Monrovia – The President of the Quardu Gboni University Students Association of Lofa County has vowed that his association would remain firm to their previous position against the operations of the Liberia Cocoa and Coffee Corporation (LCCC) in their district.
Ishmael V. Kamara underlined that members of the association see the corporation plan as an attempt to undermine their ancestral settlement and sovereignty politically and economically under the pretense of economic development initiative.
Says Kamara: “The vast majority of our people depend on the soil for survival through agriculture; therefore, we will resist every action from the Government of Liberia that is intended to deprive us of our little and limited farmlands, which will subject us to abject poverty and undermine our socio- political and economic stability.”
The association President says they are calling on President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Vice President Joseph Boakai who wants to be the next President of Liberia and members of the honorable House of Legislature that the people of the district have resolved on the issue of the LCCC and that their position remains no to the deal.
“Election time is approaching therefore, we don’t want any disenchantment from this government because we as citizens of Quardu Gboni district give 99 % of our vote to the ruling Unity Party (UP) government but it is so unfortunate that our reward is nothing other than to mortgage our farmlands in order to enslave us economically and politically”, says Kamara.
He adds “However, we will defend and protect our land and our people from this modern political and economic slavery which is under the disguise of concession.”
Kamara said a British chartered accounting firm hired by the Government of Liberia audited and found that 68 concession agreements signed by this government, only two met compliance standard or international best practices meaning 66 of the concession agreements were bogus, therefore, they cannot allow their district to be part of such agreement.
The Association Chairman added that eight billion dollars concession granted in agriculture, forestry, mining, and oil including a lucrative deal with Oil Company Chevron were either wholly or partially flawed and some of the most downing materials in the report concerns logging permits that cover quarter of the country and were given out illegally.
“In fact we don’t want any dialogue with any government delegate again on this particular issue, this is because for every meeting we spend resources and our position is already clear which is no to the LCCC deal”, he noted.