{"id":5409,"date":"2024-09-20T18:24:41","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T18:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=5409"},"modified":"2024-09-20T18:46:26","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T18:46:26","slug":"graduates-cut-grass-at-gvl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2024\/09\/20\/graduates-cut-grass-at-gvl\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduates Cut Grass at GVL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: The University of Liberia is graduating about 2,600 students this month. Lux Radio\/ Isaiah Joseph Gbainhea<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

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

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MONROVIA \u2013 The University of Liberia is graduating some 2,600 students<\/a> this year for the skilled labor market\u2014perhaps, including Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL). However, they may have to settle for unskilled jobs like two alumni of the university and another school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two individuals have bachelor\u2019s degrees but worked as casual laborers with GVL. Their tasks include cutting grass with handheld tools to plant palm trees in the Tartweh-Drapoh Chiefdom, Kpanyan District, Sinoe County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt it was useless for me to leave my home in Sinoe to go Monrovia and get a degree, come back and GVL gave me a cutlass to brush,\u201d said Lawrence Doe, a 2018 general agriculture graduate of the University of Liberia, in a phone interview. Doe worked for GVL as a casual laborer for six weeks in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, knowing myself, I said it was an abuse to education,\u201d Doe added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another graduate worked for over a year as a casual laborer before GVL assigned him an office post.  The DayLight is not identifying the worker to protect him\/her from reprisal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The newspaper obtained copies of the fieldworker graduates’ diplomas and verified their stories with Nunu Broh, the chairman of the Tartweh-Drapoh Agriculture Committee. Odune Dumbar, a leader in Tartweh-Drapoh, a chiefdom in the Kpayan District and hometown of Doe and the unidentified worker.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broh, Dumbar and other community leaders had encouraged the two individuals to take the jobs as a stepping stone for top offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unidentified worker stayed there for over a year and finally got a deserving job. For his part, Doe found a decent job and left the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Golden Veroleum Liberia hires university graduates as casual laborers at its palm plantation. The DayLight\/James Harding Giahyue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

No employment amid vacancies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberia signed a 65-year concession agreement<\/a> with GVL, covering 220,000 hectares of ancestral land in southeastern and southcentral Liberia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2010 agreement obligates the company to employ skilled Liberians from in and out of its concession areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GVL has long violated that provision, prompting criticism<\/a> from then-Vice President Joseph Boakai in 2015. GVL welcomed<\/a> the criticism but outlined its supposed employment history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid its skilled employment obligations, evidence shows GVL has vacancies for such workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, GVL laid off nearly 450 workers<\/a> due to the coronavirus pandemic and the fall in the price of crude palm oil on the world market.  Later that year, it redundant an additional 250 workers<\/a>, the fourth layoff in seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, an environmental audit report found that GVL had a vacancy for a health and safety staff<\/a> at its palm oil mill in Sinoe\u2019s Tarjuwon District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has yet to hire graduates for a new clinic in Tartweh-Drapoh despite a protest there last year. Letters between GVL and Tartweh\u2014obtained by The DayLight\u2014suggest GVL has several vacancies for human resource officer, finance officer, transport manager, safety officer and assistant manager, etc.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GVL denies employing graduates as unskilled laborers. \u201cThis is not to the knowledge of GVL,\u201d said spokesman Alphonso Kofi in an email. \u201cWe will be glad if you provide some names…\u201d The DayLight provided Lawrence Doe and has not heard back from Kofi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Green Livelihoods Alliance<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (GLA) provided funding for this story. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over the story\u2019s content. <\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top: The University of Liberia is graduating about 2,600 students this month. Lux Radio\/ Isaiah Joseph Gbainhea By James Harding Giahyue MONROVIA \u2013 The University of Liberia is graduating some 2,600 students this year for the skilled labor market\u2014perhaps, including Golden Veroleum Liberia (GVL). 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