Liberia: Gobachop Squatters Worry

When Margaret Kpakar heard that former president George Weah had mandated the Liberia Broadcasting Corporation (LBS) through the Land Authority to waive the spot of land that her house occupied, she was elated.

She immediately paid US$200 to register and process a public land deed from the Land Authority to grant her legitimacy over the plot of land three-bedroom house occupied in the Gobachop community.

In 2022, Estelle Kemoh, former LBS Director-General asked the squatters to pay  US$5 per month for makeshift structures and more for a concrete structure to generate funds to support the corporation.  

The request,  which was opposed by the squatters, prompted former president Weah to intervene in 2023 thereby asking the LBS through the LLA to waive the land to Margaret, and so many squatters who were brought into the area as a result of the civil war. 

According to Benjamin Massaquoi, Assistant Director for Government’s Project at the Liberia Land Authority (LLA), the LLA was asked by the LBS to survey 100 acres of land in the Gobachop Community, but after the survey, they could only identify 62 acres of land due to encroachment. 

The report was taken to former President Weah’s office which he mandated the LBS through the LLA to waive the land to the squatters with an MOU that each identified, established, and a vetted land claimant who is considered as the right squatter of the area will get their deed once they paid U$200. 

“The president [Weah] asked us to reserve 4.3 acres of land in the circle to build a public hospital, school, and playground inclusive of a sports pitch, and a public latrine,” Massaquoi added. 

Mandate Revoke?

Apparently, former president Weah's mandate was verbal. Eugene Fahngon, LBS director general, has threatened to revoke the statement. He claimed that there is no document to back the Weah’s mandate. 

“That statement will not only be revoked, that statement is hilarious,” he said.

“Why do I say so? The president of the Republic calls the LBS director-general and says can you waive the land to the people but remember the director-general does not work alone. We have a board of directors, and we have management here so she cannot take a unilateral decision. It has to do with the acquiescence of her colleagues.,” Fahngon said.

Fahngon added that since his ascendency he has visited the community twice. He expressed disappointment over the poor handling of trash which has created dirt in the environment for which the residents will be asked to pay a little over U$5 for sanitation. Fahngon is worried about the tower. He claimed the structures built around the tower are endangering the tower such residents around the tower would have to evacuate. 

“It’s our property, and we want to maintain it and therefore they will be squatters. I am not sure if any of them will pay more than U$5. But it goes along to clean the trash and the community and if anybody cannot do that you just go find your own property, and simple as that,” he said.  

In an MOU signed between the LLA and the community leadership, the squatters agreed to pay U$200 for their public land deed, which 4 persons have already paid, according to Benjamin Massaquoi, Assistant Director for Government’s Project at the Liberia Land Authority (LLA). 

MOU between LLA and the Community

“Residents Pleads”

Isaac Dwana, Acting Chairman of the Gobachop Community, said  “Government is continuity”, So they will engage President Joseph Boakai to help with him to allow them to pay for their public land deed to grant them legitimacy.

“We will have no other alternative but to just engage the current regime now to start from where the president [Weah] stopped,” he said. 

He confirmed Fahngon’s visit to the community. “Fahngon expresses dissatisfaction over the former and manner in which structures have been built on the land, especially concert buildings.”

Dwana added that the residents have lived there for so long. They have developed and invested in the areas, so it is unfair to demand them to pay a monthly fee. “Former president George Weah waived this land to us through the Land Authority. We have no business to do with the LBS but the LLA.”

“Fahngon’s Plans”

Fahngon’s main aim is to protect the tower and ensure that the area is clear of trash. “My immediate plan is to ensure that the tower is properly secure. Secondly is to ensure that the property is clean especially the circle where there is a huge pile of garbage that has to be removed. Thirdly is to ensure we have an agreement with the squatters that indeed they acknowledge that the place belongs to the LBS and that we worked out a deal not only agreement that they can subsidize the removal of garbage from the 62 acres of land by paying a minimum fee until of government of Liberia along with LBS gets ready to utilize the property.”

The Gobachop Community

Like many slums in Monrovia, Gobachop is grappling with proper housing. The area formerly hosted marketeers, including petty traders. The residents, many of whom were brought as a result of the civil war.  The rapid growth in urban communities like Monrovia and Paynesville since the end of the war in 2003 means slum dwellers make up 70 percent of the city’s population, according to a Cities Alliance report.  On Sunday, July 10, 2021, the government relocated marketers from the Gobachop market to the Omega market, leaving the residents in the area. “We are pleading to President Joseph Boakai to allow us to live here.,” Isaac Dwana, Acting Chairman of the Gobachop Community said.