Liberia: Chief Justice Gbeisay, Former Mayor Suah Trade Accusations Over Ganta Land

GANTA, Nimba County – In Ganta, a land dispute has moved well beyond a single property line. Its reach now covers the country’s top judicial officer, a former city mayor, a former county superintendent and hundreds of neighbors who say they will not stand aside.

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By Franklin Doloquee

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It is a story about who is believed to own the ground under a person’s feet, and what happens when that question is answered in an hour.

Residents describe last Wednesday as a day that arrived without warning. Authorities carried out an eviction ordered by the Gompa Magisterial Court, and more than 15 families were left without shelter.

Those who watched say the time allowed was far too short. One community member, who asked not to be named, put it plainly: an hour was not enough time to take apart what people had spent two decades building.

The court order came from a summary proceeding brought by the estate of the late Musa Toure, represented by its administrator, Mohammed Toure, against Mohammed Bility and a Mr. Dorley.

Yet the people affected are a wider circle than the two named defendants. Residents say members of the Toure family have lived on the site and kept up its buildings for more than 20 years, and that many of the structures were bought, not squatted.

Two Ways of Seeing the Same Ground

The dispute rests on a familiar tension in many communities: the gap between long occupancy and formal legal title. For residents, twenty years of living somewhere, paying for buildings and maintaining them is its own kind of claim. For a court working through a summary proceeding, the question is narrower: what does the record show, and who prevailed?

That gap has not been bridged in public. Authorities have not offered a full explanation of the legal basis for the eviction, nor said whether the displaced were offered anywhere to go. Court records that might settle the timeline are still being sought.

The case is also not closed. A hearing on a motion for relief from judgment is set for 20 December. Until then, the eviction order stands, which means families are out of their homes while the question of whether the judgment should be revisited remains open.

The Voice on the Radio

The story might have stayed local had the chief justice not spoken. Chief Justice Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay Sr. went on Radio Voice of Gompa to defend the order, emphasizing that the eviction was the work of the magisterial court and not the Supreme Court of Liberia.

He did not stop there. He alleged that Amos N. G. Suah, while serving as Ganta City mayor, sold public or government land to private individuals. He named former Superintendent David Door Cooper and the late Senator Prince Yormie Johnson as people who benefited. He also said he would tell President Joseph Boakai before any enforcement action against people occupying government land.

Those statements are allegations made on air. They have not been independently verified, and no finding has been issued on them.

The Mayor Answers

Suah’s response was swift and sharp. He called the chief justice a “security enemy,” meaning, in his usage, someone he regards as harmful or untrustworthy, and asked President Boakai to remove him. He also claimed

Gbeisay is a citizen of Lofa County rather than Nimba, but offered no evidence.

The exchange stalled when a radio interview with Suah was cut off by a power outage. Suah told reporters he had received calls telling him to end the interview and go home. He has not been reachable since, and he has not elaborated on who made those calls.

A Parcel Changes Hands

Then came a quieter revelation. During proceedings before Chief Justice Gbeisay, Cooper disclosed that he and several others had returned a disputed parcel in Ganta to Suah. Testimony and court records described the transfer as part of an effort to settle competing claims.

The reporting does not establish how this parcel connects to the Toure property, or whether it does at all. That gap matters. It leaves open whether these are two threads of one dispute or two disputes that have simply become entangled in public conversation.

Watching for What Comes Next

The judiciary and the Office of the President have not responded to the accusations or to the call for the chief justice’s removal. FrontPage Africa has contacted the chief justice’s office and other officials.

On the ground, the mood is unsettled. Residents say they will keep up protective measures and may hold more demonstrations, and journalists and officials are watching for any escalation.