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MONROVIA \u2013 The Managing Director of the Forestry Development Authority Rudolph Merab has bragged about the FDA\u2019s denial of the media access to information, guaranteed by several forestry legal instruments. Riddled with false claims and unrelated references, Merab\u2019s speech appeared to throw hints at forestry reformers and international funders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t run my office in the press but when there is something like I told people I would call a press conference. Merab made the statement as he presented a DayLight reporter with a forestry reporting award over the weekend in Sinkor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI will speak once and I will try to make myself clear. After that, I will not speak again,\u201d added Merab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His comments come months after the FDA\u2019s refusal to grant The DayLight access to public information. It is the first time a head of the FDA\u2014required proactively to disclose public information\u2014has commented publicly on the subject.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Merab incorrectly likened his refusal to the Allied Forces withholding security information during World War II. He narrated an account involving General Dwight David Eisenhower, the American commander of the Allied Forces, and journalists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery time the news comes, the\u2026 news people can patch it up\u2026,\u201d Merab said, wearing a wry smile. \u201cEisenhower called the press people, carried them into the bathroom, locked them up, and said, \u2018I will tell you everything about the D-Day.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, there is no record to support the story happened. Before the D-Day or Normandy Landings<\/a> on June 6, 1944, which defeated the Nazi army, the Allied Forces withheld or censored media publication of certain information to protect the assault\u2019s success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike that account, the information the media seeks from the FDA does not relate to state security or national investigations. Rather, they include contracts, payments, permits, and the agency\u2019s response to issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The FDA’s refusal to share public information contrasts with the Merab administration\u2019s prompt response to inquiries. That contrast contravenes the Freedom of Information Act, the National Forest Reform Law, and Liberia\u2019s trade agreement with the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Increased media scrutiny and reports have coincided with the rise of forestry offenses, impunity, and the downturn of the logging sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Colonialism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Following his false World War II claim, Merab cautioned journalists against treating allegations as a conclusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He again aimed a dig at a 2006 executive order that terminated all the logging contracts<\/a>, including Merab\u2019s Liberia Wood Management Corporation (LWMC). The termination stemmed from the companies\u2019 trade of \u201cblood timber\u201d during Liberia\u2019s brutal civil conflicts (1989-2003) and non-compliance. Termination was a prerequisite for the lifting of United Nations sanctions on Liberian timber. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Afterward, Merab, his LWMC and other companies were partially debarred through regulation<\/a> from forestry activities until they atoned for their alleged offenses. There is no record that Merab atoned for his alleged offenses. He vehemently denied any wrongdoing in an Associated Press interview<\/a> earlier this year, except for taxes he somehow admitted owing. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Merab replayed those accounts in thinly veiled remarks as he handed DayLight reporter Esau J. Farr, Sr. his certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur country is not a colonial system. In the old days, you were guilty until you proved your innocence,\u201d said Merab. \u201cThat was how most of our brothers who were powerful African leaders were killed. [Patrice] Lumumba and the other people were arrested and said they were guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Equating his situation to the Congolese hero Lumumba aside, Merab’s comments are largely misleading. Though people in colonial days were found guilty even before trial, due process for an accused can be traced back to the 13th Century, more than 700 years before Lumumba\u2019s death. The Magna Carta of 1215 in England provided that no man was above the law and everyone was entitled to due process as a fundamental human right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/DJI_0594-1024x576.jpg\")