TAPPITA, Nimba – A citizens’ group is challenging Nimba’s Superintendent Fong Garmie Zuagele’s effort to lay out the streets of Tappita.

Under Zuagele’s leadership, streets are being laid out in several cities in the county for easier navigation.

One of such cities is Tappita, located in the Doe Administrative District, lower Nimba County. A few weeks ago, road equipment belonging to the county was taken to Tappita to initiate the process.

To the dismay of the county authorities, a group under the banner of “Concerned Citizens of Tappita” strongly opposed the work. The group asked the Supreme Court of Liberia to intervene in what they called “the unjust demolition of properties.”

Napah Wheyee, the commissioner of Doe Administrative District, encouraged the group’s action because as he said, under the Liberian law, “anything you don’t clearly understand, you have to take it to the court for better explanation.” There has been no actual lawsuit filed, but rather a meeting convened between the two parties and representatives of the court.

Wheyee said during the discussion at the Supreme Court, Zuagele apologized to the citizens and admitted that he was wrong for destroying people’s properties in the name of development.

However, the apology from the superintendent did not go down well with the entire citizenry. The Concerned Citizens have resolved to set up a committee to meet the County Administration and reschedule Tappita’s streets layout process.

The commissioner pointed out that residents are divided on this matter, and there are other groups that support the project.

“We have one group called the Anti-Concerned Citizens of Tappita and the other, Citizens in Support of the Streets Layout Process,” he said.

The two groups strongly disagree with the Concerned Citizens of Tappita. They acknowledge that development sometimes comes with pain. Therefore, they are calling on the county administration to proceed with the project.

Currently, the county’s construction equipment that were working on Tappita’s streets have been moved to work on the roads connecting the Doe Administrative District to Gbee, Dorru, and Quandi – parts of lower Nimba County that are considered to be highly inaccessible.

Since the commencement of the city’s streets layout exercise in July of this year, the administration of Nimba County has encountered episodes of resistance including in Bahn and the Zoe-Geh Administrative District.

Some residents demanded that the county administration compensate them before destroying their property. They based their argument on the Article 24a of the Liberian Constitution which requires “prompt payment of just compensation” when citizens’ properties are repossessed.