Senior Advocate of Nigeria Femi Falana has commended Liberian President Joseph Nyuma Boakai for issuing an executive order to enforce a 2023 judgment of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice ordering the Republic of Liberia to restore the ancestral land rights of the Mandingo people of Ganta District in Nimba County — a judgment that the previous George Weah administration had refused to implement.
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In a statement issued through Falana & Falana’s Chambers by spokesperson Tayo Soyemi, the senior lawyer — who filed the case on behalf of the Mandingo people — called on other leaders of ECOWAS member states to follow President Boakai’s example by taking steps to comply with all outstanding judgments of the regional court.
On August 1, 2023, the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States delivered judgment in the case of Ganta Support Group and Another versus the Republic of Liberia, ruling in favour of the Mandingo people.
The court ordered the Republic of Liberia to take all necessary steps to restore the right of the people of Ganta District to their ancestral land and ensure that similar occurrences are avoided in the future.
The court further directed Liberia to immediately implement measures in compliance with Article 1 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and to submit a report on the measures taken to implement the court’s orders within six months from the date of notification of the judgment.
As part of the reparation, the court ordered the respondent state to pay compensation of $25,000 to the second applicant and $5,000 for the violation of their right to property pursuant to Article 14 of the African Charter.
The case was filed by Falana SAN on behalf of the Mandingo people, an ethnic group in Liberia whose members were forcibly dispossessed of their ancestral lands during the country’s devastating civil war. Following the war, the displaced Mandingo people were prevented from returning to their homes in Ganta, the commercial city of Nimba County, as their properties had been illegally occupied by others.
Despite the end of the civil war and the return of democratic governance, the Mandingo people remained unable to reclaim their ancestral lands, prompting them to seek justice at the regional level through the ECOWAS Court.
Following the court’s ruling, the plaintiffs made multiple efforts to persuade the administration of former President George Weah to comply with the judgment. However, all such efforts proved abortive, with the Weah government failing to take the necessary steps ordered by the court.
The non-compliance added the Liberian case to a growing list of ECOWAS Court judgments that member states have failed or refused to implement — a pattern that has repeatedly raised questions about the effectiveness and enforceability of the regional court’s decisions.
President Boakai, who succeeded Weah in January 2024, has now issued Executive Order No. 160 establishing a technical committee to oversee the enforcement and implementation of the ECOWAS Court judgment and government decisions concerning the longstanding land dispute in Nimba County, particularly in the commercial city of Ganta.
According to the executive order, the committee will be responsible for enforcing and technically implementing previous presidential decisions, the findings of the 2010 Nimba County Presidential Committee Report, and relevant rulings of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice.
The committee will be chaired by Liberia’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, with a representative of the Liberia Land Authority serving as co-chair. Other members include representatives from the Liberia National Police, the Ministry of Public Works, the Superintendent of Nimba County, as well as representatives of the Nimba Council of Elders and civil society organisations.
The breadth of the committee’s composition — incorporating law enforcement, public works, county administration, traditional leadership, and civil society — suggests the Boakai administration intends to take a comprehensive approach to resolving the land dispute rather than limiting it to a purely legal exercise.
While pledging the cooperation of the Mandingo people with the committee, Falana SAN commended President Boakai for taking concrete steps to comply with the ECOWAS Court’s rulings and decisions.
The senior lawyer used the occasion to issue a broader call to action, urging other leaders of ECOWAS member states to follow President Boakai’s example by taking steps to comply with all outstanding judgments of the regional court.
This call is significant given that non-compliance with ECOWAS Court judgments has been a persistent problem across the region. Several member states have outstanding judgments that they have failed to implement, undermining the authority of the court and denying justice to successful litigants.
The case carries implications beyond Liberia. The ECOWAS Court, established to adjudicate disputes arising from ECOWAS treaties and to protect the human rights of citizens of member states, has delivered numerous important judgments on issues ranging from political rights to economic exploitation. However, its effectiveness has been consistently challenged by the failure of member states to comply with its rulings.
President Boakai’s decision to issue an executive order specifically to enforce an ECOWAS Court judgment represents a model of compliance that, if replicated across the region, could significantly strengthen the court’s institutional authority and its capacity to deliver justice to citizens of ECOWAS member states.
The Mandingo people of Ganta, who have waited decades for the restoration of their ancestral land rights — through civil war, post-conflict instability, and two changes of government — may now be on the path to finally seeing justice implemented on the ground.
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