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-149-<br />

the excess acreage (38) does not give much credibility to its<br />

management's assertion of the "non-profitibility" of the area<br />

in general and the reported production data in particular. In<br />

late 1977 Globex was still postponing the return of the excess<br />

area by delaying the survey of its concession area.<br />

Already in 1975 the same lack, of a survey had been the cause of<br />

a serious conflict. In that year the people of Jawajai, a small<br />

town in Grand Cape Mount County, had sent a letter to President<br />

Tolbert in which they complained about government officials and<br />

company employees harassing and in some cases even jailing them,<br />

when they were found in areas which were beyond the company's.<br />

| concession area. <strong>The</strong> boundaries of the concession area, however,<br />

} had never been clearly indicated by the company as it had still<br />

: i not carried out its contractual survey of the concession area.<br />

i Moreover, the major complaint was that "(..,) we the sons and<br />

i daughters of this soil should be better preferred and/or given<br />

I the. first opportunities to freely enjoy the inalienable rights<br />

j of our native land (...)" (39). <strong>The</strong>y further accused the<br />

i Globex mining company of resorting to the very methods of<br />

I alluvial mining which formerly were carried out by them - the<br />

I people of Jajawei town - but which had been rejected by the<br />

! company as being "ancient and archaic". During the negotiations<br />

j for the concession it had promised to abandon these oldj<br />

fashioned methods, thereby "depriving us of such rights and<br />

j Privileges in our own land" (40).<br />

j By granting the concession to "Globex Minerals (inc.)" it had<br />

> been the explicitly stated intention of the Government to elimi<br />

inate or restrict "primitive" diamond mining methods used by<br />

] Liberian diamond miners who held small claims of 25 acres in<br />

i this region and to have those replaced by mechanized mining<br />

| methods on larger areas involving heavy capital investments<br />

> (41), Here the question must be posed as to why the Liberian<br />

i Government did not assist the Liberian diamond miners in the<br />

! modernization of their mining methods, as had been done in<br />

j Sierra Leone where a Government scheme had been introduced<br />

in 1959, <strong>The</strong> answer to this important question will involve<br />

the problem of political priorities (limited by financial<br />

j possibilities) as well as the deliberate effort of eminent<br />

j government officials to influence the system of distribution<br />

I of income and power in the country. However, it is worthwhile<br />

j to note that, in general, in Liberia foreign investors are<br />

j treated more favourably than small national entrepreneurs. <strong>The</strong><br />

latter group is not granted any incentives such as tax-holidays,<br />

duty ree privileges or long-term lease contracts. In<br />

1977 the Globex company was the only actively producing<br />

foreign diamond mining company in Liberia though it officially<br />

reported that work had almost come to a standstill at the end<br />

of the year (42).

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