\n\n\n\n
VAMBO TOWNSHIP \u2013 Eleven townspeople have been elected to a community forest leadership in Grand Bassa County, calming months of tension over their towns\u2019 alleged misrepresentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mavasagueh Community Forest\u2019s previous election, held in August last year, was marred by irregularities, prompting fresh elections. Those elected include representatives from Boe, Borbor Kaykay, and Togar Towns. Zeogar, the twelfth town, was disqualified because its representative serves as a town chief, debarred from direct community forest activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow that we have been elected, we will do the proper thing for the affected towns and the Vambo Township,\u201d said Ojuku Kangar, a community assembly representative from Boe Town, one of the 11 elected persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wooded areas get community forest status when they complete nine legal steps, including establishing a governance structure. This structure comprises a day-to-day forest management body, a supervising executive committee, and a topmost decision-making assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will form unity with our counterpart as a community assembly to hold the company accountable to our contract,\u201d added Kangar, a DayLight affiliate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The election in Mavasagueh has eased tensions in the Compound Number Town area, following months of hostilities. Before the election, townspeople protested for representation in the leadership. There was an imbalance in the allocation of projects in the 39 towns that own the 26,003-hectare forest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The elections could also lead to the unfreezing of the community forest\u2019s account, which was frozen after funds were misapplied. Kangar said more signatories would be added to the account to reflect inclusion. \u201cWe will ensure the FDA includes us in the bank account,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Citizens blamed the FDA for the chaos. The regulator conducted inadequate awareness, leading to some towns not participating<\/a> in Mavasagueh\u2019s formation, according to civil society and locals. That finding was corroborated by an investigative series over the last five months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniel Dayougar, the former Vambo Commissioner, was accused of handpicking representatives to serve on Mavasagueh\u2019s assembly. Dayougar denies any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amid the chaos, C&C Corporation, the logging company Mavasagueh\u2019s leadership signed a contract with, has been operating. So far, it has paved dirt roads in the area and has harvested logs that are being stored at Krish Veneer Industries, a sawmill in Buchanan, a few miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll of our logs are taken to Buchanan without benefit. This is what happened during RETCO days until we blocked the roads and chased them out,\u201d said Zechariah Boima, of Togar Town. He was referencing RETCO<\/a> Liberia Timber Industry, a company that worked here in the 1990s and paid the community L$10,000 (roughly US$90 today).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The FDA did not respond to queries. However, Kangar David, head of the agency\u2019s sub-office in Buchanan, who conducted the election, urged the new leadership to work in Mavasagueh\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The election is yet another proof of Mavasagueh\u2019s flawed formation. It has already been established that the FDA skipped<\/a> legal steps in granting it a community forest status. C&C Corporation is illegitimate because its owner, Clarence Massaquoi, is an ineligible logger. Krish Veneer, the company\u2019s buyer, operates on the FDA Managing Director Rudolph Merab\u2019s family land<\/a> with an ineligible status. The forest overlaps a private land that two men are claiming<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists (CoFEJ) production<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Top: Newly elected members of Mavasagueh Community Forest. The DayLight\/Ojuku Kangar By Emmanuel Sherman VAMBO TOWNSHIP \u2013 Eleven townspeople have been elected to a community forest leadership in Grand Bassa County, calming months of tension over their towns\u2019 alleged misrepresentation. Mavasagueh Community Forest\u2019s previous election, held in August last year, was marred by irregularities, prompting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6131,"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":[54],"tags":[123,1410,107,2913,2728],"class_list":["post-6128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-logging","tag-forestry-development-authority","tag-grand-bassa-county","tag-liberia","tag-mavasagueh-community-forest","tag-rudolph-merab"],"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":"Fresh Elections Reduce Tension in Community Forest","description":"Eleven townspeople have been elected to a community forest leadership in Grand Bassa, calming months of tension over their towns\u2019 alleged misrepresentation.","canonical_url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2025\/06\/19\/fresh-elections-reduce-tension-in-community-forest\/","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. Our evidence-based, independent and quality news contents tell you all the happenings across nature\u2019s frontiers and the extractive sector in Liberia. From forestry and fisheries to wildlife conservation and climate change, from renewable energy and land rights to oil\/gas and oil palm, we bring you news on everything about the environment you need to know. The DayLight is published by The DayLight Incorporated in Vahnwin Community, Congo Town.","og:type":"article","og:title":"Fresh Elections Reduce Tension in Community Forest","og:description":"Eleven townspeople have been elected to a community forest leadership in Grand Bassa, calming months of tension over their towns\u2019 alleged misrepresentation.","og:url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2025\/06\/19\/fresh-elections-reduce-tension-in-community-forest\/","og:image":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-31-at-120443-PM.jpeg","og:image:secure_url":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-05-31-at-120443-PM.jpeg","og:image:width":1600,"og:image:height":1200,"article:published_time":"2025-06-19T19:30:39+00:00","article:modified_time":"2025-06-19T19:30:48+00:00","article:publisher":"https:\/\/web.facebook.com\/news.thedaylight","twitter:card":"summary","twitter:title":"Fresh Elections Reduce Tension in Community Forest","twitter:description":"Eleven townspeople have been elected to a community forest leadership in Grand Bassa, calming months of tension over their towns\u2019 alleged misrepresentation.","twitter:image":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/cropped-site-identity.png"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"6128","title":"Fresh Elections Reduce Tension in Community Forest","description":"Eleven townspeople have been elected to a community forest leadership in Grand Bassa, calming months of tension over their towns\u2019 alleged misrepresentation.","keywords":null,"keyphrases":{"focus":{"keyphrase":"","score":0,"analysis":{"keyphraseInTitle":{"score":0,"maxScore":9,"error":1}}},"additional":[]},"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":"","og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"BlogPosting","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":"-1","robots_max_videopreview":"-1","robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":"default","local_seo":null,"seo_analyzer_scan_date":"2025-08-15 00:54:18","breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"reviewed_by":"0","ai":null,"created":"2025-06-19 19:12:34","updated":"2025-08-15 00:54:18"},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-03-18-at-164758-1024x768.jpeg\")
\n\n\n\n