MONROVIA — The Commercial Court of Liberia has ordered the seizure and possible sale of National Elections Commission assets to satisfy a six-year-old judgment debt of US$171,105 owed to a local printing vendor.
Commercial Court Chief Judge Eva Mappy Morgan signed the Writ of Execution on May 15, 2026, directing Acting Sheriff Emmanuel Morris to move against NEC property on behalf of M-TOSH Prints Media Incorporated. The order commands court officers to "seize and expose for sale" NEC's land, goods and chattels, with authorities empowered to continue seizing assets until the full amount is recovered.
The writ orders that if no NEC assets can be located, the Acting Sheriff is authorized to bring the "living body" of Browne Lansanah (resigned) and other commission officers physically before the Associate Judge of the Commercial Court.
The debt dates to 2017, when M-TOSH delivered election materials to the NEC by charter flight, and the commission allegedly never paid. After years of litigation, the Commercial Court ruled in M-TOSH's favor on June 3, 2025, ordering full payment. A follow-up directive ordered the NEC to open a dedicated escrow account at the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment to facilitate settlement. The commission never deposited any funds.
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That defiance prompted increased enforcement actions. In August 2025, sheriffs physically sealed the NEC headquarters on Tubman Boulevard, halting operations under a writ signed by Associate Judge Chan-Chan A. Paegar. Even that dramatic measure failed to secure payment. The debt remains unpaid nearly a year later, leading Chief Judge Mappy Morgan to issue a sharper order in May 2026.
Legal observers say the case reflects a troubling pattern of public institutions treating court judgments as optional, a dynamic that undermines judicial authority and erodes public confidence in the rule of law. This is not the first time the NEC has faced such pressure. During former President George Weah's administration, a similar injunction was filed over the same debt, but the commission successfully delayed enforcement through legal maneuvering, compounding M-TOSH's losses over the years.
In February 2005, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai suspended the then-chairperson, Browne Lansanah, less than a year after she made unilateral decisions that damaged her relationships with the other six commissioners and sparked a long staff protest that halted commission work. The suspension came after complaints that she was bypassing the board's collective decision-making authority on issues that required full commission approval.
Among the most contentious of those decisions was her return of US$6 million in unused election funds to the central government while NEC staff were actively protesting unpaid hazard pay and insurance benefits. The total unused funds amounted to US$8 million; US$2 million of the remainder was later used to finance a by-election in Nimba County after Jeremiah Kpan Koung was elected vice president. Boakai reinstated Browne Lansanah on the condition that she govern collaboratively and resolve internal disputes.
Commissioners also accused her of earmarking expenditures without board approval, including a proposed staff canteen estimated at more than US$50,000 for which no record of board deliberation exists. A commissioner told The Liberian Investigator that a proposal to purchase a generator for the headquarters compound was raised but ignored, leaving the building without power whenever public electricity fails.
When sheriffs sealed the headquarters last August, staff openly welcomed the enforcement action.
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"God is not sleeping," one staffer said anonymously. "Since she took over as chair, there has always been noise. She is a don't-care kind of person. She will leave, and I wonder what legacy she will leave behind."
A second employee said: "Her waterloo is coming. She refused to pay us our hazard and insurance benefits. She has refused to pay vendors, except those from whom she gets kickbacks. She is authoritarian."
Briefly addressing journalists after the August sealing, Browne Lansanah deflected. "What I can say is that I have to consult the legal section to know what is happening," she told reporters.
As of press time, the NEC had issued no public statement on the May 15 writ, and no official had responded to requests for comment. The commission is constitutionally mandated to organize all public elections in Liberia, with the next major electoral cycle set for 2029.
Madam Brown-Lansanah resigned in March.
