Published: October 9, 2026
MONROVIA — The Ministry of Local Government says 108 of Liberia’s 141 cities no longer qualify as cities, including 43 of Sinoe County’s 44. Lawmakers and lawyers say only the Legislature can take away city status it granted by statute, and they are challenging the ministry’s authority to do so.
By Blamo N. Toe and Gibson Gee
The ministry’s position is that only 33 cities meet the requirements of the Local Government Act of 2018, Deputy Minister for Local Government and Decentralization Edward K. Mulbah has said. Fatima Bintu Sirleaf, deputy minister for urban affairs, gave a county-by-county breakdown on state broadcaster ELBC on Wednesday.
“It says the minister shall report to the Legislature. It does not say the minister, on his or her own, can go about dissolving cities,” Cllr. Lafayette B. Gould told The Liberian Investigator.
Two lawmakers, Bong County District 7 Rep. Foday E. Fahnbulleh and Grand Gedeh County District 3 Rep. Jacob C. Debee II, have raised the same objection, as has lawyer Teklo Maxwell Grigsby. Four senators from Grand Kru and Sinoe counties sought Senate intervention in May.
The ministry describes the exercise as a statutory reaffirmation, not an abolition of municipalities. In September, it held a workshop in Kakata, Margibi County, on a roadmap for legislative sign-off and validation of its reaffirmation report. That suggests the ministry may intend to put its findings before lawmakers. Sirleaf’s statements on ELBC, however, described the cities as already lost.
The county breakdown
“So, Sinoe had 44 cities. And out of the 44 cities, Sinoe only maintained one, which is Greenville,” Sirleaf said. “Sinoe lost 43 cities, the highest. Yeah, and Grand Kru lost 32 cities.”
“Maryland had like 17. But they only maintained two,” she said, naming Harper and Pleebo.
According to Sirleaf, Nimba County retained six cities: Sanniquellie, Ganta, Gompa, Saclepea, Tappita and Bahn. Bong County retained Gbarnga, Gbatala, Phebe, Salala and Suakoko, while Botota was dropped. Grand Bassa retained Buchanan and Owensgrove but not St. John River City, and Margibi kept Kakata and Unification but not Marshall. Lofa retained three of its six listed cities. Fish Town and Kanweaken were among those retained in River Gee County.
River Cess retained Cestos, Bomi retained Tubmanburg, Grand Cape Mount retained Robertsport, Grand Gedeh retained Zwedru and Gbarpolu retained Bopolu, Sirleaf said.
The ministry assessed each city against statutory requirements, including population, infrastructure, public services and economic activity.
What the law says
Section 2.16(c) of the Local Government Act is at the center of the dispute. It reads:
“Existing cities, other than the national and county capitals, and townships, and boroughs shall continue to enjoy their legal status under this Act. However, the Minister responsible for local government shall report to the Legislature on the status of each such city, township and borough seven years following the passage of this Act for the purpose of reconfirmation. Cities that will not meet the criteria set in this Act shall be relegated to a town status.”
The provision does two things. It authorizes relegating cities that fail the act’s criteria to town status. It also requires the minister to report to the Legislature “for the purpose of reconfirmation.” It does not say expressly whether the relegation takes effect on the ministry’s assessment or only after lawmakers act. That is the gap both sides are arguing over.
Section 2.16(d) sets the minimum requirements for a city. They include a population of at least 10,000; electricity; pipe-borne water and sewage services; waste collection; primary and secondary schools; health and recreational facilities; demarcated wards; cemeteries; transportation and communications infrastructure; and business facilities.
Section 9.2 provides: “Counties, cities and townships shall be established by the Legislature with perpetual succession and a common seal.”
The challenge
Gould said that because the Legislature creates cities, only the Legislature can dissolve them.
“The creation of cities is by an act of the Legislature. The dissolution of those cities should also be by authority of another act of the Legislature, repealing or nullifying the acts that created those cities,” he said.
“Because, to relegate a city that was created by an act of the Legislature, that action must be taken by the Legislature. It cannot be done by a minister,” Gould said.
Gould stopped short of calling the ministry’s action unlawful. “I don’t know what action the minister has actually taken, but I am reading what the law says,” he said.
He said he took part in boundary harmonization discussions in 2008, where the review originated, and that its purpose was to deal with cities created for political reasons.
“The intention was actually to harmonize the status of those other cities that had been created because of friendship or political alignment, rather than because they met the requirements for city status,” he said.
In a Facebook statement Thursday, Fahnbulleh said the ministry cannot act alone.
“The Ministry of Local Government does not have the authority to unilaterally dissolve or abolish a city established by law. Any decision to change the legal status of such a city must be supported by proper legal authority and follow the constitutional process,” he said.
Debee called the ministry’s claimed authority ultra vires, meaning beyond its legal powers.
“To conclude, what the Legislature creates by statute, only the Legislature can alter or repeal,” Debee said.
“Dissolution of cities is a legislative authority; said authority is not vested in the executive by the laws of Liberia,” Grigsby said.
The senators
In May, Grand Kru County Sens. Albert T. Chie and Numene T. H. Bartekwa and Sinoe County Sens. Augustine S. Chea and Crayton O. Duncan asked the Senate to intervene. They questioned whether the ministry had complied with the reporting requirement in Section 2.16(c), and they noted that many of the affected cities were created by specific acts of the Legislature.
Their two counties account for 75 of the 108 cities losing their designation, according to Sirleaf’s figures.
What remains unresolved
The ministry, formerly the Ministry of Internal Affairs, began preparing the review in 2025, seven years after the act’s passage. It says the exercise will strengthen local governance and align city classifications with the law.
Two questions will decide the dispute. The first is whether the ministry’s assessment changes a city’s legal status by itself, or whether that change requires a vote of the Legislature. The second is whether the ministry has submitted the report the act requires, and what, if anything, lawmakers have done with it.
Relegation and abolition are also different outcomes. A city relegated to town status continues to exist as a locality. Abolishing a municipality outright could raise questions about its charter, assets, liabilities and administration.
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