Published: October 6, 2026
MONROVIA – A food seller at the Red Light commercial hub has denied allegations that she contaminated food sold to the public with human feces, saying the controversy grew out of a misunderstanding after a colleague allegedly defecated in a plastic container near their selling area.
By Destiny D. Jabula and Masefane Konneh
The woman said the incident occurred Sunday, when one of four women who use the same selling area on different days, identified only as Asha, allegedly defecated in a plastic container after becoming pressed at the market.
She said Asha was the one selling at the location Sunday, and that she herself was not present and was not scheduled to sell that day.
“My colleague Asha who sell from Sunday morning to night said she was pressed so she pooped in a plastic,” the woman said.
She said a security officer spotted Asha and confronted her, leading to an argument that drew police officers.
According to the food seller, Asha acknowledged defecating in the container and said she had been urgently pressed. The woman also alleged that Asha was arrested over the incident and later released after paying L$3,000.
On Monday morning, the woman’s daughter arrived at the market to sell food.
The woman said people who had apparently heard about the previous day’s incident began linking it to the family’s food business, accusing them of preparing or selling food contaminated with feces.
“When my daughter came to sell our market, people started coming and saying, ‘so la your been selling pupu food to us, so you been putting pupu in the food,'” she said.
According to the woman, her daughter tried to explain that Sunday’s incident involved Asha and had nothing to do with the food being sold, but the situation escalated as a crowd gathered.
Her daughter then called her at home, and she rushed to Red Light to explain the circumstances herself.
“When I came, I also tried making the crowd understand what was happening, but seeing that they were trying to hit me, the police took me to the station,” she said.
She said being taken to the police station was not an arrest or an admission of wrongdoing, but a protective measure by officers who feared the crowd could attack her.
“The police people carry me in the station. They said because this is Red Light, before they beat me,” she said.
“We went to Red Light Depot, but there were still crowds, so the policemen suggested I go to the police station in Jacob Town,” she said.
She repeatedly denied putting human feces in food and said the allegation circulating against her and her business is false.
According to her account, the controversy resulted from people linking Asha’s alleged act of defecating near the selling area Sunday to food sold by her family Monday.
The allegation has raised public concern over food safety at Red Light, one of Montserrado County’s busiest commercial areas, where vendors sell cooked food and other goods daily.
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