Firestone
tries to Rob Liberia Twice in One Century
Many
Liberians had serious reservations with
the existing 99-year Firestone/Liberia
lease, how disappointing for Gyude Bryant
and the NTGL to extend this lease for
another 36 year! What are they thinking!
Commentary
by Ciata
Victor
In
1926, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company
of Ohio, negotiated with the administration
of President Charles Dunbar Burgess King
(1920 - 1930), to acquire the land that
is now known as Firestone rubber plantation
in Liberia. To put it bluntly, the Firestone
deal was nothing other then daylight robbery,
by Harvey Firestone and Charles D. B.
King, of approximately 4% of the entire
landmass of the country of Liberia.
The
deal gave Firestone one million acres
of Liberia's rich tropical forest for
99 years, at the annual rate of six cents
that is $0.06 per acre a year, for 99
years. In addition, any gold, diamonds,
or other minerals discovered on the land
would belong to Firestone.
The
current 99-year contract with Firestone,
which expires in 2026, translates into
Firestone paying Liberia only $60,000.00
a year for 99 years, for the one million
acres they lay claim to. In the 70 years
that have since passed since the signing
between Harvey Firestone and Charles D.
B. King, Firestone has paid Liberia only
$4.2 Million total, while in 1943 alone,
the company made $35 million from its
Liberia operations.
The
last 3 generations of Liberians have been,
and continues to be bothered by the Firestone
/ King deal, knowing that the deal was
not beneficial to Liberia, but was signed
unscrupulously with Firestone, to enriched
through bribes and kickbacks, those who
had a say in the signing.
This
added extension of 36 years to this travesty
against the Liberian people, is even more
troubling, because it is not the mandate
of the Transitional government to extend
current leases or to sign new leases on
land and territories in Liberia.
If
the NTGL needs to be reminded about the
mandate given to them by the 2003 CPA,
I am only too happy to remind them. In
February 2004, during NTGL Chairman, Gyude
Bryant visit to the US he stated this
about his and the NTGL's mandate and I
quote, "The peace conference in Accra
established the NTGL and this is it's
mandate.
1.
To disarm the combatants
2. To rehabilitate them into their communities
and with their families
3. To bring back home all refugees and
ensure that internally displaced persons
go back to where they normally live.
4. To ensure that Liberia becomes gun
free, so that there will be no intimidation,
extortion, and harassment through the
barrel of the gun, so that come October
2005 people can vote their consciences
and have a government of the people.
It
is one thing to honor an existing contract,
but to extend this rouge document with
Firestone, which if Liberia patiently
waits, ends in only 21 years, is insulting
to every Liberia in this and future generations.
Firestone
and the corrupt, incompetent, greedy,
National Transitional Government of Liberia
officials that signed this new extension
will hear our protest loudly, starting
on this very day of the signing of the
extension.
We
will prepare to challenge the legality
of this extension in both Liberia and
US courts. We are saying that we will
not stand by quietly, while Firestone
robs Liberia, twice in one century. The
NTGL may not care about what is in the
best interest of Liberia, but the children
of the last 3 generations, who have questioned,
debated and argued Liberia's 1926 agreement
with Firestone, will protest this extension
in this administration, the next administration
and beyond, if that is what is required.
We
will argue this valid and legal point,
that the extension granted today February
22, 2005, to Firestone on the Firestone
Rubber Plantation in Liberia is not legal,
it was signed by a transitional government,
which does not have the authority to sign
leases on government owned anything, in
the Republic of Liberia.
If
Firestone wants to extend it's lease in
Liberia, I suggest that Liberia insist
the current contract be terminated and
a new one negotiated. This time Liberia
will upgrade the six cents an acre a year,
to include the complete funding of a Hydroelectric
dam, to be completed in Liberia within
the next 9 years. Not only should it be
large enough to provide power to every
square mile of Liberia, but also be able
to provide electric power to areas beyond
Liberia's borders with Sierra Leone, Guinea
and Ivory Coast. It should also include
a provision that Firestone build three
top notch institutions in the Harbel,
Bassa area. A modern, fully equipped,
top rate medical facility, an elementary,
high school complex, and a modern Agriculture
College, fully equipped with labs, computers,
chairs, desk, libraries and books. This
recommended deal would not only benefit
the people of Bassa directly, but also
every Liberian who can afford to pay for
electricity. These projects would go much further in aiding the government efforts to revive the economy, by creating
new and lasting jobs, new prospects and opportunities
for the people of Bassa, Liberia and it's
neighbors, and unlike the 1926 deal, the
funding of these projects will not be
in the form of a loan to Liberia, but
rather, fair and reasonable payment by
Firestone for use and royalties, on the
Land and the minerals it produces.
Lastly,
I am curious to know the opinion of presidential
candidate Varney Sherman, on the NTGL
extension of Liberia's lease with Firestone.
My curosity arise out of the fact that
Mr. Sherman is a legal scholar who is
not only close to the grounds in Monrovia,
but also former advisor to Chairman Gyude
Bryant .
------
Ciata
Victor is webmaster of The Liberian Connection
- Africa (TLCAfrica.com) web site.