{"id":1357,"date":"2021-08-17T15:51:12","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T15:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=1357"},"modified":"2021-08-20T10:47:15","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T10:47:15","slug":"communities-demand-cultural-damages-mano-inherited-from-sime-darby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2021\/08\/17\/communities-demand-cultural-damages-mano-inherited-from-sime-darby\/","title":{"rendered":"Communities Demand Cultural Damages Mano Inherited From Sime Darby"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Banner Image:<\/strong> A wall of the fence of the headquarters of Mano Palm Oil Industry in Bomi County. The DayLight\/Harry Browne<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

By Emmanuel Sherman<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BALLAH TOWN, Grand Cape Mount County \u2013  Communities affected by Mano Palm Oil Industries\u2019 plantation have demanded payment of cultural damages agreed by its predecessor Sime Darby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sime Darby agreed to pay US$99,999.99 once every six years after a Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) report<\/a> in 2014 found it destroyed communities\u2019 farmlands, ancestral graveyards, shrines, and sacred sites.  The full amount after 60 years would amount to US$1 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having paid the first batch of the fund in 2015, the Malaysian company left the country in 2019, turning over its concession to Mano. However, three years since that takeover, Mano is yet to pay the damages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want the full amount of the money to be paid,\u201d Said Alex Balo, Grand Cape Mount County coordinator of the National Civil Society Council of Liberia in a mobile interview with The DayLight on Monday. \u201cIf they cannot accept the demands of the people, we will protest and shut down the company\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe that\u2019s the only language they can hear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Sime Darby\u2019s departure, it deposited US$66,666.64 into Mano\u2019s coffers for four years (2016-2019). Mano should add another US$33,333.32 and give the full amount to 17 project-affected communities, according to the RSPO report. But the company only wants to pay what Sime Darby left, demanding a new agreement with villagers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur first objective as a new company was for SDPL to execute liabilities to communities and employees to enable us to offer new employments with new terms and conditions and to also sign new [agreements] with communities,\u201d said Adama Seh, corporate communications manager at Mano.  \u201cTherefore, like severance benefits paid, the money towards intergeneration cultural endowment funds was [Sime Darby\u2019s] obligation and paid by them.\u201d He said Mano would work with the National Bureau of Concessions (NBC) to derive a new agreement that will indicate what Mano will be pay, \u201cto reflect current realities and our company\u2019s name.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amadu Fahnbulleh, an executive of the project affected communities (PAC)\u2014which manages the cultural endowment fund and represents the communities\u2019 interest\u2014said they were not willing to accept part payment.  \u201cThere must be a definite time and position on the payment of the money,\u201d Fahnbulleh said in an interview in Ballah Town, which hosts the office of the PAC.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sime Darby\u2019s payment of the intergenerational cultural endowment fund was meant to address its clearing of the communities\u2019 sacred sites and burial grounds in 2011. It followed demarcation and participatory mapping of 3,352 hectares at US$6 per hectare of all 17 communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Malaysian company had signed a 63-year agreement with Liberia covering 220,000 hectares of land in the northwestern part of the country. Locals played no role in the agreement, which set the stage for protest and the complaint<\/a> to the oil palm global watchdog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike its predecessor Sime Darby, Mano is not a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the global watchdog of the oil palm industry. However, several national and international laws and protocols call for companies\u2019 recognition of cultural rights, including Liberia\u2019s Land Rights Act of 2018, the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and the 2001 UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, there was a riot<\/a> in the Behsoa community in the Senjeh District of Bomi County after police officers allegedly ransacked a Sande bush in search of \u201cstolen\u201d palm nuts and mills. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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