A scuffle between some residents in the Johnsonville Township, lower Montserrado County and the Police Support Unit (PSU) over land matters has reportedly left one person dead and several got wounded.
It is being reported that at least 10 persons including the deceased identified as George Brown versus the PSU who had gone to allegedly affect court’s order on the occupants of the land believed to be owned by someone else were involved in the fracas.
According to one of the victims, Jack Tamba, who claimed that his brother who presently resides in the United States bought the land for over 10 years now and that he along with other contractors were constructing on the land last weekend when police officers obstructed them with a court order.
He stated that the cause of the misunderstanding which led to many of them getting wounded was because of his refusal to receive or sign the court’s order from the police accompanied by one Samuel Duncan who is also claiming ownership of the land.
Tamba said when they were bundled up by the police and placed into their custody in Johnsonville, it was when Brown died but he could not state the cause of death as it is a medical examination that could make a determination for that matter.
However, when the police spokesman, Moses Carter was reached for update on the situation, apparently preventing himself from making comment he claimed that he is not knowledgeable or had not been briefed on the development in Johnsonville Township respectively.
Unlike in the past when Monrovia was less populated with about between 300 to 400, 000 people; that is before the December, 1989 civil war, the capital is now overcrowded as there are more urban migrants seeking for their own shelters instead of being tenants.
Like in the capital, there are clashes either between counties and counties, communities versus communities and individual(s) taking on another individual(s) about land ownerships across the country thus resulting into series of investigations and settlements of these land disputes by the Internal Affairs Ministry, Liberia Land Authority and other independent bodies.
In spite of all of these; land conflicts continue unabated thereby resulting into deaths as well as lawsuits among Liberians predominately and perhaps foreign residents at minimum level in the country.
