Liberia: United Methodist Church Complains about ‘Unlawful’ Squatters

The United Methodist Church in Liberia has complained that most of its lands in Ganta City, Nimba County, are being encroached on a daily basis. 

The Church, which planted its roots in Liberia in 1822, has disclosed that for the past five years, lands owned by the church in Ganta are constantly being encroached upon, despite warnings to the perpetrators.   The lands in question, the Church said, were acquired peacefully and legally by missionaries led by the late Dr. George Way Harley over 90 years ago. 

“The encroachment on our lands is unlawful and mischievous and it must be stopped now, as it undermines the church’s development initiatives. We are calling on all those encroaching on the land to stop immediately, as their actions remain unhealthy and also selfish,” said Rev. Jerry Kandea, Acting Superintendent of the Church’s Ganta Mission.  “Since the land was acquired,  the Church has utilized it for the construction of health facilities and the construction of one of Liberia oldest faith-based education institutions called the Ganta United Methodist High School.

“It must be understood by all that the United Methodist Church continues to construct and maintain facilities on this land for the past 90 years and these facilities are used to immensely serve the peace, education, health, social welfare, human resource and capacity development, economic growth and benefits of people in Nimba, and Liberia at large,” Rev. Kandea added.

The United Methodist Church in Liberia was started in 1821 by free blacks and formerly enslaved persons who had returned to Africa from the United States of America. Among its early members was Joseph Jenkins Roberts, who served as the first president of Liberia. It was organized as the Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church based in the Liberia area. 

An Annual Conference is a primary unit through which the church is established in a certain area. It is the denominational representation of the church where all power and voice can be found. Thus, the Liberia Annual Conference, United Methodist Church came into existence one hundred and eighty-one years ago and can count on a long experience of faithful service to the Liberian people.

In Ganta, which is the commercial hub of Nimba County, the Church runs United Methodist Hospital and Ganta TB, Leprosy, and Tropical health care center known as ‘Ganta Rehab’, as well as a school. The hospitals and schools cater to the health and education needs of hundreds of Ganta residents as well as people from other parts of the county.

Also, the Church university — the United Methodist University — has its Health Science College station in Ganta as well — catering to hundreds of nursing and health science students from across the country, who are stationed in Ganta for practicals.

But while the church would not name any individual or institution responsible for the encroachment on its land, some of the citizens of the nearby communities where the church has lands are claiming that most of the lands in question were not given to the church at that time.

For example,  one Fred Suah constructed a school and church on land that the Church has laid claim to and was being reserved for the United Methodist University College of Health Sciences.  However, how Suah and others who are allegedly constructing structures on the Church land got the rights to the land are yet unknown.