10 September 2007
Since the Management of the Liberia Agricultural Company (LAC) took the controversial decision three years ago to evict thousands of villagers from their homes in districts #3 and 4 in Grand Bassa and Rivercess counties, that region of Liberia has not known respite.
LAC had huffed and puffed; the threatened villagers had flexed weak muscles in resistance and got inhumane backlash from their own government; and some members of human rights community and the Buchanan-based Resilient Elders of Grand Bassahave taken matters up to the law; but nothing significant changed, save for LAC management to slow down its expansion program.
But now, the Liberty Party is stepping into the imbroglio with an open letter, calling for renegotiation under the banner of reconciliation, justice, and national growth under the rule of law. The Analyst Staff Writer reports:
Liberty Party House Representative for Grand Bassa County, J. Byron Brown, has prevailed on the Sirleaf Administration to renegotiate the terms and conditions of the Concession Agreement of the Liberia Agricultural Company.
He said the renegotiation was imperative especially in view of the change in circumstances and laws, treaties, and conventions. This imperative, he said, was publicly acknowledged a year ago on September 7, 2006 when President Sirleaf met the Resilient Elders of Grand Bassa.
"You will recall that at a meeting with President Johnson-Sirleaf on September 7, 2006, which you, Elders of Grand Bassa and River Cess Counties, and the Concerned Citizens of Grand Bassa attended, the President made a decision, which was clear and unequivocal.
"Her administration would not tolerate the ugly practices of the past - no Liberian would be evicted from their ancestral homeland to plant rubber trees.
The President also took a decision in the interest of encouraging investment in the rubber industry, LAC would be given additional, but uninhabited land upon which to expand its plantation through a process of negotiation with the Government, and confidence building meetings between LAC and the people of Grand Bassa and River Cess."
"Pursuant to the decision of the President, you, on behalf of the government, and the Elders issued a joint Press Statement, dated September 9, 2006, affirming that the native people would not be evicted from their ancestral homeland.
Of course, the directive of the President has been ignored by LAC, of which you are aware, as they continue to expand their plantation by evicting peaceful and law-abiding citizens."
Rep. Brown's statements were contained in a September 6, 2007 "Open Letter" he addressed on behalf of the Liberty Party to the government of Liberia through Agriculture Minister Chris Toe.
"We believe that the Concession Agreement of the Liberian Agriculture Corporation (LAC), which was entered into on March 3, 1959 (the "Agreement"), would by reason of logic, also be renegotiated," Rep. Brown said.
If the government saw the need to review and renegotiate agreements signed as recently as 2005, he told Minister Toe, there would certainly be the need to renegotiate one signed in 1959.
He said besides President Sirleaf's public acknowledgement of the need to renegotiate the 1959 agreement, the Joint Government of Liberia-United Nations Rubber Plantations Task Force report submitted to President Sirleaf on May 22, 2006 indicated that years of government's complacency and LAC's negligence have created conditions that are threatening the survival of villagers in the area.
"The government should renegotiate agreements to update and standardize them where necessary to ensure compliance with Liberian law and international principles of responsible business practices," the open letter quoted the joint report as recommending.
LAC has not budged an inch from its original determination to evict the people from their land by force, the letter said, notwithstanding the findings of the joint report, the President public acknowledgement, and contentions by the local communities that LAC expansion program was not only illegal but was also threatening their right to reside on their ancestral land and destroying their farms and crops.
"Since 2004, LAC has continuously stepped out of its Concession Area into areas inhabited by the native people of Grand Bassa and River Cess, and forcibly evicted the people, contrary to the terms and conditions of the Agreement".
"This has been and remains a source of contention between LAC and the Bassa-speaking people, which is not healthy for our fragile peaceful environment," the Party's open letter said.
LAC has been insisting that under the agreement it signed with the government of Liberia, the land in question was part of its concessional holdings reserved for its expansion program. Under this provision, LAC insists that it has the right to evict both squatters and individuals illegally occupying the land and threatening the company's expansion program.
Its recent efforts to evict what it called squatter villagers in order to plant more rubber trees in the concessional areas therefore, the company said, was no violation of the right of any citizen or group of citizens as have been alleged.
But in the letter, the party said LAC's argument was based on legal illusion and that it was time the entire agreement is reviewed so that the rubber company will negotiate the additional holdings alluded to in the agreement.
The reason, the letter noted, is because since September 2, 1960 LAC has forfeited the right under the current agreement to venture outside the present operation area because it had neglected to select areas for the expansion.
It quoted a recent report of former Justice Minister Frances Johnson-Morris as indicating that LAC stood no legal ground for its present determination to evict the local population and destroy their crops and properties.
"Clearly, under the Agreement LAC was given eighteen (18) months to make the determination regarding land suitable for its development operations. That time has since expired. Therefore, the eviction of t he citizens from their villages and the expansion of LAC is arbitrary as it is not supported by the Agreement," the Liberian attorney general was quoted by the party as saying in a legal opinion to President Johnson-Sirleaf.
The open letter was however quick to clarify that expiration of the time set in the agreement did not mean that LAC has forfeited the right to augment its concessional areas by 300,000 additional acres of land.
It meant rather, according to the open letter, that the company must now negotiate to get this portion of land which it failed to select within the timeframe allowed under the Agreement.
The party said it therefore agrees with President Sirleaf that LAC should be granted additional land by the government to enlarge its Concession Area, but only in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Agreement, the law of the land, and regional and international treaties and conventions on human rights to which Liberia subscribes.
"But the granting of additional land to LAC should be done only by means of a renegotiated Concession Agreement or at least upon a review of the Agreement," the party said in the open letter, indicating that the additional land to be granted to LAC does not have to be contiguous to its present plantation.
"The 1959 grant of rights accepted that the Concessionaire's 'Development Areas' did not have to be contiguous, that is the logic of 300,000 acres in two different locations," the party said, relying on Article II of the agreement that authorized LAC to select land in Grand Bassa and Rivercess counties and along the Tappita-Webo Road.
If this land was intended to contiguous such that LAC is today insisting on evicting the people of compounds #3 and 4 in Grand Bassa County, the party argued, then the government would not have granted concessionary right to another company within the area.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
