Monrovia -
he First Partisan of the Liberty Party, Cllr. Charles Brumskine, today called for the annulment and the renegotiation of the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government of Liberia (GOL) and the Liberia Agriculture Company (LAC) along previously agreed guidelines.
“Not a single acre of land on which human beings live would be appropriated by our government to the detriment of the people, especially in view of the vast quantity of uninhabited land in Liberia,” he said.
Speaking for the first time Tuesday, on the MOU signed between the Government and LAC and the unfortunate death of the company’s Plantation’s Manager, Bruno Michiels, Cllr Brumskine said a cursory glance which empowers LAC to evict the people of Bassa, “will indicate that it is a product of fraud, bordering criminality, perpetrated not only against the people of District # 4, but also against all Bassa people, and Liberians in general.”
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| Liberty Party's Charles Brumskine addresses reporters at a news conference Tuesday as Party Chairman Israel Akinsanya look on. |
Citing few of his observations, Cllr. Brumskine told reporters, “One will notice that George Mensah, General Manager of LAC, signed the Agreement on October 24, 2007, while our Government Ministers—J. Chris Toe, Minister of Agriculture, and Ambulai B. Johnson, Minister of Internal Affairs, signed on November 15, 2007. Why was the Agreement not signed simultaneously and in Monrovia? Who were the Government lawyers involved with the preparation of the Agreement?
“Even more intriguing is the fact that the Agreement was attested by the Senior Senator of Grand Bassa County and the County Superintendent and not the Minister of Justice. So if there were nothing sinister about the Agreement, why was the Minister of Justice not consulted? Why did he not review and attest to the Agreement?” he wondered.
“The Agreement ignores the Attorney General’s Opinion to the President of Liberia; it violates the main Concession Agreement between LAC and GOL; it contravenes the President’s agreement with the Elders of Grand Bassa and River Cess, and breached the law and custom of negotiating and concluding government contracts, especially with such a multinational corporation,” Cllr. Brumskine observed.
He wondered “how much additional land has Government given to LAC? How many Liberian lives may be disrupted in LAC’s expansion process? “The Agreement does not say! LAC is given carte blanche,” Brumskine noted.
He questioned whether an agreement concluded under such conditions give anyone the impression that it was done with the interest of the people in mind, or whether the government even cares about the consequences of its action? “There is no legal, moral, or social basis for the crime against humanity meted out to our people by our Government and the LAC.
“In accordance with the Legal Opinion of the Attorney General of the Republic of Liberia, LAC is not entitled to the land from which it seeks to evict our people. LAC may acquire additional land only through a renegotiation of its Concession Agreement,” Cllr. Brumskine, also a former Senator of Grand Bassa County intimated.
He narrated that in August 2006, the Resilient Council of Elders of Grand Bassa and River Cess Counties sent a Petition to the Liberian President, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf complaining about LAC’s illegal expansion, resulting into the suffering of the people of Bassa.
Johnson-Morris citation - Time lapsed
Cllr. Brumksine continued that upon receipt of the Petition from the Elders, the President requested an opinion from the then Minister of Justice, Cllr. Frances Johnson-Morris. “In her Legal Opinion to President Johnson Sirleaf on the issue as to whether or not under the 1959 Concession Agreement between the GOL and LAC the time given for exploration to determine suitable lands for its operations is unlimited? “Construing Article II of the Agreement, the Minister of Justice said clearly, under the Agreement LAC was given eightee(18) months to make the determination regarding land suitable for its development operations. That time has since expired.
“Therefore, the eviction of the citizens from their villages and the expansion of LAC is arbitrary as it is not supported by the Agreement.”
 ON LEAFLETS CALLING FOR ARREST |
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“Someone(s) spent a lot of money to print thousand of leaflets and pay others to distribute them in Bassa, indicating that I and others should be arrested because we “incited the people of District Number 4 to kill LAC employees.” So, who is it that has the interest in ensuring that the public is convinced that Mr. Michiels was killed by native Bassa people upon our instruction?"
Charles Brumskine, First Partisan, Liberty Party |
He former President Pro Tempore noted that because of the legal opinion of the then Minister of Justice, on September 7th 2006, President Johnson Sirleaf met with the Elders, the Concerned Citizens of Grand Bassa, and the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. J. Chris Toe. “At the end of the meeting, the President made a decision, which was clear and unequivocal—her administration would not tolerate the ugly practices of the past—no Liberian would be evicted from their ancestral homeland to plant rubber trees.
“The President also took a decision, that in the interest of encouraging investment in the rubber industry, her government would negotiate with LAC in order to grant the company additional, but uninhabited, land upon which to expand its plantation. This, the President said would be done through a process of negotiation between the Government and LAC, and confidence building meetings between LAC and the people of Grand Bassa and River Cess,” Cllr. Brumskine reiterated.
In keeping with the President’s decision and her instruction, a Joint Press Statement signed by Minister J. Chris Toe, on behalf of the Government, and Rev. Dr. Abba Karnga, on behalf of the Elders, was issued on September 9, 2006, detailing the result of the meeting..
He then questioned: “Why was there no negotiation between our Government and LAC for the revision of LAC’s Concession Agreement?”
Same standard need apply
He cited Government’s skills when it comes to negotiating concession agreements. He named the Mittal Steel’s Agreement that was renegotiated as well as the on-going Firestone agreement which is being re-negotiated. “The renegotiation process involved international commercial law experts and other highly skilled negotiators, including human right lawyers and environmental experts, all of whom represented the Republic of Liberia;” wondering, “Why has the same standard not been applied with regard to LAC’s Concession Agreement, especially as it has not been renegotiated since its signing in 1959, about fifty years ago?”
He said LAC does not forfeit 300,000 acres of land remaining under the Agreement to be possessed; but it must negotiate to get this portion of land which it failed to select within the timeframe allowed under the Agreement. “It is unreasonable to imagine that the parties intended that population growth, migration or development would have remained stagnant for 40 or more years pending the selection of land areas by LAC for its development operations,” Cllr. Brumskine noted.
Speaking on the death of Michiels, Cllr. Brumskine expressed condolences to his family whose life was cut short by an evil person (s). “I am deeply saddened that his life was cut so short. The Liberian Government and UNMIL have a duty to find and bring to justice the person or persons responsible for the killing. I believe that his death was a terrible blow to the development of a better relationship between LAC and the victimized people of Grand Bassa and River Cess counties.”
He disclosed that the late Michiels was slated to have become LAC’s General Manager, upon the retirement of the current General Manager, George Mensah at the end of the year.
Cllr. Brumskine advanced a number of possibilities that could have happened leading to the untimely death of Mr. Michiels. “I am certain that a trained criminal investigator would raise many more issues in connection with the killing of Mr. Michiels.”
Raising a few possibilities that counld have led to Michiels’ death, Cllr. Brumskine said, “Mr. Michiels was slated to become the next General Manager of LAC. With the death of the first European to be appointed General Manager of LAC over the last seventeen years, is it likely that the shareholders of the company would expose another European to such risk? This question becomes even more logical when one considers that the current General Manager has squarely blamed our government for the death of Mr. Michiels, “by not providing security for LAC.”
On Arrest leaflets
“Someone(s) spent a lot of money to print thousand of leaflets and pay others to distribute them in Bassa, indicating that I and others should be arrested because we “incited the people of District Number 4 to kill LAC employees.” So, who is it that has the interest in ensuring that the public is convinced that Mr. Michiels was killed by native Bassa people upon our instruction?
“On that fatal day, did Mr. Michiels go into the bush alone? If not, how many others went with him—two or three? Where are those who went into the bush with Mr. Michiels, and how did they escaped unharmed? In any case, what has become of them since—are they in police custody being questioned?
“The facts available to us are that there appears to have been no altercation at the time of the shooting of Mr. Michiels; that he was shot from the back. Yet our government would have the world believe that more than fifty villagers, whom they have arrested, crept at the back of Mr. Michiels and shot him.
“It is also our understanding that the area in which Bruno Michiels’ body was found is not within the proposed expansion area in District # 4 (subject of recent Agreement between Government and LAC), but an area previously cleared by LAC in District #3,” Brumskine stated.
He however said since the death of Michiels, the same sequence of things happening to the inhabitants in the LAC area is similar to other tragedies that occurred in the past. “In 2005, LAC employees went into one of the nearby villages to survey land with the intent of dispossessing the Bassa people of their land. On their way back, one of the employees mysteriously fell in the Zlor Creek and drowned. Regrettably, seven leading men of the District Number 4 were rounded up by the Government Officials of Grand Bassa County as rioters, and charged with the crime of murder. The seven men were jailed from December 2005 through May 2006, before they were indicted. And three members of the Resilient Council of Elders, Rev. Dr. Abba Karnga, Dr. Byron Tarr, and Hon. Byron Brown were named in the indictment as unindicted co-conspirators to the crime of murder.
Cruel and unlawful
“This cruel and unlawful indictment was brought to the attention of the then Minister of Justice, Frances Johnson-Morris and her Solicitor General Tiawon Gongloe, who immediately had the unlawful indictment squashed,” Cllr. Brumskine explained to journalists.
“Two years earlier, in August 2004, an array of riot police, invaded towns and villages in District No. 4. In spite of the fact that District No. 4 is on the other side of the LAC Plantation beyond the Zlor River, the government and LAC’s security seized ninety-three (93) innocent elders, chiefs and other community leaders, children, and the community’s “Mask Dancer” commonly known as the “Country Devil”. Those arrested, were beaten, stripped half naked and detained in LAC’s cell for two days with no food. Later, they were transported to Buchanan and piled into a 10ft. x 12 ft. police cell,” he reiterated.
Cllr. Brumskine stated that from his information, the government has already charged seven persons with murder. They include Arthur Crusoe, Principal of Zondo Town Public School, Richard Charlie, Kalifa Gbotoe, John Zukue, Luther Glaydor, Moses Saywon and Isaac Gartoe.
However, LAC’s security and officers of the LNP continue to plunder the villages, beating the residents, and taking the men away to unknown locations. “A young man entered Buchanan city last night, and reported that he had escaped from LAC’s detention center, where he had been tortured. The gentleman was pursued into Buchanan City by LAC’s security and rearrested by LAC’s security and jailed in Buchanan.” Cllr. Brumskine disclosed.
He re-emphasized that the only school in Zondo Village, which is funded by friends in the United States has been vandalized and looted. “A young man, Samuel Garpue, has been shot in Gianda by LAC’s security, with a pistol and wondered whether it was the same type of gun used to kill Michiels.
Appeal to International Community
He wondered: “Under whose authority is such havoc wreaked against the people of Bassa? Would the victimization of the people of District # 4 have anything to do with the defeat of Unity Party in the July by-election, during which the residents of the District voted overwhelmingly for Liberty Party candidate?” adding, “We pray and hope that the Ministry of Justice will find the fortitude to investigate and find the real killer(s) of Bruno Michiels, and not settle for the persecution of victimized, disadvantaged, and very likely innocent people.”
Concluding, Cllr. Brumskine appealed to members of the international community to prevail on the Liberian leader to leave opposition politicians alone after the National Chairman of his Party, Israel Akinsanya have received numerous death threats because of his leadership of our Party in continuously challenging the Government on its many unconstitutional and unlawful actions.
He said he along with other elders and politicians who tend to represent the interest of the people, have also been targeted by threats of arrest and intimidation.
“Personally, it has become a way of life for me since this government came to power. As an opposition politician, I have been accused of being among those who master-minded armed-robbery in Liberia. You will recall the Government’s pronouncement with regard to the “Aksakaba Boys.” Then the Government subsequently announced that opposition politicians were plotting with former AFL soldiers to overthrow the the government. And rumor abound that I was one of those listed with Charles Julue and others to overthrow the government. I later heard that the in-court confession of Col. Dorbor that he was forced by the government to lie on others has stalled my arrest. Since the vicious killing of Mr. Michiels, I learned that my name has been placed by the government on a list of those who are not allowed to leave the country. Now, the Chronicles Newspaper on yesterday reported about a National Security meeting during which government’s plan to arrest me was discussed.
Government 'busy finding state witness' against me
“The Chronicles’ story followed accusation and threats by the President’s Party Chairman, Dr. Charles Clarke, the President’s Party Youth Wing, the government spokesperson, Gabriel Williams, Deputy Minister of Information, and Senator Findley, one of those who attested to the recently signed LAC Agreement.
“I have also learned that the government is currently busy finding a “state witness” who will confess that I told him and others to kill LAC’s employees.
“So, I want to use this time to appeal to members of the international community—please ask President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to leave us alone. Let us live in peace in our country. We are a different kind of opposition; we believe in the rule of law, not in inflicting pain and suffering on our people as a means of obtaining political power.
“If the President and her supporters intend to intimidate and threaten me into submission, let them think again, because I will continue to speak out against ills of our society, whether it be the unconstitutional appointment of a Mayor in Zwedru City, in support of the Legislative oversight responsibility, the passage into to law of unconstitutional bills,” the Liberty Party’s First Partisan concluded.