Monrovia – An agreement between a Burkinabe investor and a segment of Grand Gedeh County authorities through the superintendent, Alex Grant is seemingly being greeted by serious public criticisms and could be possibly be overturned as a result of immense pressure from prominent citizens and other government authorities.
By Emmanuel Weedee-Conway
Last week, Grand Gedeh County led by Supt. Grant signed a 30-year lease agreement with Burkinabé Investor Boubou Sebu for 500 acres of cocoa farmland in the B’hai Administrative District.
As inscribed in the agreement, the investor will pay US$150,000 for the first ten years, totaling $600,000 over 30 years, all allocated to the County Development Fund.
The authorities justified that the project aims to promote sustainable agriculture and create employment opportunities in the district – a part of a broader trend of Burkinabé Cocoa Farmers establishing plantations in southeastern Liberia, monitored by the Liberia Immigration Service, amid concerns about deforestation and land use.
However, the agreement has since hit the nail as Grand Gedeans including District #3 Representative, Jacob C. Debee, the district in which the contract is situated, decried what he termed as a unilateral decision by the county’s chief administrator, Superintendent Grant.
Speaking to FPA in an exclusive interview following meeting with some top officials from the Liberia Land Authority or LLA at his Capitol Building office, Rep. Debee claimed that the Development Superintendent, Fiscal Affairs, County Inspector, members of the Grand Gedeh Legislative Caucus and even local dwellers, who are the main custodians of the land, are unaware of said shady deal.
Worst of the matter, Debee points out that the agreement is total in contravention with the Land Right Act, specifically Section 36, which addresses the issue of Confirmatory Survey of Customary Land.
According to him, only the LLA can authorize or conduct the confirmatory survey. This survey confirms the community’s boundaries after local harmonization, and it is done with the community’s participation.
“The affected community is not in the know and that’s why we can’t say it’s the county. It’s not the county that signed this agreement but rather the Superintendent. It was the wrong choice of word by the superintendent to have declared that Grand Gedeh signed this agreement,” Rep. Debee stated.
The Grand Gedeh lawmaker revealed that the caucus has made some promising engagements with major stakeholders including the Superintendent and the community itself to go back to the drawing board that could possibly lead to its cancellation in totality.
“I think it’s not a good decision that the Superintendent took and I think because of that that’s why he trying to meet the community to discuss the decision. Since Saturday, he has been on radio trying to explain why he took the decision.”
Also speaking to this paper via mobile phone, former Grand Gedeh County Senator, A. Marshall Dennis, like Rep. Debee, described the agreement as illegal due to the fact that the custodians of the customary land – the people were not involved in the agreement.
“Even if you want to set a portion aside for government’s use, it has to be with the acquiescence of the people, who are the custodians. There is nowhere in the Act that says 10 percent of a clan land or hinterland should be given to government or should be set aside for the government. Even if that was the case, it doesn’t mean that you can just decide to say that you can go all by yourself to do your survey,” he stated.
The former Grand Gedeh statesman disclosed that a delegation of local citizens is on the way to Monrovia to meet with members of the county’s legislative caucus and prominent citizens residing in Monrovia.
Mr. Dennis believes that the best way forward to the situation is to ensure that the ‘unilateral’ decision be reversed wherein the agreement is revoked before perhaps, entering into another fresh discussion that would guarantee everyone’s benefit.
“The agreement will have to be revoked, because what is not done properly is not done at all. The agreement will definitely have to be revoked. Even if the people will agree, this identical agreement will have to be abrogated first, then they go back in their chambers and discuss with them – mean with the county all over,” he intoned.
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