Liberia: Denied for Decades, Women Lead Land Rights Campaign in Bong

Oct 8, 2019 | Mae Azango
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Gormah Mulbah and her five children were thrown out of their home last year after her husband died. Her late husband’s family was angry she refused to marry his younger brother. While she thought all hope was lost, a man—whose identify she would not reveal over reprisal—confronted her in-laws over the matter.

“He told them if they did not allow me and my children to go back in our house, he was going to take the case to court,” Mulbah recalls. “He told them that the people passed the law that we the women get right just like the men,” she narrates. 

Having regained her house, Mulbah wants to help other women protect their rights to land in Bong County. She and 34 other women from Gokai have joined women from the other clans of Suakoko District—named after a legendary female chief Madam Suakoko – to raise awareness about the Land Rights Act. The law was created last year and recognizes women’s land rights.