Published: August 15, 2025
MONROVIA – The opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) is mounting a last-ditch legal fight to hold on to its national headquarters in Congo Town, framing the dispute not merely as a property quarrel but as a fundamental test of Liberia’s commitment to the rule of law.
For the CDC, the 4.23-acre compound is a political landmark – the staging ground for rallies, strategy meetings, and declarations that have shaped national elections since the early 2000s. Under the shade of its sycamore trees, generations of CDC loyalists have chanted slogans, danced to party songs, and mobilized for the ballot box.
But now, after a string of courtroom defeats, the party faces the prospect of losing the site it has occupied and invested in for more than two decades. The Civil Law Court, enforcing a 2016 Supreme Court ruling, has ordered the CDC to vacate the property, which it says rightfully belongs to the Intestate Estate of the late Martha Stubblefield Bernard.
The eviction order, issued August 4 and backed by a writ of possession on August 13, has set the stage for a showdown between the party and the courts. CDC lawyers have filed Bills of Exceptions and say they will appeal to the Supreme Court, seeking both a stay of enforcement and a reversal of the lower court’s decision.
A Deal Gone Sour
The CDC’s legal position rests on what it calls a binding agreement to purchase the property. According to the party, the estate extended a Right of First Refusal offer in 2024, giving the CDC priority to buy the land before it could be sold to anyone else. The party says it accepted that offer and began standard due diligence – only to be met, it claims, with hostility from the landlord and an “illegal” eviction bid through the Civil Law Court later that year.
In May 2025, the CDC won a reprieve when the Supreme Court ruled in its favor on a Bill of Information, affirming its legal tenancy under the estate, represented by administrator Ebrima Varney Dempster. The party says it then formally notified the estate of its readiness to complete the purchase.
But on June 2, 2025, the estate issued a one-week eviction notice, a move the CDC says breached the agreed terms. The party responded with a Specific Performance lawsuit in the Civil Law Court, seeking to compel the estate to honor the sale. That case was dismissed by Presiding Judge George W. Smith without a hearing on the merits.
What followed, CDC says, was a procedural anomaly: the same court then entertained a summary proceeding to recover the property – even though, in the party’s view, the issue of ownership was still in dispute.
The Court’s Perspective
Judge Smith’s July 31 ruling sided firmly with the estate. He found that the summary proceedings were a distinct legal action, not barred by the pending Specific Performance case, and that the Supreme Court’s final judgment had already settled the matter of ownership.
The court pointed to the high court’s May 2025 opinion, which dismissed the CDC’s Bill of Information as “preposterous” and “impermissible.” Associate Justice Jamesetta Wolokollie, writing for the bench, said the party’s strategy was a “legal charade” designed to circumvent a final judgment and maintain unlawful occupancy.
Crucially, the Supreme Court noted that the CDC had paid US$360,000 in rent arrears between 2018 and 2023 – evidence, it said, of a landlord-tenant relationship. Under Liberian law, a tenant cannot challenge the title of its landlord, a principle reaffirmed in the 2013 case Jallah v. Intestate Estate of George S. B. Tulay.
For the estate, represented by Cllr. Johnny Momoh concluded that there was no enforceable sale agreement, only rent payments, and the law was on their side.
Political Symbolism and Legal Stakes
For CDC supporters, the court’s stance is a political blow. The headquarters has been central to the party’s identity since its founding, serving as a hub where political strategy meets grassroots energy. Losing it could damage morale just as the CDC is still adjusting after its defeat in the 2023 presidential elections.
“The CDC’s national headquarters is not just a building. It is a monument of our political struggle,” said a party official who requested anonymity. “We will exhaust all legal means to ensure that our supporters are not displaced from a space that has become a second home.”
Party Chairman Atty. Janga A. Kowo has cast the fight as part of a broader defense of democratic norms. “We remain steadfast in our respect for the rule of law,” he said in the August 14 press release, “but we condemn arbitrary judicial actions that jeopardize fairness.”
The party is also alarmed by Judge Smith’s directive for the Liberia National Police, rather than the Court Sheriff, to enforce the eviction. CDC calls the order “deeply troubling” and “unprecedented” for a civil property matter, hinting at possible bias.
A History of Delays
The roots of the dispute stretch back more than a decade. In 2014, the Stubblefield Estate filed an ejectment action against both the CDC and the Intestate Estate of William Thomas Bernard. Two years later, the Supreme Court ruled in the Stubblefield Estate’s favor. But enforcement stalled, reportedly due to political interference during the tenure of former Justice Minister Frank Musa Dean, who had once served as legal counsel to the estate.
The case revived in 2024, when the estate hired new legal representation and pushed to execute the high court’s decision. That led to the current flurry of legal filings, as the CDC sought to protect its hold on the property through procedural challenges.
The party’s critics say these tactics have merely prolonged the inevitable. “What’s happening now is procedural enforcement of a final judgment, not a new trial,” one legal analyst told The Liberian Investigator. “The court is simply giving effect to what the Supreme Court already made clear that CDC’s occupancy is unlawful.”
Comparisons and Consequences
Observers have drawn parallels between the CDC’s situation and that of the now ruling Unity Party, which in 2021 was evicted from its own headquarters in Congo Town for failing to pay US$150,000 in rent. But the CDC insists the circumstances differ. Unlike the Unity Party, which acknowledged its debt in court, the CDC says it has acted in good faith to purchase the property and has made substantial investments in it.
The CDC has already begun planning for an “orderly transition” to a new headquarters, even as it presses ahead with its appeal.
Former President George M. Weah, the party’s political leader, has sought to rally supporters in the face of adversity. Hours after the eviction order, he unveiled blueprints for a proposed new headquarters and urged unity. “We are here to stay,” Weah said. “Strong we will always be, because nothing will separate us. It’s a national struggle, and we must continue to fight no matter what.”
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