The Managing Director of the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), C. Mike Doryen, has clarified that there was no US$16M donor conference held recently in the Ivory Coast.
His reacting was in connection to an article published in the Frontpage Africa about two weeks ago, in which the paper quoted that Liberia had lost some US$16 million because of the FDA Director General’s his failure to attend a donor conference in Ivory Coast.
“FDA or Government of Liberia was never invited to any donor conference in the Ivory Coast and there was no donor conference there for forest sector during the period that the writer reported,” he explained.
“So if this man cannot go to the program, how will he go to the airport to receive me? He questioned, adding there are protocols associated with everyone who will attend such program.
“We were invited into statistics and operations planning meeting to discuss plans for trans-boundary observations areas, especially the Gerbo and Krahn National Park and Ivory Coast have portions of the park we have here,” he added.
He revealed that stakeholder in the forest sector do meet from time to time and plan so that the countries can avoid conflicts and allow free movements of wildness species across the region and added, “But these meetings are not associated with money rather we can discuss how people should manage the parks and how we can operate with local governments and at local institution levels,” he noted.
Terming the media report as misleading and false, Doryen disclosed that a formal communication has been written to the GIZ who is believed to have been spreading such misinformation.
According to him, the only photo that was in the newspaper was taken by GIZ and therefore, they are calling for an investigation of the facts because GIZ should be a non- political association.
Meanwhile, Director Doryen informed the press that from January to December 2022, they have targeted US$ 50 million and that they have received for the second quarter US$ 28 million.
He also appreciated the US Government who committed additional US$20 million exclusively and announced that by next month, they will launch formally program which activities is ongoing.
He thanked the President and partners for promoting the forestry sector and to put together strong plans to ensure that the sector receives more overseas developmental support.