Africa-Press – Liberia. When the government evicted street sellers and other marketeers from Red Light on July 10, 2021, where they had been stationed for decades, to the Omega Market, the Liberia National Police (LNP) were assigned to ensure that the vendors leave the area.
But months after the officers took the assignment, Red light continues to be crowded with petty traders in various avenues selling. Initially, they complained that they were facing difficulties in finding spots to sell. They first encountered a lack of warehouses and toilet facilities.
Besides the three market buildings that could not accommodate all the sellers at Omega, much of the land space at the new marketplace is swampy and needs to be filled in to make room for more sellers. After days of public outcry, the Government came in with a promise to erect additional buildings and toilet facilities for the marketeers.
After an unannounced visit to the market, and seeing the wetland that the sellers have been battling to develop and sell, President George Manneh Weah then declared the Omega Market an ’emergency’ and mandated the Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment (LACE) and the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) to construct four new buildings at the market, in addition to the two existing buildings, making it six buildings to accommodate the sellers.
So far, three buildings have been fully completed but remain unoccupied because street sellers have refused to move in. Macline B. Jallah, Superintendent of the Gobachop Market, under the Liberia Marketing Association, said the police are not empowered to enforce the eviction.
He said the marketeers have complained that business is slow at the Omega, which has prompted their defiance. Jallah blamed vehicles bringing goods from out of town for refusal to stop at the Omega market. “You know where transportation is, their people will go,” he argues.
“Myself, I had my shop in Red Light, but we all came here when the government asked us to leave. So, if they continue to sell in Red Light, we all will go back,” Jallah said.
Jallah added that the sellers are resisting relocation because the police do not have enough manpower and other resources to barricade the entire Red Light.
“If the police are everywhere in Red light, the seller will be forced to leave the area and come to Omega to join their friends,” he said. It is alleged that during last year’s Christmas, the government allowed vendors from Omega market to return to Red Light to sell since they were complaining that business was slow at Omega as a result of the defiant sellers in Red light.
After the festive season, the police struggled to send the sellers back so they instructed stores and shop owners to close their businesses, which resulted in a mass protest. Owners of stores and shops assembled at the Paynesville City Hall to demand that the government allow them to reopen their businesses. In response, Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Kojee announced the resumption, with the exception of cold storage businesses.
Since the resumption of normal business activities in Red Light, street sellers are increasing daily, leaving the police to struggle to identify sellers, buyers, residents and pedestrians. The police are caught in the dilemma of using force to evict the sellers without harming pedestrians and residents. This has apparently given the defiant vendors the edge to continue selling since the area is teeming with buyers and sellers. Some time ago, LNP spokesperson H. Moses Carter said the police were taking strenuous actions to ensure that street sellers finally leave the area.
He described the vendors as mere violators and, as such, the police are taking strenuous action. “The police are taking strenuous action against people who will definitely just refuse to leave the Red Light when they are not supposed to be there and that is exactly what we are doing. You can rest assured that action is underway to ensure that they are removed from there,” Carter said.
He acknowledged that the police are challenged by the defiance of the sellers. “As the saying goes, the child that says their mother will not sleep, they themselves will not sleep. That’s what we are on,” he said.
The police then became tough in the area, firing teargas at sellers to discourage them from selling in the area. But they still remained defiant, while their friends were in Omega.
At first, the police were vigorous in the area, moving from one corner to another destroying any goods they found to discourage sellers from selling in the area. However, this has not caused the vendors to vacate the area. Marketeers continue to remain defiant to the government’s order, challenging police daily by bringing their goods to the main road, from which they were evacuated. They argue that they have no space at Omega. Some are selling from various street corners and have adapted to be able to quickly pick up their goods and run when they see a police officer coming.
The situation has made Red Light a scene of much drama. The police officers, on the other hand, are showing no mercy to the sellers when they get hold of them. If caught, the police would confiscate or destroy their goods. Despite this harsh treatment, the sellers are still resisting relocation.
“We come here to sit for the entire day without anyone coming to buy from us. You don’t expect people to see people selling in Redlight and this long distance to Omega to buy,” said Naomi Mulbah, who sells children’s used clothes.
Mulbah, like many other vendors at Omega, might likely join their colleagues at Redlight to sell since the police are doing little or nothing to evict the sellers. “The police are responsible for people selling in Red Light. They collect bribes from them every day so they can sell,” said Miatta Kollie.
She said if the police were destroying goods and chasing people, the sellers in Red Light would not be so defiant. “Nobody will want to put huge money behind goods and somebody destroys it”.
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