The image you are stirring at is not just a photograph; it is an indictment.An elderly woman sits on bare earth, shelter improvised from scraps, feeding a baby from a bottle. Around her are the remains of what once passed for home, wood, zinc, cloth, and dignity torn apart.
This is not the aftermath of a natural disaster. NO! This is the direct result of a political decision covered up under the law.Under the watch of the Unity Party led government, Liberian citizens have been rendered homeless through the demolition of their homes reportedly to satisfy the interests of a foreign business owner. In the name of “development,” the government has chosen bulldozers over humanity and profit over people.
The Saye Town Demolition is one of several demolitions that have taken place since the UP government came to power. Notably amongst them are the Old Road Catholic Hospital Community, 72nd Barrack and the Saye Town Communities. This photograph asks a simple but painful question:Who governs Liberia- the government elected on the mantra of Rescuing Liberians or the government electedon Lies?The “Law” that displaces the poor without resettlement, compensation, or consultation is not the Law. It is dispossession. It is state-sanctioned cruelty dressed up as legality.
A government that truly prioritizes its people does not wake up elderly women and babies to the sound of demolitions without providing alternatives. It does not destroy homes first and offer explanations later. And it certainly does not sacrifice its most vulnerable citizens in the name of effecting the Law.
The UP government campaigned on promises of rescuing its people from poverty and improving their living conditions, yet here we are, confronted with an image that reflects abandonment, not rescue. What social protection mechanisms were activated before these demolitions? Where were the relocation plans? Where was the empathy?
Instead, what we see is a grandmother forced into homelessness, nurturing a child in conditions unfit for human survival, conditions created not by the war, but by what we are made to believe, “the law is the law”.
This image also reflects the destitution of a woman who has lost everything she ever lived for, hopelessness, and a country that provides no alternatives for its citizens. The Law
should protect its citizens, not endangers them, uplift communities, not erase them.
Liberians are not obstacles to development or the rule of law. They are the reason for them.
History will remember moments like this not by the well penned press releases that followed the demolitions, but by images such as this one and several others, including the videos of how the bulldozer brought down one house after another as women, men and children wind to every lifts with well-armed police officers as though they were ready for a combat.
Images that tell the truth officials try to bury under technical and legal language and empty assurances.
No government has the moral authority to make its own people homeless in their own country. Liberia deserves development with dignity, the rule of Law with justice, and leadership that protects its citizens first and always.
Until that happens, this photograph will remain a haunting symbol of a government that chose concrete over conscience.
Note: On Sunday February 1, 2026, over 200 residents are Saye Town mostly women and children were awaken as early as 5am by the sound of bulldozers demolishing their homes. Many were unable to take a “pin” from their homes. Many are homeless like the woman featured in this article.
Author: Varnetta Johnson Freeman, a media development expert, Women and Human Rights Defender, Communication strategist and Diplomat, with over 15 years of experience using radio, and youth mentorship to advance democratic participation, and inclusive development across Liberia
