Grand Gedeh Lawmaker Expresses Worries over Poor Implementation of Land Rights Law

Monrovia, Liberia: Representative Jacob Cheateghas Debee II of Grand Gedeh County Electoral District #3 has expressed uneasiness over the misapplication and poor implementation of Liberia’s Land Rights Act, citing systemic corruption, lack of public education, and abuse of authority as critical threats to land governance across the country.

Speaking at a land governance engagement, Representative Debee frowned at members of the House of Representatives, who he says often pass key legislation without proper consultation or awareness.

 “We pass laws without even seeing the people they will affect. It’s very funny, but it’s true,” Representative Debee said. “We just passed the Local Government Act again, and a lot of us don’t even fully understand what we’re passing. I’ve told them we need to see the paper and understand it before passing it,” he added.

The Grand Gedeh lawmaker also criticized what he described as a “top-to-bottom” approach by the House of Representatives in exercising their three cardinal responsibilities: lawmaking, oversight, and representation.

He accused his colleagues of making decisions without a decentralized consultation process, emphasizing that rural citizens, especially those in remote counties like Grand Gedeh, remain unaware of their rights under the law.

 “We cannot sit in the Capital Building or at the Land Authority and expect people in the interior to understand laws we haven’t explained,” he stressed. “The problem isn’t lack of land or forest; it’s the exploitation by individuals grabbing 10,000 or even 50,000 acres when the law doesn’t allow that,” Representative Debee argues.

He pointed accusing fingers at some officials and staff at the Liberia Land Authority (LLA) for alleged corrupt practices, including extortion and the duplication of land surveys for bribes.

 “People are paying L$10,000 just to get a survey done, while some pay US$1,000 or US$5,000. If someone offers more, they redo the survey on the same land. That’s illegal and shameful,” Debee revealed.

Representative Debee is also alarmed over the abuse of official titles by local authorities to illegally acquire land and forest areas. He urged the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Forestry Development Authority to arrest such behavior and institute punitive measures to curtail the situation.

“Local officials are using their positions to grab land and forest that don’t belong to them. It’s wrong. My family owned a forest, and even before I became a lawmaker, I urged them to respect the law. Don’t use your title to disadvantage others,” he noted.

Representative Debee stressed the urgency for reform and transparency in land governance while promising his continued support for an increment in LLA’s budget, averring that funding alone won’t solve the issues around land governance.

“We need to be an honest and patriotic people. We want titles, yet we do not want to work. That’s what’s embarrassing this country,” saying, “Let’s not just talk; let’s walk the talk.”

His statements come amid growing concerns across the country about land disputes, mismanagement, and rising tensions over land ownership being considered as one of the drivers of conflict in Liberia.