Louisiana – The family of the late Charles Baxter has called on the Liberia National Police to speedily investigate and bring to justice individuals responsible for the mysterious disappearance of a contractor who went missing during a dispute over the land.
Speaking to a team of reporters in Monrovia, one of the administrators of the Charles Baxter Estate, Emmanuel G. Baxter, said Tom Chuku Taylor went missing during some unknown men ransacked the community on August 6 this year.
According to Baxter, the land in question is in Fendall, Township of Louisiana, Montserrado County.
He added that the incident occurred when a man identified as Abu Kpaka led a gang to the estate to claim ownership of a plot of land belonging to the Baxter family.
“An incident occurred on the 6th of August that led to lot of people been wounded, and even one person is now missing in action,” he said.
“We were responding to a complaint we filed to the County (Montserrado County) Attorney’s office about land, while attending to that invitation, a group of men on motorbikes, went behind us and start to beat on our people.”
According to Baxter, those who terrorized the community members are residents of Johnsonville Township.
“They just moved around and when they see that your property (land) is vacant, lying down, they just jump into it and start to sell, that’s what they do,” he said.
“My concern is to draw the government of Liberia’s attention. We need speedy trial in this case. We need justice. It’s justice that we are yearning for because since we came, the police investigation is still going on, people were arrested and freed because of their rights. Since then, no further arrest has been made.
“This boy in question who is missing name is Tom Chuku Konnah. He is from the Pipeline belt; he came in the community to do a contract (to dig a septic hole) for our brother.”
Baxter further alleged: “Those guys, when they got in the area, they started to beat on people. In the process, the boy (Konnah) started to run away from them. While in the process, he ran into a neighbor house, where they (alleged gang) forcibly took the guy from the home. Since then, since the 6th of August, we cannot see the boy.”
When contacted, Abu Boakai Kpaka, who is accused of leading the gang to the community, denied the allegation.
According to Kpaka, he has a property (Land) within the Fendall belt that has a boundary with the Charles Baxter Estate.
Kpaka alleged that Emmanuel G. Baxter and some of his (Baxter) family sold the land, while he was in a conflict with his brother.
“I have told people that even it can be George Weah that buy land from them illegally, I will retrieve it (land) using the law,” Kpaka said, adding that the Baxter family is claiming 900 acres of land in the area.
“Which means he is claiming half of Louisiana. But for me, I only get title for 214 acres of land and my deeds are with me. If he feels he owns half of Louisiana, let us go to the court.”
Kpaka said the 214 acres of land was purchased by his late grandfather (Kemu) in Louisiana.
“It (214 acres) was purchased by my late grandfather (Kemu). You should also ask them (Baxter family) how they got the 900 acres of land they are claiming. I challenged them to show how they got it,” he added.