{"id":2958,"date":"2022-10-26T11:59:30","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T11:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=2958"},"modified":"2022-10-26T15:20:43","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T15:20:43","slug":"lebanese-company-has-no-right-to-log-in-grand-bassa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2022\/10\/26\/lebanese-company-has-no-right-to-log-in-grand-bassa\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanese Company Has No Right to Log In Grand Bassa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: A Masayaha container at its log yard in Bokay Town, Grand Bassa County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By James Harding Giahyue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This is the fourth part of a series on a string of illegal activities by Masayaha Logging Company, which operates in Grand Bassa County.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SAUL TOWN, Grand Bassa County \u2013 Within the last three years, Lebanese logging firm Masayaha Limited Liability Corporation has harvested logs outside the Worr Community Forest<\/a> in Compound Number One. An investigation by The DayLight uncovered the company has not been punished for those illegal activities and its abandonment of some 600 logs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the fact that the Masayaha does not have any legal rights to cut down a single tree in the Worr Community Forest remained unnoticed or unreported\u2014until now.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interviews with members of the leadership of the community show they are unaware of how Masayaha ended up in their forest. Magna Logging Corporation Inc., a company owned by Liberian businessman Morley Kamara, had signed an agreement with locals in August 2019 but gave way for Masayaha that same year in a secret deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMasayaha and Magna agreement, we are not part of it. We don\u2019t know how they went through their agreement,\u201d said Alvin Fiske, the head of the Worr Community Forest\u2019s leadership. \u201cWe expected every agreement we made with Magna be turned over.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fiske\u2019s comments were corroborated by Garsayweh Harris, who advises Worr\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transfer from Magna to Masayaha was illegal and remains so. The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) must approve a transfer of license from one company to another, according to the National Forestry Reform Law<\/a>, and the community ought to give its consent to such a deal under the Community Rights Law of 2009 with Respect to Forest Lands<\/a> (CRL).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny decision, agreement or activity affecting the status or use of community forest resources shall not proceed without the prior, free and informed consent of the said community,\u201d the CRL says in section 2.2, one of its guiding principles. The law is a crucial part of postwar forestry reform, which empowers communities to co-manage their forests alongside the FDA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, Magna\u2019s CEO Morley Kamara admitted that Masayaha was the actual operator of Worr. \u201cMagna is not the operator of Worr concession,\u201d Kamara said in an emailed response to queries on Masayaha\u2019s illegal logging activities. \u201c\ufeffPlease direct your questions to the right party.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kamara declined to comment on the illegal transfer when contacted earlier this month. \u201cI do not report to newspapers, including yours but to FDA and the community. Do not contact me for future articles as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Masayaha has abandoned nearly 600 logs it harvested between 2020 and 2021, an analysis of the company\u2019s production and export records show. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Masayaha\u2019s owner and CEO Ali Harkous did not reply to the WhatsApp messages we sent to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read more on Masayaha:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n