.
“We are investigating and will fine him because we have checked the system and did not find any payment records there,” said Ralphael Donokolo II, Assistant Minister for Alien Registration and Liberianization at the Ministry of Labor.
The Work Permit Regulation requires that non-Africans pay US$1,000 for a regular work permit, or pay fines ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.
The Liberia Revenue Authority, which collects all government taxes, disclosed it also launched an investigation.
“We are not taking this lightly. You can rest assured,” James Dorbor Jallah, Commissioner General of the Liberia Revenue Authority, told this reporter.
The Association of Liberian Construction Contractors (ALCC), which regulates construction companies’ activities, said it was probing whether Karim followed its rules. He defeated 20 other bidders, who were rejected due to noncompliance, to win the contract, administered by the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority.
“If we establish that he acutally operated outside of our membership, we will blacklist him and ensure that he doesn’t get any construction contract in Liberia,” said Sackie Johnson, ALCC’s president.
Joseph Bennett, Karim’s lawyer, did not respond to queries for comments.
This is a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ) production.
Top: Perhaps the most active forestry company in Liberia, Krish Veneer Industries exports round logs in addition to plywood and decorated wooden materials. The DayLight/Emmanuel Sherman
By Emmanuel Sherman
BUCHANAN, Grand Bassa – Over the weekend, Vice President Jeremiah Koung dedicated Krish Veneer Industries, perhaps the largest sawmill in Liberia.
Established in 2019, the Indian-owned Krish produces and exports timber, plywood and veneer, a decorated wooden material. It processes between 25,000 and 27,000 cubic meters of wood per year, according to an official environmental audit.
“This is a clear demonstration that India is not only a friend of Liberia in words but in deeds,” Koung told the dedication in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. He toured the facility before breaking ground. A crowd of officials, chiefs and elders celebrated the event with workers dressed in protective gear.
“We are happy because these kinds of investments employ our people. If most of the logs can be put into cubes, planks and other things before getting them out of here, there will be job creation,” added Koung.
It might have been Krish’s dedication; however, the company has been in the news several times over noncompliance with the law. The DayLight has compiled these well-documented facts about Krish with supporting evidence:
Ghost of ‘Blood Timber’
The location Krish occupies is a symbol of sub-regional wartime atrocities. Between 1991 and 1997, Guus Kouwenhoven, a Dutch gunrunner and eventual war criminal, operated the Timber Management Corporation from there.
Koung referenced the facility in his speech. “I know the TIMCO yard used to be around here where we used to burn coal,” he recalled. “We were those children around here doing the wheelbarrow from here to town to carry the coals.”
Picture taken on October 27, 1992, North of Monrovia showing ULIMO members of the Maquis patrolling the area and searching for NPFL members. (Photo by Alain BOMMENEL / AFP)
TIMCO’s logs helped fuel the First Liberian Civil War (1989 – 1997). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that it and other companies illegally traded arms to Liberian militias and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) of Sierra Leone, leading to mass killings of civilians.
This became known as “blood timber,” “conflict timber,” and “logs of war.” Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf mentioned it in a recent opinion.
Both Kouwenhoven and his business partner, ex-President Charles Taylor, were convicted of war crimes for their role in the murderous trade. Taylor is serving a 50-year sentence in a British prison. Kouwenhoven, meanwhile, was sentenced to 19 years in absentia by a Dutch court while he lives in South Africa.
Krish Illegally Operates
Krish is a partnership, not a corporation, as required by the Regulation on Bidder Qualifications and the Public Procurement Concession Act. According to its partnership agreement as of March this year, Antique Ahmed and Kamal Parwini are Indian nationals with 57 percent and 43 percent shares, respectively.
The legal instruments restrict forestry companies to corporations, not partnerships. They are a safeguard against the limited liabilities and lifespans of partnerships, as opposed to corporations.
The Public Procurement and Concession Commission has asked the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) to investigate Krish’s business status, according to a letter, seen by The DayLight.
A screenshot of Krish’s partnership agreement
Furthermore, Krish’s head office is in Buchanan, per its legal documents. That violates the National Forestry Reform Law, which calls for all sawmills to have their main offices in Monrovia. This rule is consistent with a provision of a repealed law that was used to hold TIMCO accountable in 2005.
Krish Rents from the FDA Boss’ Family
The land where Krish operates belongs to the family of the FDA Managing Director, Rudolph Merab. Merab inherited the plot from Rose Hill James, his late mother, who inherited it from Merab’s grandfather.
“Merab is from Bassa, and the property is owned by his grandfather,” said Clarence Massaquoi, Merab’s cousin. “Stephen Hill is managing the property; he is a cousin of Merab’s.
A screenshot of an obituary of Edward Merab, Rudolph Marab’s late elder brother, confirms the FDA Managing Director is a member of the Hill family, which owns the land Krish rents.
Khalil Haider, another of Merab’s cousins, corroborated that information. “That place is for Merab’s mother and her family,” Haider said.
The two men’s comments are confirmed by an obituary of Edward, Merab’s elder brother, which shows that the FDA’s boss is a member of the Hill family, the property’s original owners.
This establishes that Merab is caught between two interests involving Krish: a landlord and a forestry regulator. Such a clash breaks the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, which prohibits Merab from “situations of conflict that impair, or are likely to impair, the performance of their official duties.”
Krish’s Manager is Merab’s Cousin
Turns out, Clarence Massaquoi is not only Merab’s cousin but also Krish’s manager, according to FDA records.
Massaquoi is also an ex-employee of Liberia Wood Management Corporation, Merab’s wartime company. “I worked with Merab from 1999 to 2007 in a managerial role,” he told The DayLight in January.
Noteworthy, Massaquoi is ineligible to conduct logging activities in Liberia due to his wartime role. The Regulation on Bidder Qualifications states that wartime loggers must confess their crimes and restitute unpaid or stolen funds, something Massaquoi did not do.
A screenshot of a Krish export permit showing Clarence Massaquoi in the manager’s row.
Krish Benefits from an Unlawful Contract
Krish’s illegal logging love story with Merab and Massaquoi does not end with the pair’s family and work relationships.
Krish does business with C&C Corporation, Massaquoi’s own company. Now C&C has a contract with the Mavasagueh Community Forest, a few miles away from Krish. “I can sell to my plywood factory. My buyers are in Buchanan,” Massaquoi said.
However, C&C’s contract did not follow the law, as the FDA had bypassed legal steps in Mavasagueh’s formation. There are nine steps in the formation of a community forest, characterized by locals’ participation and consent.
In Mavasagueh’s case, some communities adjacent to the forest were left out, there was inadequate awareness, and even people in the communities that the FDA recognized did not participate in the 26,003-hectare forest’s mapping exercise.
Civil Society organizations criticized the formation of the Mavasagueh Community Forest.
The FDA ignored the issues that actors raised, including the absence of civil society organizations during Mavasagueh’s election, which is a requirement.
Matters worsened when Merab allowed Mavasagueh to overlap private land, violating the Community Rights Regulation. Khalil Haider, Merab’s cousin and Paynesville resident, claims 3,200 acres in Mavasagueh.
Haider, who said he was Massaquoi’s step-brother, revealed Merab encouraged him to drop his claim for the contract to continue. Though Merab ignored The DayLight’s queries for his side of the story, Massaquoi corroborated the claim. “Haider and I settled… so the FDA should let the document be processed,” Massaquoi said.
Krish Exports Illegal Timber
April last year, Krish exported 210 logs (1,243 cubic meters), illegally harvested, to Singapore. LiberTrace, the FDA’s computerized system that tracks timber, had red-flagged the logs, but Merab still approved their shipment.
Out of the 210 logs, 66 had minor issues, including differences between their species, sizes and lengths in the system, and the ones exported. A whopping 144, or nearly 70 percent of the consignment, had major errors. There were 66 of these logs whose harvest had not been approved by the FDA.
Krish exported at least three other times to Singapore and the UAE, with some 20 to 30 percent of the logs illegal.
C&C Corporation trucks transport logs from Mavasagueh Community Forest to Krish Veneer Industries. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
This story was a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ) production.
About seven years on, men who use age-old traditional beliefs still deny their female relatives access to land. The DayLight interviewed half a dozen women in the Bong County clan of Jorpolu in the Zota-Panta District with heart-wrenching experiences.
“It is difficult for many women, including me, to engage family members about the farmland issue. This place is interior and people can sometimes use tradition to get rid of you,” says Rebecca Gbartawee, a Worta resident.
“As a woman, if you continue, something may happen to you, or they will think that you want to use traditional means to get the land from them.”
Gbartawee was born in Worta, a town in the Jorpolu Clan, where she happily lived with her parents. Her family farmed rice and other crops on a huge plot year in and year out. However, after her father died, her uncles deprived her mother of farming on the land.
Gbartawee fled to Gbarmue, her mother’s hometown, about a 30-minute walk from Worta. There, Gbartawee’s hopes for a better life were immediately shattered. There and again, they were denied access to a plot owned by her maternal family. Her uncles refused to share the farmland with women.
With no access to her ancestral farmland, Gbartawee struggles to support her children. She had lost her husband, the breadwinner, back in Warta. Her late husband’s family took over their business and everything that they had worked for over the years.
Rebecca Gbartawee of Worta in Gbarmue. The DayLight/Harry Browne
“To get food for my children, I have to struggle. At times, I beg people to give me a piece of farmland to make a farm and feed my children. Their father is no more,” Gbartawee said. “This is very difficult for me to support my children.”
Like Gbartawee, Quita and her sister Kebbeh Leayne have an issue with their elderly brother, Paul Leayne. Their parents died decades ago, leaving behind the rubber farm north of Gbarmue. However, Paul does not share proceeds from the farm with his siblings, according to Quita and Kebbeh.
It is a small farm with about 500 rubber trees, accessible only on foot. We travel through two other larger rubber farms on a motorbike, and at a point, we get off the bike and walk to reach it.
“We have long discussed this one thing and my brother can’t listen to anyone. When he taps the rubber, he sells it and doesn’t give us any of the money,” says Quita at a local entertainment center.
“I want my share of the rubber farm so I can feed my children and me,” adds Quita.
We catch up with Paul at his house, near a lush green cocoa bush. At first, he declines, but now he grants us an interview, denying Quita’s story. He says he gives Quita some of the money he generates from the farm.
“The last time I gave her money was in 2023. Since then, I have not been active with tapping because I am making a rice farm,” Paul tells us.
Kebbeh, the youngest of the three Leaynes, refutes those claims, corroborating Quita’s assertion. “He has put us out of the house that our parents built. He said he is the only child of our parents,” Kebbeh tells reporters. She and her elder sister urge the government to pay more attention to women’s rights.
The experience of Mamie Dolo, also a Gbarmue resident, is similar to that Leayne. Dolo and her mother were compelled to settle in Gbarmue, Dolo’s husband’s hometown, after her father’s death.
Dolo’s father, who had encouraged her to farm on a portion of the land that he and his brother shared, had fallen ill and gone to Monrovia for treatment. Unfortunately, he passed away. After his death, her uncles had demanded she pay them a fee, which she refused.
Dolo’s nightmare continued even after one of her uncles died and the other left the town. Her cousins also demanded an annual fee to farm on their land. However, after two years of payment, Dolo pulled out of the arrangement and turned to selling cooked bowls.
Enforcement
Denying women their rights to landownership with ill-fated customs and traditions was the very thing the Land Rights Act was created to prevent. Before the law, women were not allowed to publicly discuss land matters in rural communities, let alone to own it.
Quita Leayne of Gbarmue. The DayLight/Harry Browne
Asa Chon, the country manager of ForumCiv, a Gbarnga-based NGO working with five communities, urges rural women to take courage amid cultural obstacles.
“We know that there are some discriminatory norms. There are still pockets of resistance,” says Chon in an interview at last year’s National Land Conference in Ganta, Nimba County. “Change is not an event. Change is a process.
“But things are not as common as they were in the past. There is growing awareness,” adds Chon.
Paul Leayne, the brother of Quita Leayne in their father’s rubber farm. The DayLight/Harry Browne
There has been some success, as Chons says. Jorpolu—the clan Worta, Gbarmue, Wiansue and Banama are located—is pursuing a customary land deed. Parley Liberia, another Gbarnga-based NGO, assists locals through legal steps to achieve their goal. As part of that, townswomen, including Gbartawee, attend awareness meetings. Others listen to radio programs on the subject.
Some women are already putting their knowledge to work. Last year, Zinnah Mulbah, a woman in her 50s in Wiansue, a 25-minute motorcycle ride from Gbarmue, won a legal battle.
Mulbah filed a lawsuit against James Kollie, her fiancé, at the Gbarlatuah Magisterial Court. Mulbah was awarded half of all the properties they acquired in their three-decade relationship.
Court documents show she received one house, a motorcycle, household utensils, and 50 pieces of planks. The court awarded her US$1,020 as her share of a plot of land and a car. She got another L$37,800 (US$190), her share of concrete bricks. Additionally, the court awarded her 20 percent of the proceeds from the rubber farm in the June 5, 2024 ruling.
Top: The plywood factory, Krish Veneer’s office, New Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. The Daylight/Emmanuel Sherman
By Emmanuel Sherman
Editor’s Note: This story is the third part of a series on illegalities associated with a newly established community forest in Compound Two, Grand Bassa County.
FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab illegally granted Mavasagueh in Compound Number Two, Grand Bassa, a community forest status.
Merab approved Mavasagueh’s logging contract with C&C Corporation, co-owned and run by Clarence Massaquoi, an ineligible logger.
Then, a Duport Road resident, Khalil Haider, wrote to the FDA to claim 3,200 acres of Mavasagueh.
Against the law, Merab encouraged Haider to compromise his claim and bargain with Massaquoi. Another person, Amos Lewis, also wrote Merab, claiming the same land as Haider, but his claim has yet to be addressed.
Amid these issues, Merab approved Massaquoi’s harvesting, with the logger selling timber to Krish Veneer Industries, an illegitimate sawmill located on Merab’s family land in Buchanan.
But that is just one of the multiple conflicts of interest involving the FDA Managing Director. Turns out, Merab is related to Massaquoi and Haider, likely explaining why he failed to enforce the law.
VAMBO, Grand Bassa County – Everything about this company’s contract with a new community forest is illegal.
And there are lots of problems, too, based on documents and interviews. The Forestry Development Authority skipped several legal steps before granting Mavasagueh a community forest status. Then the FDA approved Mavasagueh’s logging contract with C&C Corporation (CCC) despite the company’s majority shareholder being barred from forestry activities over his wartime activities. The FDA Managing Director, Rudolph Merab, encouraged a man claiming 3,200 acres of Mavasagueh’s 26,003-hectare woodland to unlawfully compromise. Then, a sawmill linked to the company is illegitimate and engages in illegal timber exports.
Now, a DayLight investigation has established that the Mavasagueh-CCC contract constitutes multiple conflicts of interest involving Merab. The investigation found that Merab is related to CCC’s co-owner, and that the sawmill operates on his family’s property.
These conflicts of interest likely explain why the FDA boss approved CCC’s contract amid the sea of illegalities, ignoring a civil society critique and failing to take any action against the sawmill.
Merab’s conflicts of interest violate the Code of Conduct for Public Officials, a key legislation for the Boakai administration. Merab did not respond to queries on his dual relationship with Massaquoi and other issues in this story.
Merab and a logger
By his admission and LinkedIn profile, CCC’s CEO Clarence Massaquoi, worked with Merab during the second half of the Liberian civil conflict. “I worked with Merab from 1999 to 2007 in a managerial role,” he told The DayLight in January.
Massaquoi’s wartime logging activities disqualify him and the CCC, but the FDA only reviewed the CCC’s financial records, not his wartime activities. War loggers are barred from engaging in forestry unless they confess their roles in Liberia’s bloody conflict (1989 – 2003) and collaborate with the FDA to repay stolen or unpaid funds, according to the Regulation on Bidders Qualification. No wartime logger did that.
Having known Massaquoi for decades, Merab approved his ex-employee’s contract with Mavasagueh, ignoring calls from a group of civil society organizations to re-demarcate and remap the community forest. A previous DayLight investigation corroborated the finding that the FDA did not raise ample awareness, and that public participation in the process was inadequate. Residents only reviewed Mavasagueh’s contract with CCC some seven months after it was signed, and weeks after Merab approved Massaquoi’s harvesting.
In addition to their wartime association, Merab and Massaquoi are related. Rose James, Merab’s deceased mother, was a Hill. She was related to the Holts, Massaquoi’s maternal family, according to Khalil Haider, a Duport Road resident, who said he was related to both men.
FDA’s Managing Director Rudolph Merab in February 2024. The DayLight/Harry Browne
Haider’s late mother, Rosa Dillion, had a relation with the Hills. “My mother and Merab’s mother were cousins, and both families lived separately on Tubman and Church Streets [in Buchanan],” said Haider.
“Massaquoi and Merab are related, and Merab is my cousin. We are all related,” said Haider.
His account is backed by an obituary of Edward Merab, the FDA boss’ late elder brother, who died in the United States in 2020. Another obituary of Sylvia Holt, the matriarch of the Holts, proves that the families are related.
Private land in a community forest
Before CCC began harvesting, Merab received a communication from Haider. In the letter, Haider claimed that he owned 1,295 hectares of Mavasagueh’s 26,003-hectare rocky forestland. The plot is located between Mt. Findley and the St. John River. By that time, CCC’s harvesting had already been approved. Haider had first told the FDA about his claim in 2018.
This was no welcome news for Massaquoi or Merab. The FDA would have to cut off the problematic plot and redo the process, including new mapping, demarcation, and other elements, based on the Community Rights Law Regulation. It could involve coordinating with the Liberia Land Authority and the Ministry of Mines and Energy, a rarity among public institutions.
As a way to avoid that outcome, Merab encouraged Haider to compromise with Massaquoi to continue the operations, according to Haider and Massaquoi.
“The FDA asked me to see Mr. Haider. I met Haider and we talked,” said Massaquoi in a January interview with The DayLight. “Haider and I settled, and said he would work with the community and me, so the FDA should let the document be processed.”
Haider corroborated that account, disclosing that Massaquoi gave him US$1,500. “I assisted him when he wanted to go to the hospital,” said Massaquoi, calling Haider his stepbrother.
In an interesting turnaround, Haider now claims that a letter the FDA hinged its authorization of Massaquoi’s operations was forged. “I did not write that letter,” Haider said. “I know nothing about it. “He faked the whole letter and my signature.” Haider has written the FDA another letter requesting a redress after his initial letter went unanswered.
Massaquoi did not reply to questions for comments on the allegation. However, in the January interview, he claimed Haider had instructed him to write the letter on his behalf, which Haider signed.
Long before this, Amos Lewis, a Marshall, Margibi resident, wrote the FDA, claiming the same land as Haider. Both men’s deeds date back to Tubman’s era. Moreover, and more importantly, Lewis’s claim cements the reality that Mavasagueh overlaps with private land. This proves that the Mavasagueh process was flawed.
A sawmill on Merab’s family plot
Krish Veneer Industries’ operations present another conflict of interest for Merab. The sawmill is situated in Buchanan on a plot belonging to the Hills, Merab’s maternal family. It is infamous, as the Timber Management Corporation, operated by the Dutchman and eventual war criminal Guus Kowenhoven, occupied the facility between 1991 and 1997, Global Witness reported.
Two CCC trucks held in Vambo Township, Grand Bassa County, after residents erected roadblocks in protest of an illegal community forest contract in March. The DayLight/Ojuku Kangar
“That place is for Merab’s mother and her family,” Haider said.
“Stephen Hill is managing the property; he is a cousin of Merab, and the plywood factory was there long before Merab,” added Massaquoi. “Merab is from Bassa, and the property is owned by his grandfather,” said Massaquoi.
There is more, though. Massaquoi is also Krish’s general manager, FDA records show. In his January interview, Massaquoi disclosed that Krish was crucial to his operations in Mavasagueh. “I have buyers. I can sell to my plywood factory. My buyers are in Buchanan,” said Massaquoi.
The evidence shows that Merab is caught between his relationships and his duty to enforce forestry laws and regulations. The evidence shows that his relationships are winning the conflicts.
Krish operates as a partnership in breach of the Regulation on Bidder Qualifications. The 2007 regulation states that a sawmill must be a corporation, as a partnership has a limited lifespan and liabilities. The provision stemmed from the Public Procurement and Concession Act, carved to safeguard against the government’s revenue loss.
Last year, the FDA authorized Krish to export 210 illegally harvested logs to Singapore. LiberTrace, the timber tracking system, found that all the logs had issues. Krish made at least three other shipments to that Asian country and the UAE, which had approximately 20 to 30 percent illegal timber.
FDA Deputy Managing Director for Administration and Finance Victor Kpaiseh told Okay FM that the agency would act. However, some two months later, Krish’s remains a partnership. The Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC), which enforces contracts, has asked the FDA to investigate, according to a letter seen by The DayLight.
Meanwhile, with a workforce of 300 people, Krish is one of the most active companies in a generally quiet industry. It produces between 25,000 to 27,000 cubic meters per year, according to an official environmental report. From April and December last year, Krish exported at least 794 logs, even though its products are veneer—a decorated wooden material—and plywood.
Merab’s relationships with Massaquoi, Haider, and Krish, with the string of offences associated with those relationships, break the Code of Conduct. The code prohibits any conflict of interest, defined as “when a public official… exploits a relationship for personal benefit.” It guides government officials against “situations of conflict that impair, or may likely impair, the performance of their duties.
“No public official… should use an official position to pursue private interests that may result in a conflict of interest.”
This story was a production of the Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ).
