n a sharp reaction to opposition Liberty Party leader Charles Brumskine’s call for the annulment of the agreement signed between the government of Liberia and the Liberian Agriculture Company, the second rubber plantation in Liberia besides Firestone, Agriculture Minister Dr. J. Chris Toe says the Unity Party-led government will not annul, nor renegotiate a concession agreement signed this month.
 ON JOHNSON MORRIS' LETTER TO PREZ |
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“If someone were asked to do a review, did the justice ministry actually go out to LAC to determine whether LAC had surveyed the land or not? Did the ministry of justice ask LAC for evidence? If someone is just asked to give an opinion on a peace of law, they do give that opinion."
Dr. J. Chris Toe, Minister of Agriculture, RL |
Addressing the controversy for the first time since the killing last week of Belgian expatriate Bruno Michiels, Tuesday, Brumskine said that the government should not appropriate a single acre of the disputed land because the agreement did not serve the interest of the citizens. However, Toe told the VOA Daybreak Africa late Tuesday in an interview airing Wednesday, that the agreement was reached with the consensus of the citizens of Grand Bassa County.
Minister Toe said the government believes in free speech. “Counselor Brumskine, like any other of the 3.5, 3.6 Liberians, has the right to free speech. The government has made its decision following months of discussion with the people of Grand Bassa, and the government intends to stand by its position on this matter,” he said.
On criticisms that the agreement did not include the input of the citizens and representatives of District’s # 3 and #4, Toe said that was not the case: “If you look at the agreement itself, the senior senator from Grand Bassa signed the agreement, the superintendent signed the agreement, youth groups signed the agreement, elders and women from the district signed the agreement. The only person who did not sign the agreement, and who walked out of the discussion, was the group of which Counselor Brumskine is a part, and that is the Resilient Counselor of Elders, including Counselor Brumskine and Byron Tarr. So they are not indispensable to making progress on matters of deepest concern to the people of Grand Bassa,” Toe said.
Over the past week, the government has come under attack from critics and opposition over the agreement signed last week for leaving out key representatives from the signing. Representative J. Byron Tarr, who represents District #3 suggested in an interview with FrontPageAfrica last week that the government was pushing the deal using “Agents of the Executive branch aided by the county’s Senior Senator Gbasongai Findley to pursue the path of signing a fictitious document in the name of my people".
Toe admits not seeing letter, but says 'may have been misinterpreted'
Brown went on to wonder why Minister Toe failed to consult the Resilient Council of Elders with whom the President had him sign a joint Press Statement on the issue of LAC and the Native People of Bassa, back in 2006. “Why was an agreement between the Executive Branch of Government and LAC, which was signed by the Minister of Agriculture, Chris Toe, Minister of Internal Affairs, Ambullai Johnson, had to be attested to by Senator Findley, instead of the Justice Minister?”
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| Frances Johnson-Morris, Former Minister of Justice, RL |
Brown maintained that as the key representative of the District he was not privy to the agreement. “I was never privy to the agreement or the signing ceremony, secondly before when the council of elders presented their petition to the President, the Minister of Justice gave her opinion on the issue which clearly states that LAC has no entitlement to the land and based on the assertion by Frances Johnson-Morris, the President said, look, the realities of 1959 does not reflect today. Therefore LAC should stop forthwith. We then signed a memorandum of understanding with the government, then represented by the Minister of Agriculture. Now, why should they downplay the order of the President and sign another memorandum of understanding. That worsened the situation.”
Toe was further questioned about a letter written in August 2006 by former Justice Minister Frances Johnson-Morris, who wrote President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf advising against the expansion of the company and the eviction of the citizens from their villages because the agreement was arbitrary.
In his response, the minister admitted that he has not yet seen the letter, but suggested that the letter may have been taken out of context. Nevertheless, the Agriculture Minister took a shot at the former Justice Minister who he suggested may not have been in the best position to make a determination. “If someone were asked to do a review, did the justice ministry actually go out to LAC to determine whether LAC had surveyed the land or not? Did the ministry of justice ask LAC for evidence? If someone is just asked to give an opinion on a peace of law, they do give that opinion. But as to whether they have gone to the field to gather the necessary evidence to determine whether in effect someone had complied, which is a different issue. So let us not take that review out of context. And again I also need to read it,” Toe said.
Despite Toe’s claims, the former Justice Minister’s assertion appear to suggest the contrary: “The language of the quoted Article II above leaves no doubt as to the time frame given to LAC to determine land areas suitable for its operation with the borders of the land placed at its disposal i.e. (a) the land lying between St. John River and the Cestos River South of Compound No. 3, Grand Bassa County and including approximately 300,000 acres and (b) a section of the land situated along the Tappita-Webo Road and including approximately 300,000 acres,” said the Justice Minister, in her letter to the President.
Current position contradicts Toe's '06 pledge
Brumskine also raised the issue Tuesday when he said the agreement was not attested to by the justice minister. But Toe insists that if Brumskine believes that the LAC agreement is illegal, he should go to court to make his case.
Toe’s recent position is a far cry from an interview he did with FPA in 2006 shortly after his appointment when he was asked, how he would approach the contract issue and correct the mistakes of Firestone. The minister was quick to suggest that in the past, most of those agreements were drawn from a position of weakness. "That weakness to a large extent was based on the lack of experience, and we could not leverage as much as possible. We could not take advantage of the opportunities that we had in the past. However, today when we sit across the table, eyeball to eyeball, I don't see anyone on the other side who is going to look at a former president of a university with 27,000 students, who has managed a budget in excess of $75M to a hundred million dollars and tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about. I don't see it."
Today, many including the elders of District #3 and #4 are raising doubts about Toe’s ability to serve as an impartial broker between the government and the dwellers of the area. Of particular concern for many is why the minister is defending an agreement attested by the Senior Senator of Grand Bassa County and the County Superintendent and not the Minister of Justice, who is the government’s legal eye.
But in the clearest hint yet, that the Minister may have had the backing of President Sirleaf in the signing of last week’s memorandum without a number of key ministers, Toe declared that “The president of the Republic of Liberia has the right to designate parties who will represent government’s interests in every matter. The justice ministry has its own jurisdiction, which is to represent the government of Liberia in court, and to administer justice. It does not have the authority, neither has it been said anywhere that unless the ministry of justice attest to everything that an official of government signs on behalf of the government of Liberia that, that is not legal,” Toe said.
The agreement gives LAC new land to expand its facilities and to evict those who live there. But the citizens of the area say they were not consulted.
Brumskine noted Tuesday that the Agreement ignores the Attorney General’s Opinion to the President of Liberia and violates the main Concession Agreement between LAC and the 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.
Earlier this week, the government’s chief spokesman, Dr. Lawrence Bropleh indicated that the expansion will have an economic impact on the lives of the people since he said LAC in keeping with the terms of the MOU, will provide Housing in the area, water and sanitation, building of schools and provision of free education opportunities, improved health care facilities and entitlement to free medication, building of markets and provision of employment opportunities for the people.