By Rational Joe Ks Fineboy
With government’s planned eviction of illegal miners from the Sapo National Park, miners have doubled up their efforts under the theme “rush hour” as they explore new mining sites for more gold within the park.
The last hour rush has led to the discovery of more gold deposits which has increased mining activities within the park, Liberia Forest Media Watch (LFMW) has uncovered.
LFMW’s reporter who visited the park under the cover of darkens observed how miners are working 24/7 in several places within the park in anticipation of government’s planned action to remove illegal occupants from the park. “We are deeply concerned’ with this latest information that the government has resolved to get rid of every activity in this Park, it’s troubling for us, so we are doing everything possible to get more of what we been getting, that we can trade in after our remover from here by authority, to substantially establish ourselves because we don’t know the government plan as to whether we will be settle or not; by right government should be able to settle us before taking us from here because some of us have lived here for several years, doing everything and at the same time contributing to the country’s economics. The fact that we are in this bush, whether legal or illegal, this is where we have been sending our children to school and doing our businesses, is this not part of contribution to national development?” stressed a regular trader within the Sapo Park.
Preferred not to be named, a local broker narrated that he has invested a lot in the Sapo National Park, pointing at several water machines, over hundred shivers, and other materials used for mining purpose. He said as a local broker, he has over seventy-five men working with him in the park paying them on a daily basis and feeding them; “I started with one machine, three shivers and three men in 2017 but today I can boast of how far I have reached”; he added.
For his part, a man identified as John Putu who claimed to be a resident of Gbalawein, an adjacent town to the park, said for several years he has been trading for miners/agents within the Sapo Park, by carrying food items and other assorted goods in the bush for sale or through batter system. According to him, this has been the source of survival for him and his family over the years; but now expressed deep concern about the aftermath of government planed action to remove the miners from the park.
“Thou I am not directly doing mining in the Park, but through the miners, I doing my business so if they are taking from this bush it will surely jeopardize my operations in that, I wouldn’t get anywhere like this to do my regular transactions”; Putu noted.
Putu attributed their illegal mining act to the lack of companies in the county, especially for unskilled people with no formal education; noting that mining and business are what they depend on to educate their children and sustain themselves.
He acknowledged that trading within the park is illegal but lamented that as custodians of the forest, they are not benefiting much from national government.
Putu noted that if the removal of illegal occupants from the Sapo Park is to be successful, there should be measures put in place to sustain community members around the park. He stressed that governments after government have failed to provide livelihood opportunities for residents around the park, which, he said is the major cause of the illegal mining in the park.
In November 2024, the Government of Liberia announced a major plan to remove illegal occupants from the Sarpo Park following publication by the Liberia Forest Media Watch.
The call was reechoed by Sinoe County Attorney, Cllr. Daniel Dweh in Greenville, Sinoe County. Cllr. Dweh recounted that governments through state security, park assigned rangers and partners have made tremendous effort to get illegal operators from the Sapo Forest, but there had been resistance from these illegal occupants with some using fire-arm on securities. “this time around government is not going to relent, our security officers including FDA Rangers are gearing up to get rid of those criminal exploring the country resources that should be preserved for future generations; and nothing, I mean absolutely nothing will stop this year operation to free the Sapo National Park of Illegal Miners” Attorney Dweh said.
Cllr. Dweh used the medium to cautioned citizens in other parts of Liberia who have relatives in the Sapo Park to inform them of government planed action, because, according to him, there will be no compromise at this time.
He noted that FDA security will conduct the raid with the support of the Liberia National Police Emergency Respond Unit and members of the Army Forces of Liberia (AFL) who will jointly move in the Sapo National Park.
Established in 1983 as a protected area, the Sapo National Park is globally known for its containment of important plants, animals, and other valuable resources. The Park remains susceptible to degradation due to the uncontrollable influx of illegal miners aided by residents around the park despite global attention. The FDA, charged with the responsibility to manage the park, has proven less capable of doing so. The Authority has, however, attributed its incapacitation to a lack of adequate financial and logistical support to monitor the forest sector.
