{"id":1453,"date":"2021-09-16T18:05:04","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T18:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=1453"},"modified":"2024-02-13T17:55:23","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T17:55:23","slug":"bassa-clan-terminates-logging-contract-with-loggers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2021\/09\/16\/bassa-clan-terminates-logging-contract-with-loggers\/","title":{"rendered":"Bassa Clan To Terminate Contract with Loggers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Banner Image: The headquarters of Starwood in Siaway Town, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight\/William Q. Harmon<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

By William Q. Harmon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOLD DOLLAR TOWN, Grand Bassa County- In 2017, Starwood, INC. signed a 15-year agreement with Matro Kpogblen Community Forest in District No. 4, Grand Bassa County. They promised to construct a school, erect a clinic and provide safe drinking water.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years since signing the concession for the 8,833-hectares of the humid forestland, the Singaporean company has failed to fulfill any part of the agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the leadership of the community forest is seeking an end to their association with the company. The entire communities\u2014chiefs, elders, women, youth leaders, Representative Thomas A. Goshua, II., the lawmaker of that district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving realized the failure of the third-party holder to live up to agreement signed with the community, the community assembly, the executive committee, have agreed to cancel the agreement and terminate all relations with the third-party holder with immediate effect,\u201d reads a resolution they reached at a meeting on May 9. (The assembly is the highest decision-making body in community forestry, and the executive committee takes decisions for that body). The community informed the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) about its decision in communication on  June 28, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starwood did not respond to queries for comments on the matter. An executive of the Singaporean company did not respond to email and text messages, the same with numerous calls The DayLight made to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the Community Rights Law (CRL) of 2009 with Respect to Forest Lands<\/a>, a community can terminate an agreement with a logging company. However, it can only do that after exhausting customary dispute mechanisms or a court process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is room for Starwood\u2019s concession termination. Failure to honor its obligations with Kpogblen is a breach of the CRL. It also violates the MoU with the community, which spells out specific timelines for the implementation of projects, payments of land rental and harvesting fees, almost all of which have elapsed. For instance, by December 2019, the company was to construct 18 hand pumps in each of the 18 towns and villages, erected a school and construct a clinic. These projects should have provided jobs for locals from towns and villages affected by the company\u2019s operations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"

Siaway Town is one of the communities affected by Starwood\u2019s logging operations. The DayLight\/William Q. Harmon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Atty. Gertrude Nyaley, FDA\u2019s community forest department technical manager, says Matro Kpogblen is acting legally. \u201cThe company should not be reneging on paying what is due to the community,\u201d Nyaley says in an interview at FDA\u2019s headquarters in Whein Town, Paynesville. \u201cIf they do, then the community can take actions on the basis of nonperformance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not our role to support any company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FDA is partly responsible for the problem in Matro-Kpogblen, which has plagued other communities across Liberia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guptas, the Singaporean family who owns Starwood, also has Indo Africa and Sing Africa. Indo Africa signed separate agreements with Bondi Mandingo and Korninga B in Gbarpolu in 2018 and 2019, respectively. And Sing Africa sealed a deal with Bluyeama in Lofa in 2015. Similarly, those companies have all failed to live up to their contracts with those communities. Like Matro Kpogblen, Korninga B wants to cancel their deal with Indo Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not right for the FDA to be allowing a company that has not lived up to its obligations in one community to obtain a logging contract in another,\u201d says Jonathan Yiah, the lead forestry campaigner at the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) in a mobile phone interview. \u201cWe strongly believe that the FDA must conduct a much stronger due diligence that will ensure that the company is credible and has the capacity to operate a particular concession.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disappointment over the failure of the logging deal with Starwood is commonplace among villagers in this remote clan bordering River Cess County. The company failed to pay US$27,000 in land rental fees and an unspecified amount of harvesting fees. It did not provide adequate jobs for locals as promised as well as annual contributions to the community\u2019s scholarship program.    <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStarwood has failed to help improve our community and there is no need to be here because we are disappointed,\u201d says Yeaton Siaway, the chief officer of the Kpogblen Community Forest Management Body, which represents the interest of the community in the logging deal with Starwood.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid their decision to cancel Starwood\u2019s agreement, locals want the Singaporean company to pay the fees it owes them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe FDA has to prevail on this company to pay our benefits. They have been holding onto our forest since 2017 and we are not benefiting anything from them,\u201d says Joshua Goah, a resident of Bold Dollar Town. \u201cWe need our benefit and they must provide it.\u201d   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Banner Image: The headquarters of Starwood in Siaway Town, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight\/William Q. Harmon By William Q. Harmon BOLD DOLLAR TOWN, Grand Bassa County- In 2017, Starwood, INC. signed a 15-year agreement with Matro Kpogblen Community Forest in District No. 4, Grand Bassa County. They promised to construct a school, erect a clinic and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-logging","category-rainforest"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Bassa Clan To Terminate Contract with Loggers - The DayLight","description":"Banner Image: The headquarters of Starwood in Siaway Town, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight\/William Q. Harmon By William Q. Harmon BOLD DOLLAR TOWN, Grand Bassa County- In 2017, Starwood, INC. signed a 15-year agreement with Matro Kpogblen Community Forest in District No. 4, Grand Bassa County. They promised to construct a school, erect a clinic and","canonical_url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2021\/09\/16\/bassa-clan-terminates-logging-contract-with-loggers\/","robots":"noindex, nofollow, max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"msvalidate.01":"CA6BD2F84653EA44942A55ABC0B35372","miscellaneous":""},"schema":null,"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"The DayLight - The DayLight is a nonprofit, environmental news website. Our evidence-based, independent and quality news contents tell you all the happenings across nature\u2019s frontiers and the extractive sector in Liberia. From forestry and fisheries to wildlife conservation and climate change, from renewable energy and land rights to oil\/gas and oil palm, we bring you news on everything about the environment you need to know. The DayLight is published by The DayLight Incorporated in Vahnwin Community, Congo Town.","og:type":"article","og:title":"Bassa Clan To Terminate Contract with Loggers - The DayLight","og:description":"Banner Image: The headquarters of Starwood in Siaway Town, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight\/William Q. Harmon By William Q. Harmon BOLD DOLLAR TOWN, Grand Bassa County- In 2017, Starwood, INC. signed a 15-year agreement with Matro Kpogblen Community Forest in District No. 4, Grand Bassa County. They promised to construct a school, erect a clinic and","og:url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2021\/09\/16\/bassa-clan-terminates-logging-contract-with-loggers\/","og:image":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Starwood.png","og:image:secure_url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Starwood.png","og:image:width":974,"og:image:height":650,"article:published_time":"2021-09-16T18:05:04+00:00","article:modified_time":"2024-02-13T17:55:23+00:00","article:publisher":"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/news.thedaylight","twitter:card":"summary","twitter:title":"Bassa Clan To Terminate Contract with Loggers - The DayLight","twitter:description":"Banner Image: The headquarters of Starwood in Siaway Town, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight\/William Q. Harmon By William Q. Harmon BOLD DOLLAR TOWN, Grand Bassa County- In 2017, Starwood, INC. signed a 15-year agreement with Matro Kpogblen Community Forest in District No. 4, Grand Bassa County. They promised to construct a school, erect a clinic and","twitter:image":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/cropped-site-identity.png"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"1453","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":[],"keyphrases":{"focus":{"keyphrase":"","score":0,"analysis":{"keyphraseInTitle":{"score":0,"maxScore":9,"error":1}}},"additional":[]},"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":"","og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":[],"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"BlogPosting","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":"-1","robots_max_videopreview":"-1","robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":"default","local_seo":null,"seo_analyzer_scan_date":"2025-08-15 01:51:50","breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"reviewed_by":null,"ai":null,"created":"2023-09-23 11:51:52","updated":"2025-10-10 10:18:33"},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"

\n\t\t\tHome<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span>\u00bb<\/span>\n\t\t\tRainforest<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span>\u00bb<\/span>\n\t\t\tLogging<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span>\u00bb<\/span>\n\t\t\tBassa Clan To Terminate Contract with Loggers\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68"},{"label":"Rainforest","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/category\/rainforest\/"},{"label":"Logging","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/category\/rainforest\/logging\/"},{"label":"Bassa Clan To Terminate Contract with Loggers","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2021\/09\/16\/bassa-clan-terminates-logging-contract-with-loggers\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1453"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4651,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions\/4651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}