Bassa Land Dispute Finally Resolved The Government of Liberia (GOL) has resolved the ‘land dispute’ that existed between the citizens of Administrative District #4 and the Management of Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO) Company in Grand Bassa County. Addressing citizens and lawmakers of District #4 during a mass meeting held in Buchanan on Saturday, September 21, 2013, Justice Minister Christiana Tah, urged the people to allow EPO conduct the resurvey peacefully, as the process is not intended to dispossess their land. Preaching the doctrine of peace, hospitability and harmony, as she presided over the meeting; Minister Tah admonished the citizens to always seek to understand or acquire full knowledge of issues, especially concession agreement(s) that positively affects their lives holistically and individually. “We are here as a government to protect the rights of our people. We will not sit and allow foreigners to take our people land. I came here to say to you and every other person around the table that survey does not mean dispossessing people of their land. This survey is not to hurt you. Government does not sell land. All I can say about police brutality is that what you said requires investigation. I will instruct the Police Director to investigate this allegation. The concession agreement is law”, she averred. The executive came to talk to you, because we want to make sure that we hear what you have to say and see what we can do to resolve your grievances,” Minister Tah asserted. Earlier during the meeting, the citizens seemed divided over the issue-as two groups surfaced in the hall. One group was in favor of the resurvey, while the other was against. The anti-resurvey group submitted a petition to Minister Tah, asking GOL to among other things ensure that EPO does not conduct the re-survey. They also requested to directly interact with the investor, accused Liberia National Police (LNP) officers of brutalizing them and stressed that they do not want traditional leaders to be involved with the issue. The county leadership initiated the dialogue which led to the resolution of the conflict. After the resurvey, the county leadership will consult with all the people involve to ensure maximum participation in the full implementation of the EPO concession agreement-in the best interest of citizens of District #4 and Grand Bassa by extension. It can be recalled; few months ago, tension brewed in District #4 between EPO and the citizens when the company attempted to conduct a resurvey of 34,500 acres of land being leased for Oil Palm development. The resurvey is intended to give EPO an idea of the total land available for its operations. It is also aimed at locating towns and villages, safe drinking water sources, sacred places, graves sites and farms-all of which are protected by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) regulation and GOL. However, this pending process was misunderstood and misinterpreted as a means of dispossessing the citizens of District #4 of their ancestral land. With this ‘wrong perception, the locals resisted EPO’s resurvey attempt and ordered the company to halt its expansion project. The company incurred huge lose, as the palm seedlings on nursery over grew owing to the fact that there was no available land to transplant them. At the period of the dispute, the Management of EPO laid off over 150 workers on grounds that its operation was halted and there was no work to be done by the former employees (the people laid off). During a meeting with Grand Bassa Superintendent Etweda A. Cooper few weeks ago, majority of the citizens willingly resolved and individually announced their decision to allow EPO conduct the resurvey, but some citizens vowed to ensure that the resurvey is never done. Ironically, the Executive Branch of the Liberian government has settled the dust, thus the oil palm grower can now conduct the resurvey for a possible expansion of its operations in Bassa.
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 20:52:59 +0000
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