Monrovia – The Liberia Tree and Trading company (LTTC) has sharply denied allegations that it ordered the shooting and arbitrary arrest of citizens of Gbi-Doru Administrative District.
Recently, residents of Dorgbor Town, President George Weah’s maternal home, alleged that several gunmen claiming to be police officers on April 30, 2021 stormed the town and began firing live bullets, and in the process shot one person and arrested three persons including the victim that was reportedly shot.
But speaking to FrontPage Africa, the Administrative Manager of LTTC, Amos Myers said the allegation is not only ‘false and misleading’ but a ploy by a handful of people of Doru Chiefdom to tarnish the reputation of the company and impede its operations after it has been duly certified by the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) to commence logging activities.
“This is false and misleading. There is nowhere in Dorgbor Town or any part of Doru Chiefdom where the police shot anybody to break their leg,” Mr. Myers debunked.
He said the security officers were members of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) who were enforcing a court order to arrest some group of people led by Dudley S. Debois, Jr.
The men, he said, were in the constant habit of vandalizing the company’s properties and physically attacking the workers. He said the men are wanted by the court after they were charged for harassment and menacing.
“There was an order of arrest that was issued against Dudley Debois, Jr. and others for harassing and threatening the lives of LTTC workers,” he said.
“When an arrest order is issued, it is given to the plaintiff so that when you see whosoever to be arrested, you give the warrant to the security. That is why we asked the LNP.”
However, Debois, in response, said he was not on the run; and so, there was no need to carry armed men to Gbi-Doru to arrest him. He said since the lawsuit filed against him and his colleagues, they have since been released on bail following their lawyer’s intervention, and are residing in Monrovia going about their normal businesses.
“If Mr. Myers said he took armed men to Gbi-Doru to arrest me and my people for the case that is already in court and we have been released on bail, then it clearly shows he is up for different thing,” Debois said.
“He knows we live in Monrovia and going about our normal businesses. How come he will leave us here and take armed men to Gbi to enforce an arrest warrant?”
Myers also claimed that some of the residents blocked the police’s way while on their way back by felling trees on the road. And when the car slowed down, they attacked the security with stones and other objects. He said some townspeople also attacked some of their kinsmen they accused of backing the company. And one of the victims, identified as Gabriel Dorgbor, was severely beaten and currently admitted at the Jackson F. Hospital.
Dorgbor told FPA that his spine and head suffered severe injuries. He said he was beaten with clubs and heavy blows by some of the towns people led by the youth coordinator Michael Tiah, who accused him of aiding the ERU officers to arrest the three people.
But Tiah denied Myers and Dorgbor’s claims, and said at no time did the residents attack the gunmen or any of their kinsmen. He said the barrage of gunshots in the security made residents to panic and most of them fled into the bush for fear of their lives.
Meanwhile, FrontPage Africa has verified that no citizen was shot or leg got broken as earlier claimed by some aggrieved residents of the area. Those arrested were brought to Buchanan and later released. Family members told FrontPage Africa they were released following the intervention of Rep. Johnson Gwaikolo, who represents the people at the Legislature. However, family members complained that they were maltreated by the security and some had bruises on their bodies.
FrontPage Africa reached out to Moses Carter at his office and he promised to give detail information on the situation but did not. A follow-up was later made through phone calls and text messages but he did not respond.
Company is Committed to Agreement
Since the signing of the concession agreement between the citizens of Doru Chiefdom and LTTC in 2010 for the operation of the 35,000 hectares’ community forest, the company has not been able to fully operate due to a long standing legal wrangling with aggrieved citizens.
The citizens through the Community Assembly and the Community Forest Management Body, in a communication to the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) through its Managing Director, C. Mike Doryen, complained that the agreement was in violation of the Community Rights Law of 2009 and the National Forest reform Law of 2006; and as such it should be considered null and void.
But the company argued that the agreement was consistent with the law and it was now ready to begin full operation for the benefits of both parties, just as it has done for the people of Gbi Chiefdom. Mr. Myers revealed the company has completed the construction of a modern school building in Gbi, while another structure is near completion in Dorgbor Town, the district’s headquarters situated in Doru Chiefdom.
He said although the company’s operation in Doru has consistently been interrupted, it is willing to dialogue with the residents to find a common ground.
On several occasions, the company has engaged the citizens for a peaceful resolution, according to him. However, “As soon it gets ready to operate, a handful of people will put up stiff resistance and incite the locals against it.”
“For every time we give money, they will receive it but time for us to go to work, they will deny us. The FDA has given us the prequalification certificate and harvesting certificate to go to work but they keep denying us,” he said.
Meanwhile, all effort exerted to contact the FDA did not materialize. The FDA communications office did not response up to press time and Managing Director Doryen did not respond to series of phone calls placed to him.
