{"id":4619,"date":"2024-02-05T19:17:48","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T19:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=4619"},"modified":"2024-02-05T19:28:11","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T19:28:11","slug":"community-forest-cancels-contract-with-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2024\/02\/05\/community-forest-cancels-contract-with-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Forest Cancels Contract with Company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: Korninga B Community Forest covers 31,318 hectares in the Bokomu District of Gbarpolu County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Esau J. Farr<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MANOWALLAH, Gbarpolu County \u2013 A community forest has canceled its contract with a logging company after denying locals their benefits and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Korninga B Community Forest in Bokomu District, Gbarpolu County had sued Indo Africa Plantation Limited for a breach of the agreement, according to court documents. The company reneged on the terms of the agreement and denied it several benefits and undermined development which led to a lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe third-party forest management agreement is hereby declared canceled as though same has never existed among and between the parties\u2026,\u201d said Judge Zubullah Kizeku of the 16th<\/sup> Judicial Circuit Court in Bopolu in its summary judgment ruling. A summary judgment is a final decision made by a court based on the statements and evidence without going to trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aaron Mulbah, the chief officer of Korninga B, said he was happy the community has gotten back their forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t come to me as a surprise, because of the proper documentation of our issues with Indo Africa and records shown [in] court,\u201d Mulbah said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indo Africa did not respond to queries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Korninga B signed a 14-year agreement<\/a> with Indo Africa, a firm owned by a Singaporean family<\/a>, the Guptas. Korninga B leased its 31,318-hectare forest to Indo Africa for a forest contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company agreed to pay Korninga B US$46,977 as a land rental fee, US$30,000 for scholarships and  US$25,000 for medical each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company further promised to construct two handpumps in each town, a youth centre and a paramount chief\u2019s office for affected communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But up to four years later, the company failed to harvest a single log to make the payments. That failure violated a clause in its contract and a provision in the Community Rights Law, prompting the lawsuit. The law requires companies to begin harvest within 18 months after the signing of the agreement.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all, Korninga B received US$65,000 in land rental fees from Indo Africa, according to Mulbah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The community used the fund to begin the construction of a guesthouse in Henry Town, the region\u2019s most populated place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mambutu Dukuly, another community leader, said that based on their experience with Indo-Africa they would conduct background checks on companies before awarding any future contracts.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will be looking at their financial strength, records of work, relationship with communities and\u2026 payment\u2026,\u201d Dukuly said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cancellation of the deal, however, means affected communities still do not have a school or a clinic. Schoolchildren have to walk a long distance to Henry Town as Bopolu is even farther. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Patience Kumakeh, one of the decision-makers for Korninga B, said that will feature high in their next agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe community will be looking up to any company that will be willing to provide road reconditioning, the construction of clinics, school handpumps and educational support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Korninga B is not Indo Africa\u2019s only failure. The company also abandoned a contract with Bondi Mandingo in Gbarpolu in the Bopolu District. It and Sing Africa, another company owned by the Guptas, are listed in a recent forestry review<\/a> and are dormant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Funding for this story was provided by the Kyeema Foundation and Palladium. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story\u2019s content.<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top: Korninga B Community Forest covers 31,318 hectares in the Bokomu District of Gbarpolu County. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue By Esau J. Farr MANOWALLAH, Gbarpolu County \u2013 A community forest has canceled its contract with a logging company after denying locals their benefits and development. Korninga B Community Forest in Bokomu District, Gbarpolu County had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4621,"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":[53,54,3],"tags":[1385,2723,2722,107],"class_list":["post-4619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-land-rights","category-logging","category-rainforest","tag-gbarpolu-county","tag-indo-africa","tag-korninga-b","tag-liberia"],"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":"Community Forest Cancels Contract with Company - The DayLight","description":"A community forest has canceled its contract with a logging company after denying locals their benefits and development.","canonical_url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2024\/02\/05\/community-forest-cancels-contract-with-company\/","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. 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