By James T. Brooks
MONROVIA — The Commercial Court of Liberia has ordered the seizure and possible sale of National Elections Commission (NEC) assets to satisfy a long-standing 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, empowering authorities to continue asset seizures until the full amount is recovered.
The writ further specifies that if no corporate assets can be located, the Acting Sheriff is authorized to bring the “living body” of Browne Lansanah, who has since resigned, and other commission officers physically before the Associate Judge of the Commercial Court.
The debt dates back to 2017 when M-TOSH delivered election materials to the NEC via a charter flight, for which the commission allegedly never paid. Following years of protracted litigation, the Commercial Court ruled in M-TOSH’s favor on June 3, 2025, ordering full payment. A subsequent directive ordered the NEC to open a dedicated escrow account at the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment to facilitate the settlement, but the commission failed to deposit any funds.
This ongoing defiance prompted increasingly severe enforcement actions. In August 2025, court sheriffs physically sealed the NEC headquarters on Tubman Boulevard, halting nationwide operations under a writ signed by Associate Judge Chan-Chan A. Paegar. However, even that dramatic measure failed to secure the payment. The debt remains entirely unpaid nearly a year later, leading Chief Judge Mappy Morgan to issue this sharper enforcement order.
Legal observers note that 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 used stall tactics. 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.
Internal turmoil has also plagued the commission’s leadership. In February 2025, 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 prolonged staff protest that paralyzed commission work. Her suspension followed formal complaints that she regularly bypassed the board’s collective decision-making authority on major issues requiring 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 at a time when NEC staff were actively protesting unpaid hazard pay and insurance benefits. The total unused funds amounted to US$8 million, with US$2 million of the remainder later used to finance a by-election in Nimba County after Jeremiah Kpan Koung was elected vice president. Boakai eventually reinstated Browne Lansanah on the condition that she govern collaboratively and resolve all internal disputes before her subsequent departure.
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 GNN-Liberia that a vital proposal to purchase a generator for the headquarters compound was raised but ignored, leaving the entire building without power whenever the public electricity grid fails.
When sheriffs initially sealed the headquarters last August, staff openly welcomed the enforcement action against their own leadership. One staffer, speaking anonymously, noted that the workplace had been filled with constant friction since she took over as chair, characterizing her leadership style as indifferent. A second employee accused her of being authoritarian, alleging that she routinely refused to pay staff hazard and insurance benefits while prioritizing payments only to specific vendors.
Briefly addressing journalists after the August sealing, Browne Lansanah deflected the issue, stating only that she needed to consult the legal section to understand the situation.
As of press time, the NEC has issued no public statement on the May 15 writ, and no current official has responded to requests for comment. The commission remains constitutionally mandated to organize all public elections in Liberia, with the next major electoral cycle set for 2029.