A dispute over a parcel of land has stalled ongoing construction work being carried out by Liberian journalist Winston W. Parley in Barnerville, Montserrado County.
Parley says the township commissioner in Barnerville, Madam Jabbateh and her assistant, Mr. John McCintosh ordered him to stop roofing his house after those who wanted to buy his land later claim ownership of the same property.
According to him, he bought a half lot of land in the Duja Community in 2015 and his cornerstones were planted after a survey.
Parley said he bought the land while working as a reporter at the NewDawn newspaper, and he has been developing it gradually up to the time he became a Copy Editor at the NewDawn.
Parley says he bought the land from Timothy Z. Yearr, and he shares boundaries with one U.S.-based Thomas W. Doe, Jr., who has been using Isaac Doe to stair the land conflict.
He said since he purchased the property back in 2015 and started developing it, there has never been any issue about trespassing until now, saying Mr. Doe is trying to illegally claim his front-view property because he did not agree to sell it to them.
He said he probated and registered his property, and over the past years
Through those keeping watch over his property – Sis Tee Dennis, her daughter Pinky, and Mr. Garya Karmo, Parley said the Doe family in 2022 started requesting that they wanted to buy his land.
Parley said he did not want to sell his land because he had almost completed his house project.
While roofing his house in May this year, Parley said Isaac obtain a stop order from the Barnerville town hall in the Kebbah Community ordering the project to stop.
At the hearing, Parley noted that Isaac, without a power of attorney, alleged that the house was being constructed on Mr. Thomas Doe’s land.
But Parley said when he asked Isaac why he wanted to buy the land in question if he knew it belonged to Thomas Doe, Isaac claimed that they had just realized that they planted their cornerstones at the wrong places because they did not have their land deed.
He said despite Isaac admitting that they wanted to buy his land, and that their cornerstones remain where they planted them, the township commissioner ordered a survey which he sees as an attempt to rob him of his property.
Before going to the town hall, Parley said Isaac had brought a bogus surveyor without the knowledge of the town hall and the suspect backed Isaac’s claims in his bogus survey.
Parley has accused the Doe family of trying to infringe on his right by attempting to forcefully and illegally claim his property.
A survey intended to be conducted on Saturday, 10 June 2023 to determine who’s the legitimate owner of the disputed land was halted and postponed for this Saturday after a surveyor assigned by the Barnerville Township failed to present his identity.
In furtherance, Mr. Parley told newsmen that Mr. Doe was telling lies, only because he had rejected the appeal to sell his front-view property to the Doe family.
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