The Duala Market project in Point Four, Bushrod Island outside Monrovia seems to be running into trouble as the Mends-Cole Family wants the Japanese government to stop the construction until the Government of Liberia pay for the property.
According to the chief administrator for the J. J. Mends-Cole Estate, Madam Rose Mends-Cole Sherman, the land is a private property and the Liberian government has not compensated for it yet, but the Japanese government is constructing a market building on a private property, which is against diplomacy.
Madam Sherman made the disclosure on Friday, February 19, 2021 in an interview with reporters in Monrovia.
She explained that her late father, Joseph Jenkins Mends-Cole, Sr, bought the land in 1949 and they have presented documents for the land to the government, which has been acknowledged by the government.
She stated that they were surprised to see that their property has been fenced with zinc without the government reaching out to them concerning their property, which according to her, is wrong.
Madam Sherman stressed that the government should compensate for their property before the project can continue or else, she would stand in front of equipment to stop the project from going on at the Duala Market.
She noted that no official of the Liberian government will have a private property and government will take it without compensation, saying, ‘do on to others, as you have them do on to you.’
She lamented that government officials want to use her private property to construct a market, but they don’t want to compensate owners of the property, something, she noted, was never practiced by past governments.
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Madam Sherman narrated that the J. J. Mends-Cole Estate has paid real estate taxes up to date and they will not allow government to take their property forcefully.
Late last year, President George Manneh Weah broke grounds for construction of a modern market building in Duala to prevent traffic congestion in the area. Editing by Jonathan Browne
