{"id":3213,"date":"2023-02-06T19:41:59","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T19:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=3213"},"modified":"2023-02-06T21:15:42","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T21:15:42","slug":"illegal-loggers-harvest-2300-timbers-in-gbarpolu-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2023\/02\/06\/illegal-loggers-harvest-2300-timbers-in-gbarpolu-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal Loggers Harvest \u20182,300\u2019 Timbers in Gbarpolu Town"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: A collage of pictures showing piles of squared timbers Sam Tomosiayah, an illegal logger, harvested in Darmo\u2019s Town in Gbarpolu\u2019s Bopolu District. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

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

\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This story is a part of a series on an illegal logging activity commonly called \u201cKpokolo.\u201d  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DARMO\u2019S TOWN, Gbarpolu County \u2013 Nearly a dozen huge piles of heavy, squared timbers are covered with palm thatches on the side of a road that branches from the Suehn Mecca-Bopolu highway. More, smaller piles are scattered in the forest here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The woods are actually the products of a logging agreement between a Liberian-Indian company named Raytech International and the people of Darmo\u2019s Town in Gbarpolu\u2019s Bopolu District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But unlike in a legal logging deal, the company and community did not obtain any rights to sign the deal. The Forestry Development Authority (FDA)\u2014at least\u2014did not officially authorize it. It is part of an illicit logging operation called \u201ckpokolo\u201d that involves shaping the woods like boxes to fit neatly in containers and smuggled out of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Called block wood by the FDA, kpokolo operation thrived in plain sight for years until an apparent ban on the illicit activity in the third quarter of last year. It had become one of the most common forestry violations, particularly in the last three or four years. It harnessed the tide of political neglect in rural communities, the legacies of failed logging contracts, and the ineffectiveness and involvement of the FDA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Darmo\u2019s Town, it all started during the rainy season in 2021 when a man on a motorcycle visited the area. Sam Tumosiayah<\/a>, an agent of Raytech, asked chiefs and elders to grant him access to the forest there. Tumosiayah had established the company in January of that year, according to its article of incorporation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A pile of squared timbers Sam Tomosiayah, an illegal logger, harvested in Darmo\u2019s Town in Gbarpolu\u2019s Bopolu District. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In exchange, Tumosiayah, a resident of Somalia Drive in Monrovia, promised the townspeople to repair a major bridge leading in the area among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen they agreed to give the landowner their tolls directly. Even our town has received tolls,\u201d said Mamadee Harris, a resident of Darmo\u2019s Town, in an interview with The DayLight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter Vah, the local manager of who Raytech, said the company paid villagers L$100 for each piece of kpokolo measuring six inches in height, 12 inches in width and seven feet in length (6X12X7).  He said the company had not discussed with locals about the 12X12X7 timbers it cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vah said Raytech produced a total of 2,300 pieces of kpokolo in the one year and three months it has worked in Darmo\u2019s Town. \u201cThe first batch of kpokolo we produced was 500 pieces and the next one 1,800,\u201d  said Vah, who said his duties included finding trees and supervising the harvesting.  \u201cNothing has been sold. Some are in the bush, and others in Monrovia.\u201d The DayLight could not independently verify Vah\u2019s figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a mobile interview with The DayLight, Tumosiayah lied that the company had only cut 150 kpokolo in Darmo\u2019s Town. He then diverted from the issue after this reporter presented proof the newspaper had gathered on Raytech\u2019s operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sam Tumosiayah is a representative of Raytech, an illegal logging company that operates in Gbarpolu County.  Facebook\/Sam Tumosiayah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Legal Documents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FDA may have banned kpokolo operations in the third quarter of last year as pressure mounted on the agency to stamp out illegal logging, according to some of the illegal loggers and rangers at a number of FDA checkpoints. Kpokolo first appeared in the news<\/a> in September last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tumosiayah said he and other kpokolo loggers were appealing to the FDA to lift the ban to allow them to sell thousands of kpokolo left in various forests across the country. \u201cOur business on the market is not going like before. We are catching some difficulties,\u201d he said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tumosiayah thinks his kpokolo operation is legal because his business is registered and pays taxes. \u201cSome people are cheating and defrauding the Liberian government,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you have legal documents to do X,Y,Z, the government will say, \u2018Yes, this is a Liberian person.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tumosiayah\u2019s thoughts are not backed by law, as a company needs more than an article of incorporation and a business registration certificate to do logging. It must show the capacity to do logging, sign a contract, conduct an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA), produce forest management plans, and obtain a harvesting certificate. There are also standards for harvest, export and communities\u2019 benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kpokolo operators such as Raytech International, have harnessed the tide of neglect by successive Liberian governments of rural communities and the failed logging contracts across the country, coupled with the complicity of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) amid enormous forestry violations. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue  <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That aside, there are other issues with Raytech\u2019s papers that further expose its forestry violations.  Its article of incorporation only lists Savid Muhammed Kutty (40 percent) and Jilt Joseph (10 percent) as two of its three shareholders. The third shareholder, however, is omitted. Based on its tax-payment history, both men are foreign nationals but the company\u2019s business registration certificate identifies it only as Liberian-owned. And Raytech amended its article of incorporation in Oct last year, according to the tax-payment record. Its new legal documents are not registered at the Liberia Business Registry as of last month and do not reflect the amendment. That is a violation of the Business Association Act, which requires firms to register changes to their legal papers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between June 2, 2021 and January 25 this year, Raytech brought in nine foreign nationals into the country, three of them twice, according to the company\u2019s tax payment records. It made no payments for work permits, despite showing Kutty, Joseph and three of their colleagues obtained non-ECOWAS resident permits at least once. The other three men are Sijomon Verghese, Manilal Sasi and Sinojin Augustine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Liberia, shareholding or beneficial ownership, work permit and resident status are crucial to things such as taxes, business rights and logging eligibility. Kutty did not return queries via WhatsApp for comments. Joseph said he was no longer a shareholder in the company, without providing any proof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Piles of kpokolo Raytech harvested, like this one, are scattered in the forest in Darmo\u2019s Town, Gbarpolu County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In our phone interview, Tumusiayah claimed that he was Raytech\u2019s majority shareholder and did not know of the omission. He further claimed that he had gone to the business registry to check the documents and would call The DayLight.  However, efforts to conduct an in-person interview with him did not succeed, and he did not return further calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Managing Director of the FDA Mike Doryen did not reply to an emailed inquiry on the status of kpokolo operations countrywide. However, addressing delegates at a recent forest and climate change forum in Monrovia, Doryen blamed communities for widespread illegal activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese communities are undermining our efforts to deal with violations,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople go in the communities and take money from other people to harvest and transport timber to town, harvesting double-board foot outside what is required by law, it is illegal logging,\u201d Doryen added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there is plenty of evidence that backs Doryen\u2019s comments, the FDA itself has benefited from the unlawful activities. It collected fees from kpokolo operators for years but there are no records that they remitted them into the government\u2019s coffers. An investigation by The DayLight last month revealed<\/a> a number of receipts the FDA issued an illegal logger in Ganta, Nimba County. They matched other kpokolo receipts obtained so far. Doryen did not respond to a list of questions at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top: A collage of pictures showing piles of squared timbers Sam Tomosiayah, an illegal logger, harvested in Darmo\u2019s Town in Gbarpolu\u2019s Bopolu District. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue By James Harding Giahyue Editor\u2019s Note: This story is a part of a series on an illegal logging activity commonly called \u201cKpokolo.\u201d   DARMO\u2019S TOWN, Gbarpolu County \u2013 Nearly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3219,"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":[55,54,3],"tags":[972,123,1259,107,1486],"class_list":["post-3213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-deforestation","category-logging","category-rainforest","tag-deforestation","tag-forestry-development-authority","tag-illegal-logging","tag-liberia","tag-mike-doryen"],"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":"Illegal Loggers Harvest \u20182,300\u2019 Timbers in Gbarpolu Town - The DayLight","description":"Top: A collage of pictures showing piles of squared timbers Sam Tomosiayah, an illegal logger, harvested in Darmo\u2019s Town in Gbarpolu\u2019s Bopolu District. 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