-Street Vendors’ President
Monrovia’s street vendors have accused officers of the Monrovia City Corporation and the Liberia National Police of constant harassment and the seizure of their goods.
MCC and LNP officers have on a daily basis chased vendors off unauthorized areas, mainly major streets, in central Monrovia in enforcement of the city ordinances, but have over the years faced résistance from the vendors, who have always argued that successive governments, including the current government, have failed to provide an alternative for them to sell and make a living.
“They chase us and seize our goods every day, but at most instances faild to give account of the confiscated goods even when we pay the required fines,” an angry vendor has told this paper.
Authorities of the Monrovia City Corporation have repeatedly denied the vendors’ claims and clarified when a vendor’s goods are seized, they return the goods as long as they paid the required fines.
Residents of Monrovia, mainly pedestrians and drivers, have continued to complain of the inconveniences they face in walking on the sidewalks and driving in the streets of Monrovia because the vendors have taken over both the sidewalks and streets.
Jackson Morlu, an official of the vendors on Ashmun, Front, an Mechlin Streets, said the vendors association has signed a memorandum of understanding, MOU, with the MCC in February, 2026, allowing vendors to sell on the sidewalks and not in the streets.
According to Mr. Morlu contrary to the MOU signed with the MCC, people he referred to as auction girls that he said have no space to sell, continue to stand and sell at intersections of major streets, particularly Mechlin, Ashmun and Front streets.
“MCC and LNP officers continue to chase them (auction girls) off or confiscate their goods, take them to the MCC head offices where they are required to pay fines before they retrieve their goods,” Mr. Morlu told this paper on Wednesday.
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The vendors chairman argued that although the government frowns on people selling in the streets and on the sidewalks, it has not been able to create jobs for jobless Liberians neither provide an option for vendors to sell to eke a living for their respective families.
A spokesman only identified as Karmo has also told this paper that MCC and LNP officers are in the habit of allegedly chasing and snatching vendors’ goods.
“Female vendors, known as auctions girls, are the officers’ main target,” Karmo further alleged.
Karmo further said the officers’ alleged action have made it difficult for the auctions girls to sell in peace to make an honest living.
Another official of the vendors, Beno Agyemany said the plight of Monrovia’s street vendors is alarming and that President Joseph Boakai needs to intervene to protect vendors, who, on a daily basis have been allegedly harassed by MCC and LNP officers.
AGYEMany, co-chairman of the vendors, argued that the high unemployment rate among the youthful population must be a concern to the city authorities rather than making their lives more vulnerable by constantly chasing and confiscating vendors’ goods in the streets.
“We are selling in the streets to take care of our respective families and the continued harassment and confiscation of our goods are unwarranted,” Agyemany emphasized.
He told this paper that many young people selling in the streets are degree holders and high school graduates, but are compelled to sell in the streets because of the lack of job opportunities.
“These people must understand our situation,” he concluded.
For the auctions girls, they pay five hundred Liberian Dollars to retrieve their confiscated goods amidst constant harassment. “The MCC and LNP’s actions are inhumane and counterproductive to our honest hustle to survive,” they said in a composite interview with this paper.
The President of the Federation of Petty Traders and Informal Workers Union of Liberia (FEPTIWUL), Charles W. Konnah, also told this paper that the Union is negotiating with the Monrovia City Corporation, MCC, to make and intervention by addressing the what he called the hostile conditions vendors encounter daily in the hands of officers.
The FEPTIWUL’s President has meanwhile urged the vendors to respect and abide by the terms of the MOU signed with the City Corporation to avoid confrontation.
President Konnah stated that despite the union is in process of negotiation street vendors should abide by the regulation and rules being pur in placed by MCC to avoid confrontation.
“While it is difficult to control auction girls selling in various street corners, MCC and LNP officers should exercise restraint,” he added
