Monrovia – The European Union and FINN CHURCH AID (FCA) in Liberia have launched a project to provide access to justice and gender sensitive and legal awareness at grassroots level in Bong, Lofa and Nimba counties.

Funded by the European Union and implemented by the National Civil Society Partner Organizations, Rural Human Rights Activists Program (RHRAP) and the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia (AFELL), the two-year project seeks to contribute to enhancing the rule of law and the respect of the fundamental human rights of the most vulnerable prisoners in Liberia.

It also aims at improving access to justice by strengthening local capacities to provide gender sensitive and legal support and protection of prisoners’ rights in the three counties.

Speaking at a ceremony to launch to the project, the Head of Cooperation Section and Resilience at the European Union Delegation in Liberia, Alberto Menghini emphasized that the project will enhance the knowledge of law reinforcement representatives including Police, and correction officers, legal practitioners as well as enlightens community leaders to the rule of law and international human rights standards.

He added that the initiative will further increase legal provision of legal assistance for vulnerable detainees; strengthen dialogue, cohesion building and information sharing between stakeholders and improve attitude and practices, through awareness raising and advocacy at national and international level on issues of vulnerable detainees’ rights.

“Poor prison conditions and excessive pre-trial detention are a consequence of wider problems in the judicial system and cannot be fully addressed in isolation. 

However, they are also human rights violations that cannot be left unattended until the bigger problems are fixed.

That’s why EU Human Rights Strategy in Liberia includes supporting initiatives aiming at improving prison conditions and reduce pre-trial detention”, Alberto Menghini stressed.

Talking about the overview of the project, the Finn Church Aid (FCA) Country Director, Mr. Hoslo Jiwa, explained that “we have all heard it when the alleged perpetrator of a crime says “I want to make a phone call”.

It seems the right thing to say when you have been accused of a crime and you need help from your parents, guardian or a lawyer. We have all got used to hearing these same words used in countless TV shows that we take it for granted”.

He further noted that FCA and its local partners will monitor the prisons and train Liberian Police, Prison Guards and Governors of prisons on international human rights of prisoners and establish a telephone system for three national prisons in Liberia, for 18 months and prisoners will have access to phones and lawyers working on pro bona system to review their cases of incarceration.

The FINN CHURCH AID would manage and coordinate the project while RHRAP and AFFELL, two Liberian civil society organizations will implement it in Bong, Lofa and Nimba counties respectively.

In doing their work, the implementers  will collaborate with government ministries and agencies with focus on the Justice Ministry, traditional and religious leaders in addressing some of the many challenges faced by the Liberia justice system.

Finally, the Ministry of Justice represented by Assistant Minister Hilary Siakor-Sirleaf officially launched the project. Speaking onbehalf of the Minister of Justice, Hon. Siakor-Sirleaf pledged the ministry support and full collaboration toward the successful implementation of the project.

Lofa County – Ahead of Liberia’s pending 2017 general presidential and legislative elections, NOGs are working out modalities to ensure that more Liberia participate in the electioneering process.

Even before the election, Liberian is bracing for a national referendum aimed at amending several parts of the constitution.

At a well-attended conference in Gbarnga this year, delegates voted for 25 propositions to be put forward for referendum. The propositions were submitted to the national legislature for a review.

Despite the ongoing review process by the legislature, many political observers believe the propositions are just too large to be put up for referendum without proper public education.

In a bid to increase public awareness on the constitutional review process, the Pentecostal Mission Unlimited, (PMU-Liberia) in partnership with the Center for Peace Building and Development (CPBD) and Independent Human Rights Investigators, (IHI) recently launched a project gear towards deepening citizen’s engagement in constitutional reform process in Liberia.

The project is being funding by the United Nations Development Program.

According to Mr. Davestus James, Head of Programs at PMU Liberia, the project will engage with relevant policy makers and legislators, a look at ongoing constitutional review process and proposed amendment as well as increase public understanding on the role of the legislators in the review process among others.

James said thousands of copies of the current constitution of Liberia along with other educational materials have been distributed to citizens of Voinjama and other parts of Lofa County in order to provide more education to them.

“We are targeting about sixty-eight communities that fall within three electoral districts in Lofa County,” he said. He named Foya, Vahun, Kolahun and some parts of Voinjama districts as part of his targeted areas.

According to James, based on interaction with the citizens in Lofa, many are proposing a decrease in the number of propositions that were voted upon at the Gbarnga convention.

“They want a total reduction in the number of propositions. There are too many confusions and less public awareness,” he noted.

Donovan Livingston said “for too long we have tried the Love of Power, unless we try the Power of Love, we will always be the same”, this is the case of Joseph Boakai. On November 10, 2016, the death of  Rep. Eugene F. Kparkar was announced.

Since the passing of this Honorable man who represented the people of Foya District, where the Vice President is from, he (Boakai) has only been to the home of the family once, precisely November 10, 2016.

This vindictive veep was also overheard speaking happily over the death of the Honorable, precisely say “at least this small boy has been taken off my way” and this saying has been proven by his(Boakai) deliberate refusal to form part of the funeral arrangements of someone who is to be his nephew.

While the people of Lofa are mourning and will be removing the body of their venerable kinsman from the funeral home tomorrow, egocentric Joseph Boakai is celebrating on the eve of this event.

What is more shocking is that this veep has never celebrated his natal day in this manner before, but due to his greed for power, he has planned a cosmetic celebration at the ATS.

I don’t care how compulsory it is to celebrate a birthday, no one will call an extravagant celebration when his family is bereaved.

We are however not surprised at this self-centered act of the Vice President because he has always hated the late Hon. Kparkar on the basis of the late Representative contesting on another Party’s ticket, after he (Boakai) told his supposed to be nephew Kparkar not to contest for Representative.

Boakai argument was because Hon. Kparkar was too young (30 year old) and should give way to Francis Nyumalay, the veep biological relative.

Rest in Peace the well-respected Hon Eugene Fallah Kparkar as we mourn your demise, while Joseph Nyuma Boakai celebrates and ignore the traditional norms of standing by your neighbors during the time of bereavement.

Emmanuel K. Barnes, Young Political Activist
etrance92@gmail.com

Kolahun, Lofa County – It was a moment of joy and jubilation in Kolba City, Kolahun District, Lofa County as the only community radio station in the city was brought back on the air after three months of silence.

On July 26, 2016, residents of Kolba City including County officials, youths, elders, marketers and even children gathered in their numbers at the residence of Cllr. Joseph Jallah to witness the ceremony marking the reopening of radio Harlegee, the only voice of the people of Kolahun District. 

The station has been off the air for over three months due to lack of spare parts for equipment that broke down.

There was appeal to many Citizens of the District since April 2016 but only Cllr. Joseph Jallah that came to the aid of the District to underwrite the cost of the spoiled materials costing about US$ 3,500. He made the payment in two installments from April to June this year.

Cllr. Jallah urged his Kinsmen to be law abiding, respect constituted authority and used the station information dissemination for community development purposes. He later turned the receipts over to the local authorities.

In another development, Cllr. Jallah hosted a mass Independence Day gala which brought together Lofans from various districts in Lofa County.

Jallah said he was happy to be in his home to celebrate Liberia’s 169th Independence with people who are eager to move the county forward.

He called on Lofans to remain united despite all their political differences and work with their officials and the government at large to develop their county.  

I am not an indigene of Lofa County—and I would never be in terms of ethnicity. My ancestral home is the Wedabo chiefdom in Grand Kru County in the southeastern part of Liberia. Before March 3, my knowledge of Lofa County (located in the northern part of Liberia) had two phases.

Phase One is of the County being Liberia’s Food Basket—supplying the entire country with enough fresh foods—especially vegetables. You remember the “Lofa’s Bitter Balls” (garden eggs)—strangely fat and shiny like those grown with “chemical” in some “food rich” Western nations—that flooded all market areas in many of Liberia’s 15 counties? This was before 1990, when Liberians decided on destroying their country through tribal war that lasted 14 years.

Phase Two is of bad (no asphalt) roads connecting the county to other parts of Liberia. Each of these routes would stretch a vehicle’s traveling period into/out of the county to three or more times beyond the time the operator of the vehicle would expect. Each traverse to/from Lofa engenders severe body pains (like one did to me in 2011 and 2016) to a person (especially the first-time traveler) into/from Lofa County.  This knowledge began in March of 2011.

Bad Roads

My first experience with Lofa’s roads was in March of 2011.  I was returning from Nigeria, after spending a 10-year (2001-2011) refugee life. I entered the County through Guinea, one of four countries (including Mali and Burkina Faso) I passed through. During that time Guinea was the newly discovered by-pass route for returning Nigeria’s Liberians who didn’t want to be seen by any Ivorian armed person in Ivory Coast where any Liberian, or a person with Liberian accent, was being hunted for murder by Ivorian armed persons as retroaction of (some) Liberians’ connection with the rebel group of Ivorian rebel leader Laurene Gbagbo.

The Monrovia-bound truck that brought me and other passengers from Benin Republic broke down in Voinjama, so I joined the Monrovia-bound official vehicle (Pick up) of the then Lofa County Superintendent. I was placed at the back of the Pickup. The vehicle left the Superintendent’s compound (in Voinjama) around 6pm and reached the end of Lofa (St. Paul’s Bridge) 11pm. Five-hour journey! The driver told some passengers the journey would have been half of the distance covered if the road had been paved with asphalt. I became a ‘red man’, from the dust, and my buttocks became numb (insensitve) in two weeks from continuous bang (from the car’s continuous jumping into pot holes) of my buttocks with the metallic seat of the car.

The same vehicle spent almost the Lofa’s time for Bong and Margibi Counties.

My second experience with Lofa’s bad roads (no asphalt) was during my journey with Press Union of Liberia on its celebration of the 2016’s World Press Freedom Day in the County. I was with the batch of the PUL members that travelled on the National Transit Authority (NTA) bus on Saturday, April 30. The feature of Lofa’s road (connecting to Bong County)  I saw during the World Press Freedom Daytrip is the same I saw five years ago—when I  was returning from Nigeria!

On the World Press Freedom Day journey, the bus left the Lofa’s road (no asphalt), which begins from Gbarnga’s Central Business District, at 3:45 pm (the time on my mobile phone) and reached Voinjama 9:55pm. Subtract sixty minutes (from brief stops for passengers to attend to nature’s call and to buy food) from this time, and you will have six hours and five minutes. This was almost the time the bus spent on the Montserrado-Margibi-Bong route.

The bad road restricted the movement of our vehicle to between 40 and 50 KPH throughout the journey, down from between ‘80’ and ‘100’ when we were on Margibi’s road and Gbarnga’s. Through the trip, I monitored the vehicle’s speedometer. (We returned to Monrovia on the same speed limit)

 I met another horrible feature (un-asphalt and bumpy road) of Lofa when I was going to Foya (Vice President Joseph native home) Tuesday (May 2) to record developmental successes and challenges in that part of the County, which was a plan (based on journalistic tradition) from the Kamara Abdullai Kamara-led PUL to each PUL member in Lofa for the World Press Freedom celebration.  I was a member of the Foya Batch-2, led by comrade Alfred L.M. Gezaye of INSIGHT Newspaper. No part of the route—connecting Voinjama, Kolahun and other areas—had asphalt. The vehicle (Pickup) that took us from our base (Voinjama) to Foya spent more than two hours on the road. Along the road (on the Voinjama’s side) is a palm tree plantation owned by the Liberia Produce Marketing Corporation (LPMC), where Liberia’s current Vice President (H.E. Joseph Nyumah Boaka) occupied a top managerial post.

I saw a “modern road” (covered with asphalt) only in the center of Voinjama, the chosen political capital of Lofa County. I didn’t see similar modern-time route in Zorzor, which is next to Voinjama in terms of development and popularity.

With knowledge of the huge number of wealthy Lofans in government (remember: Liberia’s current Vice President is a native of Lofa County) and in the business community (in Liberia and abroad), I thought: All roads in this County should have been paved with asphalt.

At the Marjod Guest House (where I lodged on the PUL’s expense) in the Kiss Quarters in Voinjama, I voiced my disappointment of Lofa’s roads (I had travelled through) to the Guest House’s Manager, Emmanuel F.J. Cooper, and his colleague. “That Lofa’s road connecting to Gbarnga you’re talking about has always been like that in eighty years”, Emmanuel told me. “The other roads, with no asphalt, in other parts of the County, are closer in age to the one connecting us to Gbarnga or Monrovia, which you came through from Monrovia.”  Then Emmanuel disclosed his political choice for the presidency come 2017: “Vice President Joseph Boakai will pave (put asphalt) on all these roads, when he is elected President.”

Phobia of Ebola

Lofa County served as the gateway (from March 3, 2014, according to government’s record) of the fast-killing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) that killed four thousand-plus of my compatriots (including medical doctors), denied me my Rights of Association (in public areas), and slowed, to the point of inactivity, my nation’s economic life. First seen by scientists in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) in 1976, EVD decided to migrate (flying over five countries, none of which it “touched”) to Liberia on the 3rd day of March of 2014, via Guinea.

My fear of Lofa County had come from journalists’ reports (some time relaying government’s reports) about Ebola’s epidemic in the County. The Press Union of Liberia’s leadership’s mention of “Lofa County” as celebration venue of the 2016’s World Press Freedom Day reawakened my fear of the County.

Then, I entered the County (on Saturday, April 30).

From the time (around 10pm) we disembarked from the bus, I avoided coming into contact with any “Lofan” who wasn’t a member the “PUL family” that came for the World Press Freedom Day anniversary; and I also avoided touching “anything” (animal or fruit) scientists tell me is the “host” or “transporter” of the Ebola virus.

Aware of mango being the “host” of Ebola virus—when nipped by a bat as a “transporter”— I suppressed the addictive urge of nipping—or touching—any of the hundreds of clean, ripe and full mangoes under each of dozens of mango trees along each road, abandoned by Lofans we met in the County. (In Monrovia, I had rushed several times for these same kinds of fruits, brought by traders from Lofa. But, as long as these mangoes were in Lofa, I won’t touch any!) Foolishly, I Ate One (called “German plum” in Liberia) – From my female colleague on the day (may 4) we were returning to Monrovia)

What I touched, however, was meat (I didn’t know from which animal it was extracted) in the Torborgee (native soup of the Lofa people) prepared by the cook (owner of Under The Tree Bar & Restaurant) hired by Mrs.  Shirley Flomo, head of the PUL’s Food and Lodging Committee. From the way the restauranteur prepared and designed the Torborgee, I became a Falcao (Liberians’ new word for stubbornness or I-won’t-listen character, which had been coined from “I-can’t-listen” gesture of Columbian football star Radamel Falcao in celebration of his goal, or his character of ignoring the sound of a referee’s whistle for off-side just because he just wants to kick toward the net.

Also, the thought of Ebola in Lofa (the disease had been wiped out of the County nine to 10 months before I went there for the World Press Freedom Day) killed my desire for sex in the County. Occasionally the feeling came—especially when I stared at the beckoning ukwu (as Nigerian musician Timaya calls it in his song) of young Lofan girls passing near me—but I would imagined the Ebola virus in each girl’s huge buttocks (ukwu) and the feeling would quench instantly.

I met Lofans still ‘feeling’ the presence of Ebola—six or more months after WHO declared the entire Liberia Ebola-free. This consciousness was reflected in the presence of large anti-Ebola hand-wash bucket at each of the vehicle inspection points in the country and smaller sanitizer container at most of the houses and business centers I passed by while strolling about. I didn’t see such consciousness in most homes and business centers in Monrovia before I travelled to Lofa.

Lofa’s Hospitality

Lofans’ generosity toward me in Voinjama, from the first day I entered (Saturday, April 30) for the World Press Freedom Day to the last day (Wednesday, May 4), overshadowed all the pains I had against the County over bad roads, and my fear (phobia) of the Ebola virus that had long been wiped out of the Country.

Below are the major hospitable acts.

The first (Day One, April 30) was from Fatu Cooper, mother of four children, wife of Marjod Guest House’s Manager, who shared her hot bath water against the freezing weather in Voinjama. Beside this, she often instructed her senior son to fetch bath water from the Guest House’s well for me (and other PUL members anytime) anytime he saw me going toward the well. Neither the mother nor the son requested—by voice or action—any “thank you” token from me for the gesture. Her husband—Emmanuel Cooper—never read any “romantic” feeling in his wife’s “humanitarian gesture”, unlike many other men.

The second hospitable gesture (Day Two, Sunday, May 1) was a huge kitchen pan full with rice and Torborgee (inhabited by half dozens of meat and snails) and with a 10-liter gallon full with palm wine. These came from the family of Mr. Marvee T. Weallea, Deputy County Commander for Administration of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN), Lofa County Detachment. This to-burst-belly food was for me; female journalist Zoe Horace (relative to Mr. Weallea’s family); Willie Tokpa of FrontPage Africa; two other journalists (female); and Mr. Isaac Wredd, Director of Press of the House of Representatives.  The hospitality took another form—pardon—the next day on our failure to honor the Weallea family’s plead for a “return match” (eating of another dish of plenty food and plenty palm wine).

The next person in the line of the Lofa Hospitality was a stranger (Sunday, May 1) who ordered a bike rider to take me to my Guest House and paid the bike’s fare (LD$20), after I told him to only give me direction to the way leading to Under the Tree. (The time was 9pm. I missed the way to Under the Tree, from where I would easily find the road leading to my lodging place, after watching the PUL’s ladies’ Kick Ball Team defeat the Voinjama’s Kick Ball team, and the PUL’s male team go down 1:0 to the Senator Stephen Zargo-led (captained) Voinjama’s Old Timers Football Club at the Voinjama’s football Pitch.

The next humanitarian action came from a bereaved man (he told me his brother died in a burning house few days before we met) who left his house to show me the road to my Guest House, after the bike rider (mentioned above) dropped me.

The next was Lofa County’s Development Superintendent, Madam Younger Sherman (Sunday, May 1), who begged me (with other members of the PUL) to force her breakfast (of stew with eddoes, plantain and fried fish) into my stomach already loaded with foods and drinks from the previous day. Later, she provided the “traditional water” (palm wine) to go with the natural water she had supplied with the food. Much of her lunch on Day Two (Monday, May 2), however, spoiled because my belly (as well as those of most other PUL members she prepared for) had been “locked” with plenty foods and drinks from other Lofans before her foods left the kitchen.

Honorable (Representative) Miriamu Fofana’s “Dinner” (Food & Drinks) were the next reception for me (Sunday, May 2).

Senator Steve Zargo’s ‘Cow meat soup’ with drinks (Wednesday, May 4) succeeded Representative Fofana’s   “Dinner”.

Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai (the chief of hosts for the PUL family in Lofa for the World Press Freedom Day) ordered a cow butchered (Wednesday, May 4) for me, which would be served at the County Development Superintendent’s house. But the leadership of  the PUL halted the slaughter of the animal and ordered its transfer to Monrovia to be cooked—or sold—there.

Back on the Lofa’s side of the Lofa-Gbarnga-Monrovia road on Wednesday, May 4, my involuntary gyration caused by the bus ((now taking me back to Monrovia) jerking, careening, and swerving nearly flushed Lofans’ incomparable reception from my mind. However, in the midst of my grumbling about my discomforts about the bad road (which was causing the driver continuously jerk, careen and swerve to prevent it jumping into a pothole), I prayed, “Lord, give these incomparably hospitable people leaders who would show practical prioritization of their county’s decades-old nightmarish roads into modern ones—with asphalt.”   

About The Author:
Samuel Dweh, still below college education level, is a journalist (with special interest in Education); publisher of Edu-Diary (education newspaper); creative writer; Author of more than five books of fiction (the latest about free grades-related crimes in schools); member of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL); and member of the Liberia Association of Writers (LAW). +231 886 618 906/ +231 776 583 266/samuelosophy@yahoo.com/Dweh4lib@gmailcom

Voinjama, Lofa County – A twin mother, Kebbeh Ballah, who came to the market to look for food for her twin girls, put away everything she was doing and joined the Press Union of Liberia parade on World Press Freedom Day in Lofa County.

Kebbeh, who marched ahead of the group, carried both her nine-month-old babies on her back and hips, joined the PUL parade, around the market area when journalists marched through the principal streets of Voinjama commencing from the Total Gas Station, Central Voinjama.

“I am marching because I hear the VP will be coming here, and I want him to help me buy rice for my children, because my husband is working on someone farm and is not here, and the children are hungry,” Says Kebbeh

The sweaty and tired twin mother was unable to see VP Boakai when he arrived in the hall, because of the heavy pushing by citizens who gathered to see the VP. But some journalists including the PUL collected some money for her to buy food for the babies.

 Mae Azango mae.azango@frontpageafricaonline.com

Monrovia – The agriculture sector of Liberia is facing enormous challenges ranging from lack of market for local farmers to sell their produce, no storage facility and other constraints.

There have been interventions but still there are problems facing the sector and local farmers continue to complain about the situation. On Wednesday, a new project was launched in Monrovia to work with local farmers in helping to solve some of the many problems.

The Liberia Agribusiness Development Activity (LADA), a five year US$20 million United States Agency for International development (USAID) sponsored project has been launched to work with farmers over the duration of the project in finding some solutions.

Daniel Gies, Chief of Party of LADA says the project is looking to work with 20,000 farmers over the project duration to improve their ability to sell their products

 “We are looking to increase the amount of money going to support the agriculture sector of this country, that means, we want more money going into the hands of farmers, we want to increase their ability to market their goods and we want to strengthen the ability of processors, transporters to get Liberian agriculture products to the market”, said Gies.

He says any Liberian farmer or processor in the focused counties of Bong, Nimba, Lofa and Montserrado will benefit from the project. Other areas such as organizing business plans for farmers will be some of the initiatives to be undertaken.

“The goal of this project is to impact and increase the income of 20,000 farmers, it will benefit approximately three to four thousand each year”, Chief of Party Gies said.

According to him while they will be focused on farmers ability to market their produce, boosting the ability of farmers to increase harvest will also be another area of focus.

Six value chain areas

Oscar G. Flomo, the Monitoring and Evaluation manager for the project said the project will focus on six value chain areas but has so far identified rice and cassava as the first two.

“We know some of the challenges facing farmers are low production, limited market and others, so we want to help address these areas”, Flomo said. He noted that other post-harvest constraints such as storage, package, transportation and others will be some areas of focus.

Some local farmers who attended the launch of the project including Madam Lorpu M. Kollie, Paramount Chief of Zota Chiefdom in Bong County expressed the hope that the project makes a difference in their farming activities.

“We want them to help us, sometimes we have plenty cassava but nobody to buy it so it can spoil in our hands”, Chief Lorpu said.

Chief Lorpu also named lack of credit to increase the size of their farms, no storage facility as some of the many problems they are encountering for which they are looking to the USAID project.

“Sometimes we have our pepper, bitter ball and plenty things to sell but nowhere to carry it, the people can come and pay any money they want or it just get rotten”, the Chief lamented.

Another farmer, Leamu Boakai also made similar appeals for the new project to address the problems they are encountering.

As part of the Feed The Future (FTF), LADA project it is to increase private sector investment in the Liberian agribusiness sector, increase commercial finance to the agribusiness sector and expand commercially sustainable linkages between consumers, producers and post-harvest enterprise.

The project is also expected to increase post harvesting handling support, storage processing, transportation, marketing, and auxiliary service a US$3.0 M co-investment fund (CIF) that will provide matching grants for competitive applicants.

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.