Sierra Leone: Battle between communities and Socfin continues as authorities classify objection to certification as fraudulent & civil society calls for govt. to intervene
Communities in Sierra Leone to Nigeria, through Cameroon, Guinea and Ivory Coast, communities living near the industrial palm oil and rubber plantations of Socfin are fighting for their rights and against repression. This after Malen Affected Land Owners Association (MALOA) submitted a petition signed by 1,475 of its members, objecting to the certification of Socfin Agricultural Company by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) on the 10th of March 2022. The petition was however rejected as fraudulent by the Chiefdom Authorities and the District Multi-Stakeholder Platform (DMSP) of Pujehun. The Chiefdom Council’s report consists of a single paragraph which claimed without offering any proof, that 95% of the signatures are fraudulent, and that international NGOs collaborated with MALOA, and that children signed the petition. This has led to the issuing of a press statement by civil society recalling on government to intervene and settle the land dispute between members of the Malen Affected Land Owners Association (MALOA) and Socfin Agricultural Company (SAC). The civil society organization noted that based on several discussions held with Partners Initiative for Conflict Transformation (PICOT) and stakeholders within Malen with regards the District Multi-stakeholders Platform (DMSP) report, the issue at Malen was a serious transparency and accountability issue in the redistribution of the lease fee paid by SAC, and the money that was supposed to come directly to the land-owners, as best practice demands, was instead paid in cash to the Malen Chiefdom Council.