Africa-Press – Liberia. President George Weah is yet to make a true commitment to compensate over two thousand family heads in the Fendall community, Montserrado County, who were victims of a massive demolition exercise carried out by the government seven years ago.
The victims, who were made homeless by the government’s actions, have grown frustrated with the government’s failure to meet its obligations since Weah committed more than a year ago.
In 2016, the University of Liberia’s authority, claiming to have legal title to 5,800 acres of land in the area, got permission from former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s administration to evict the occupants. That move left many homeless families bitter with the Liberian authority.
But as a way to find an amicable resolution to the situation, President Weah, in 2022, instructed Finance and Development Planning Minister, Samuel Tweah, to make the first payment of US$2 million out of the agreed US$5 million that was allotted to compensate the victims.
Before the President’s commitment, the government, in May 2021, accepted official responsibility for wrongfully evicting its people, promising to resettle them and restore their dignity.
But according to the residents, Tweah has yet to pay the US$2 million up to the present.
Montserrado County District #1 Representative Lawrence Morris said the government, through the MFDP, is going to be the one to disburse funding to the affected residents.
“It is painful for the hard-earned homes of the people to have been unjustifiably destroyed since 2015, but they have been resilient,” the lawmaker said during the interview.
But a source in the office of the lawmaker informed the Daily Observer that Morris himself is not happy about the delay in Tweah’s disbursement of the US$2 million.
“When the representative and some representation of the Fendell demolition victims went to the ministry, we were told that Minister Tweah was out of the country seeking medication. And, upon his return, he was going to make available the money. We are yet to hear from the minister,” the source claimed.
“We first demanded the government to pay us US$ 40 million, but during the first negotiation, the money was reduced to US$ 8 million. Later, the government said they would pay only US$ 5 million and we agreed to the amount,” the source further claimed.
According to the source, the government promised to pay the first installment of US$ 2 million in 2022 and failed to live up to their commitment.
Weah took over the Fendell demolition crisis after the 2017 election and after mounting pressure from the people in the presidency in 2018, set up a media committee to investigate the situation.
Following the committee’s investigation, it came out with its findings on August 2, 2019, highlighting that the total damage caused during the demolition was in the amount of US$16,610,783.96.
Again, Weah set up another committee that is being formed by the Liberia Land Authority (LLA) to review the process to advise the government and take into consideration the economic constraints the country is facing.
It was based on the LLA’s conclusion that the government said it would afford to pay US$8 million in two installments, but with an initial payment of 50% upfront to the affected residents of Fendall.
The report also revealed that the Fendall demolition victims’ original claim of US$40 million was negotiated and has now been reduced to US$8 million.
The committee further asked the government to return some of the lands to the victims and build estate units for the towns and villages that were wantonly demolished, which is yet to be fulfilled by the government.
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