By J. Mason Kollie
LOFA – Citizens of Sanzanor Town, in Quardu Bondi District, Lofa County, are demanding their farmland from the Liberia Cocoa Corporation (LCC), for what they call failure on the part of the company to live up to the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between them and the LCC.
According to an MoU signed by LCC, citizens of Sanzanor Town, and the Elder Council Chief of the community, which gave rights to the company to have commenced operation in the area in 2010, the Liberia Cocoa Corporation agreed and promised to undertake several development projects in the community.
Promises made by the LCC, as contained in the MoU include the construction of a school building, the erection of six hand pumps for the community, as well as building of roads between Voinjama City and Sanzanor Town, in Quardu Bondi District.
Another promise made by the LCC to the community dwellers is the provision of scholarship for school-going children in the District, up to higher education level.
However, on the contrary, the LCC has failed to adhere to the terms of the MoU, reneging on its promises, according to the Town Chief of Sanzanor Town, Mr. Sekou M. Kamara,
In a recent Rural Reporters News Network (RRNN) interview, Chief Kamara disclosed that to date; the LCC has refused to fulfill any of its promises contained in the 2010 Memorandum of Understanding.
“As I speak to you, we are drinking from the creek. No good school for our children and no good roads as it was promised by the company,” Chief Kamara stated.
Sanzanor Town Head for its Elder Council, Mr. Mamadee Kamara, for his part stated, “We want the Liberia Cocoa Corporation to leave our land, the LCC is occupying more than 45 acres of our farmland and we are not benefiting from them.”
Howbeit, when contacted, the owner of the Liberia Cocoa Corporation, Momolu Tolbert, rebutted the citizens’ claims and stated that his company was working in accordance with the MoU.
“We built a school in Sanzanor Town, and we’re doing other help in the District,” Tolbert told RRNN in a recent telephone interview.
Meanwhile, our reporter who visited the Liberia Cocoa Corporation operation site in Sanzanor Town divulged that there is not a single hand pump in the town and that, the only school in the area is a debilitated public school.
The RRNN reporter in the area also reported that the area is currently experiencing bad road conditions, with no newly built road in sight.
Our reporter quotes Quardu Bondi District Commissioner Losene Duckly as promising citizens of the area to officially write to Lofa County Superintendent J. Lavela Massaquoi asking the LCC to stop operations and leave the farmland belonging to Sanzanor Town citizens.
Edited by Olando Testimony Zeongar.
