Liberia is at it again with the National Legislature enacting an act to abolish the 30% land rental bid premium belonging to the forest communities that have been marginalized for decades. After all of the efforts made by Civil Society Organizations, International partners, Ministry of Finance and other relevant agencies to promote community participation in decision making within the forest sector which allows them demand for revenue generated from forest resources. failure to implement the forest sector reform as a way to enable communities be part of developmental process puts the livelihood these marginalized communities at risk and questions the implementation of the poverty Reduction Strategy that had been the talk of the town. with all of the work done by all of the reputable institution to make sure that communities can be independent once they are able to access the 30% through a transparent and accountable way. I tried to question the reason that the Legislature tries to abolish this God given opportunity belonging to poor people. The bid premium is divided in a way that allows Government gets 40%, County gets 30% while the forest communities get 30% so why then are they trying to take away what belongs to them, I think this is cruel and undermines the credibility of everyone who worked tirelessly to make our people lives transformed...This is so disheartening and it requires serious attention and we know that most of seeking the enactment of this act are shareholders in most of the logging companies so why this wickedness. People worked tirelessly to see our impoverished people being relieved from stricken poverty why people who represent them at the level of the legislature have failed them miserably by enacting this law....I am sick in my belle to hear this because I was part of this process and to see how our efforts are dragged into the mud... I trust in my opinion that SDI, LDI/IREDD and other relevant institutions including the Forestry Development Authority are doing all in their powers to fight this but it behooves me to see people who should know the relevance of community development be the ones proposing for such an act. how long are we going to sit and allow belle driven people ripped our people off their benefits...can someone tell me what is going on I can balance.. These poor people felt that this government had done them all the good they ever desired by following the examples of Ghana, Nigeria, Malaysia an other countries where forest communities are allowed to negotiate and sign social agreements with concessionaires....this is sad.......we thought by communities getting their bid premium annually will enable the carry on their own development through a monitored procedure by board set up for the sake of transparency accountability... I am calling on Rep. Adolph Lawrence, Chair, Committee on Lands, Mine & Natural Resources to see reason and to acknowledge the fact that he and his colleagues have failed our people and I am calling on the Chief Executive to ignore the proposed act.... There is a five-year Legislative Modernization Plan (LMP) of Liberia talks about a new spirit of participatory democracy that recognizes the importance of putting the Liberian citizens first. this is a plan by the owned by the Legislature, and it is a plan for citizens of legislative constituencies throughout Liberia. so why cant they visit this LMP since its so=called intend cant include the participation of forest communities dwellers..THIS TOO IS LIBERIA
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 00:16:56 +0000
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