Liberia: Law Protects the Rich & Powerful

Mada had been glued to her king-size bed for the last 24 hours; painfully rolling from end-to-end, after being knocked down by a terrible headache, accompanied by intense ear, eye and tooth aches, the previous day. Visibly paralyzed by this condition, the 29-year-old remained in bed until 7 a.m. the next morning when she was rudely awakened by brutal hits on her door. A gang of scruffy-bearded men had assembled there; ready to mercilessly kick her out of her flat.

Claiming to have been legally empowered by the Civil Law Court at the Temple of Justice, these red-eyed men, charged with violence, would leave no stone unturned in enforcing an eviction order approved by the court.  Every tenant of the four-storey-building, within which Mada had been leasing a flat for the past one-year-seven-month, had only a couple of hours left of their tenancy.

The men were adamant, vehemently quashing any suggestion for negotiation put forth by tenants.  “Move or be removed” was their mission on that Saturday, July 27, 2013.

From the onset, Mada had absolutely no idea what this was all about.

“They are kicking us out!” screamed a forth floor neighbor.

“But why?” inquired Mada.

“Biggie is no longer in charge of the building. It now has a new lessor. The money we paid to Biggie has gone in vain. What kind of trouble is this?” retorted the neighbor, in distress.

It was now clear that Biggie, the man with whom they all had entered a fresh 12-month lease agreement and had made full cash payments of their individual rents for lease-year 2013, had been booted out of power through legal means.

Standing tall in the heart of Monrovia’s central business district—at the corner of Broad & Gurley Streets— the McCarthy apartment building was now under the command of a new leaseholder. The building was adored by its inhabitants, predominantly merchants, because of its prime location; very ideal for business transactions. Some tenants had been dwelling in there for more than 20 years. They had skillfully transformed the basement of the building into retail stores, beauty parlors, designer boutiques, phone booths and restaurants. Both Biggie and the new lessor of the property were Nigerian nationals residing and running large businesses in central Monrovia.

“It turns out that Biggie and the new lessor had logged hocks in a legal battle over who the legitimate leaseholder is,” explained Tenneh, another tenant.

“Wow! And we knew nothing about this?” Mada further inquired.

“Yup! This battle had been going on for the last two years unknown to us, the tenants. Now…. it is all over. The court found Biggie’s lease agreement to be a bogus one. In fact, he’s currently occupying a cell at the Monrovia Central Prison,” added Tenneh.

Overwhelmed by what was unfolding, Mada began fishing in her handbag for her mobile phone. Once found, she placed an urgent call to her aunt, Jamie, who lived within the Chocolate City vicinity, across town. She also called for emotional support from her best friend, Mama.

In less than 30 minutes, Jamie was at Mada’s apartment. By then, the 1^st and 2^nd floors had been brutally cleared by those ruthless men. They trespassed and invaded tenants’ privacy under the cover of a writ obtained from the court. They bashed into tenants’ apartments; dispersed tenants’ personal belongings in the streets and nearby alleys. Scores of tenants’ properties were damaged in this process. Not even the stores, boutiques, beauty parlors and phone booths located in the basement of the apartment building were spared during Saturday’s exercise. The men were pitiless. They even assaulted tenants who stood their grounds, saying they were being unlawfully evicted because there was no prior notice served to this effect.

Moreover, Saturday’s instant eviction came at a time when majority of the tenants had left the country on various business trips across the West African region—Ghana, Togo, Nigeria.  But their absence from the country was not enough to stop those brutes from kicking them out of the building. They unsympathetically did self-help eviction; locking those tenants out by throwing out their belongings and changing the locks on their doors.

Seeing this further intimidated Mada. She felt battered by this intentional infliction of emotional distress. Yet, she hoped to be spared the disgrace.

But Jamie saw it differently. She knew her niece wouldn’t be spared, judging from what was unfolding. So, she quickly grabbed a motorbike and ran down Waterside where she bought a couple of “Ghana Must Go” bags and dashed back to the flat. She  then began packing her niece’s personal effects into those bags, while Mada made several fruitless attempts to strike a deal with the guys; painfully pleading to be allowed at least a two-week grace period for her to find another place to move-in.

Mama, too, joined in the packing and in less than 20 minutes, everything in the flat was fully packed in five “Ghana Must Go” bags, four large suitcases and other smaller bags. The mattress had been rolled up and neatly tied into a knot. The bed dismantled and pilled up in one corner. While this was going on, Mada’s flat had been visited more then ten times by the men, itching to throw her belongings out in the street and have the lock on her door changed.

This rigmarole continued until 4:00pm when Mada finally gave up all hopes. Arrangements were then made to have her properties transferred to Jamie’s house in Chocolate City, while she (Mada) briefly moved-in with her sister-in-law in the Airfield community. Fortunately though, Mada was able to retrieve $375 of her $900 paid to the lessor of her apartment as her rent for that year. Not every tenant was this fortunate. In fact, no one was ever reimbursed, even after the lease agreement was grossly breached.

Surprised? Well, I’m not. Only in Liberia you can have lessors violating the rights of lessees with impunity. Sadly, the very law that should have protected Mada and co-lessees against any such abuse, was the same law used by the lessor to his advantage. This, too, is Liberia.