Africa-Press – Liberia. The Administrators of the Intestate Estate of Daniel Webster Urey have described as a well calculated political ploy intended to resurrect Congau-native politics a land dispute case involving them, the Administrators of the Intestate Estate of the Kargboyah and several others in Careysburg, rural Montserrado County.
The Administrators of theIntestate Estate of Daniel Webster Urey include: Edwin Urey and Evan Urey. They are cousins to the political leader of the All Liberian Party (ALP), one of the political parties that make up the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP).
Sometimes ago, the Administrators of the Intestate Estate of the Kargboyah accused both men of illegally selling and occupying their property. They added that the duo are also allegedly disrespecting a stay order that is presently on the property following a bill of information filed by them. They are claiming about 224-acres from the 1000-acres being occupied by the Ureys.
“The Urey’s family is in the constant habit of working on the property that is in dispute. Anytime we come on the property, we see their people working and we are sitting down. They are taking advantage over us. They want to take the native people property from them”, an Administrator of the Kargboyah’s family stated in a live video.
He continued: “We are asking the national government to intervene; we don’t want for things to go out of hands for them to say it’s the native and congau people. The congau people met us here and so, they should not mind because they have money”.
Another Administrator of the Kargoyah Intestate Estate stated: “Liberia is a country of law and we want the government to come in because we have men; we get groups that we can say today we all will die here. For this identical land-if it cause for us to die for our right, we will die but we can’t allow Edwin Urey, Benoni Urey, Evan Urey to come and rule over our property. We still depend on the law, but if the law allows us to go astray, we will go out of hand”.
But displaying a title deed and map during an interview with FrontPage Africa over the week end, Edwin Urey disclosed that the property in question, which covers about 1000-acres of land, was purchased by his great-great grandfather from the Republic of Liberia in 1890 during an en masse public land auction pronounced during the administration of ex-Liberian President Hilary R. W. Johnson.
He noted that for several decades, the area has served as a dwelling place and commercial area for not only the Ureys, but other occupants who legally purchased parcels of the property from the Ureys.
He recalled that they noticed encroachment on the property in 2018, something which prompted the family to seek legal redress through the Probate Court in Careysburg for the conduct of a re-survey.
Edwin recalled that on April 28, 2018 while his family and licensed surveyor Charles King went on the scene for the conduct of the re-survey, “about 200 strange people came in” and allegedly threatened to burn down the car of the surveyor that was sent by the court to conduct the re-survey.
He added that the situation at the time compelled the surveyor to retrieve and filed an official complaint to the court. “We have operated on this property and made farms on this property and even built guest houses on this property for decades until 2018 when we noticed people encroaching on our property and we decided to take this matter to the court”.
“The Republic of Liberia at the time sold land with lot number, range number and the land was laid out properly by the Lands and Mines at the time. All land in Careysburg has bearings and if you check properties owners here in Careysburg, all of them have numbers attached to their properties. But the deed the Kargboyah brought has nothing”.
Edwin maintained that the disrupting of the survey also forced the Ureys to file a complaint at the court. He added that while the case filed by the Urey was still at the Probate Court, the Kargboyah family filed another case against the Ureys claiming ownership of several portions of the 1000-acres of land.
“When we got to the court, our deed was already there and so, they submitted their deed. We asked the Judge to send the deed to the Land Authority for authentication so that we can carry on a survey to find out the ownership of the property”.
Edwin recalled that the lawyer that represented the Kargboyah’s family later filed a motion claiming that the deed submitted by the Ureys was fraudulent.
“We went to the court and the jury, in their verdict, ruled in favor of the Urey and the Judge also came up with his ruling”.
He noted that following Judge Dahn’s upholding of the ruling from the jury, the Ureys expected both parties to proceed to the Monthly and Probate Court to prove its ownership of the property through investigative re-survey.
To the utmost surprise of the Ureys, he recalled, that the Kargboyah’s family took an appeal to the Supreme Court to delay the outcome of the matter. Edwin stated that in keeping with the law, the appeal was processed to the High Court, but the files and other documents were not submitted to the Supreme Court by the other party.
He noted that while the Ureys were waiting for the Supreme Court’s opinion on the matter following the appeal filed, the Kargboyah’s family again filed another lawsuit against him (Edwin Urey) and few others who have houses on the property.
According to him, a complaint of eviction was filed to the court to have him and the others perpetually removed from the property. Edwin, however, denied claims made by the Kargboyah’s family that he is violating the stay order placed on the property by Judge Peabody.
“This matter went before His Honor Judge Kennedy Peabody and my lawyer informed him that the party suing us is the same party who challenged the Ureys’ title deed and so, Peabody cannot go through this matter because the title in question is before the Supreme Court and so, what will be the defense of his client”.
“They sued individuals and we are protected by the Estate deed. Stay order is placed and right now if you go to Careysburg, my guest house is not opened; it’s closed down and the window glasses they broke are still the same. I did not violate any law. This stay order was never placed on the Urey’s Administrators. The stay order does not say eviction; it says do not go further in terms of developing and so, we will continue our family business”.
Edwin pointed out that despite the point struck by his lawyer; Judge Peabody continued the case on grounds that the case was different from the previous one filed and issued the stay order.
“This property in question is where we reside; I have a guest house there and it was built since 2006. We have other properties there and family members are living there because, the property has been apportioned among family members already. So, they have right to operate their property”.
He noted that the Ureys have filed for an investigative survey of the land in question to the Liberia Land Authority (LLA) and are awaiting the outcome of the process.
The report from the survey is being finalized by the team from LLA, headed by one Tom Nimely. Edwin added that though his family does not have issue with people squatting on their property, the family remains strongly oppose to encroachment.
He indicated that the Ureys, like other Liberians, have the right to own properties in Liberia, and as such, their legitimate property should not be taken away for political reasons.
He observed that few of the grand children of people who previously squatted on their property are the ones being used to make claim of the 224-acres of land within the property.
Politicizing the matter
“From what I am seeing these few days, they want to put it into politics-the congau and native divides. The issue is not that; this is a legal issue where people need to prove their titles and if you do that the court will rule. For you to call on the president and say these congau guys are taking our properties-I think they should be addressing the legal issues”.
“For Edwin and Evan to be Administrators of the property is not Benoni Urey’s decision. This was a general family decision and the property is not for Benoni Urey alone to benefit, but the entire family. Benoni Urey has not one day gone to the court with us. They are trying to get him involve so it becomes political”.
No arms
Edwin denied claims made by the Kargboyahs that the Ureys have been instilling fear and terrorizing the natives in the area. “That’s a very big lie that we have arms; in fact, we have been threatened and we have been afraid. In May 2018, we couldn’t enter our property because they brought a group of men wearing black t-shirts and trousers and set check point”.
“PSU and ERU came and arrest some of them and they went to court and were found guilty for rioting and other crimes. Not a day that we carry gun or have guns on the property”. Edwin, however, expressed the hope that the land dispute case will be finally adjudicated by the Supreme Court in a timely manner.
He said the Ureys will not hesitate to go to the court to remove illegal occupants and encroachers from their property if the case rules in their favor, adding that, “we know that our deed is genuine and we have no doubt that the Supreme Court will rule in our favor”.
For his part, Evan Urey named one General Harper, the Knuckles, Dennis, among others as some of those sharing boundaries with the Ureys. He claimed that the deed submitted by the contending party does not show boundaries with any of those mentioned above.
“If you look at their deed, it is saying Montserrado, but Careysburg is not mentioned. If you brought a piece of land in an area, the area needs to be specified on your deed. But if you check their document, you will only see Montserrado. And so, this deed can come from any part of Montserrado”.
Evan recalled that in 2014, a caveat was placed on their property at which time one David Baysah encroached on the land. According to him, the deed being submitted by the contending party was issued from Marshall Territory, which is not part of Careysburg.
“How can you claim a land in Montserrado and you brought a deed from Marshall Territory? How can this happen? We have leased our property before. We have few individuals that we also sold land to”.
Court documents
Court documents in the possession of FrontPage Africa revealed that the Intestate Estate of the Kargobyah by and thru its Administrators, Abraham Barbour, Frank D. Koko, Jeff Kollie, Kpenkpah Y. Flomo and Isaac Darway and the Intestate Estate of the late Gbeyee summon by and thru its Administrators, Daniel G. Garmoleh, Emmanuel J. Bentoe and Jackson Molon of the district of Careysburg filed a lawsuit against the Intestate Estate of the late Daniel W. Urey by and thru its Administrators Evan Urey, also of the same address.
They claimed that the deed submitted to the court by the Ureys was fraudulent. But in his ruling delivered on December 11, 2019, the Assigned Circuit Court Judge Roland P. Dahn denied the motion on grounds that the complainants failed to prove fraud as they alleged for which the trial jury brought a unanimous verdict of not liable. The Judge also denied the movants motion for a new trial in the case and ordered the Clerk to transmit the records of the case to the Monthly and Probate Court to resume jurisdiction on the matter and proceed in keeping with the law.
The complainants again filed another lawsuit against the Ureys, something which prompted a stay order to be placed on the matter by Judge Peabody. The Liberian Law Report of 1950 (pages 17 to 21) clearly specified how the land in question was apportioned to the Ureys following a will left behind by their ancestors.
The delay in the final adjudication of the case has the propensity to fuel land dispute which would escalate into conflict or chaos among relatives and others that are connected to the parties involved in the matter.
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