By: Togba-Nah Tipoteh
MONROVIA: In today’s media appeared stories about destruction in Margibi County. The stories are about a land dispute. Land dispute again from Margibi, Nimba to Grand Bassa, Rivercess, Sinoe and back to Margibi. God forbid, the land problem will be the next source of civil war in Liberia, if it were not to be handled correctly. This Commentary helps people to know that Liberia needs construction rather than destruction to improve the lives of people sustainably.
Already, nearly thirty persons have been murdered over the land problem in Margiib County. Then some seven persons got killed over the land problem in Montserrado County. State set up investigations abound but the land problems continue. The Land Commission has become the Land Authority but the land problem persists. The main Elder and Advisor Paramount Chief Flomo Bawolor has passed away at 110 years of age but the Land problem remains.
The land problem remains because of greed. Let us recall the greed from the days of slavery when a few greedy Chiefs in Liberia and other parts of Africa sold the people’s land and some people to slave buyers from the United States of America (USA). Then, when the former slaves came back to Africa, they sold indigenous people into slavery, as was done in Liberia when former slaves sold indigenous people into slavery to slave buyers in Fernando Po. Let us not forget South Africa when persons, the Boers from England, came to Africa and claimed land that belong to the people of South Africa. We are also reminded about how a Liberia scholar is claiming fame for finding the deed of Liberian property sold to Americans by greedy Liberian Chiefs when the land belong to the people of Liberia.
The rule of the people by State power has moved from Americo-Liberian rule to indigenous rule but the land problem is still here. Indigenous State rulers are doing the same thing, business as usual, as the Americo-Liberian rulers. As the result of what the indigenous rulers are doing, poverty generation continues to be the order of the day. This is the same situation that happened in South Africa when white people went there claiming to own land that was owned by the indigenous people and such led to poverty generation.
However, there is good news. The good news is that the people who love Liberia continue to raise awareness within the Rule of Law and this is motivating the people to take action to transform the prevailing unfair electoral system into the enduring fair electoral system. It is only through this transformation that persons with good records can get elected to bring in the system of Justice, the indispensable ingredient for Peace and Progress in Liberia and in any other country.
