By Bill W. Cooper
Acting Public Work Minister Ruth Koker Collins has clarified that the government of Liberia did not illegally take away any land belonging to residents of the Omega Market situated in Paynesville.
“Let me state this for the record that the information that has been in the public is false, misleading and has no iota of truth,” she clarified.
However, the Acting Public Works Minister’s clarification comes following a recent media publication in which they quoted some residents of the Omega Market alleging that the Liberian government through the MPW illegally and deliberately took away their land without any resettlement.
One of the alleged affected victims, Augustus Sibley said, “On July 11 of this year, police officers acting on the orders of the Public Works and MCC ordered us to leave the area because Public Works was coming the next morning to demolish structures that are on the land belonging to the Omega Market without any prior notice.”
“I saw armed police officers marching into my area claiming that the place belongs to the government and therefore they were taking it from me and what is more shocking is that nobody has ever made any claims on this land of which I have all relevant documents since I bought it in 2005,” he explained.
But appearing on ELBC Super Morning Show, Minister Collins among other things stressed, “The land where the Omega Market is belongs to government and not any one individual or citizen as being reported.”
According to her, the Weah government is a government which respects the rights of its citizens and as such, the massive expansion of the Omega Market only affected areas that belong to government.
She added that at no time will the Liberian government through the Public Works Ministry engage in the business or habit of forcefully taking away land belonging to private citizens.
Meanwhile, Minister Collins is at the same time urging any Liberian having claims against the Ministry to contact the Liberia Land Authority (LLA) to verify his/her claims or allegation.
She further warned Liberians to desist from spreading falsehood or misinformation to the public, something she said has the propensity to derail the country’s fragile peace.