by Mohammed M. Bamba, Jr.
Governance in Liberia has long suffered from a toxic, recurring disease: the habit of incompetent leaders inheriting perfectly functional public systems, breaking them for personal gain, and blaming the wreckage on their predecessors.
The latest and most egregious symptom of this malady is unfolding right now at the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC). On May 28, 2026, the current MCC leadership released a deeply deceptive press statement claiming they inherited “disorderly parking, a weak enforcement system, and revenue leakages.” It was a classic smoke-and-mirror tactic. In reality, current Mayor John Siaffa is using falsehoods to mask what can only be described as a hostile corporate takeover of a lucrative public asset—cannibalizing a vital youth employment program to enrich his inner circle.
To understand the sheer audacity of this regression, one must look at the hard data and the historical battle fought to protect Monrovia’s streets and the provision of jobs for young university students.
From Corporate Parasitism to Public Profit:
When municipal parking was first organized in 2012 under former Acting Mayor Mary Broh, it faced intense legislative pushback. But the core vision survived because its mandate was fundamentally noble: clear the city’s crippling traffic gridlock and create direct, sustainable employment for struggling university students who lacked the financial backing to pay for their education.
Regrettably, in 2016, under Mayor Clara Doe Mvogo, this public asset was outsourced to a private cartel—City Parking Management (CPM) and Liberia Service Incorporated (LSCI). It was a disastrously lopsided deal. The private entities swallowed a staggering 60% of the net revenue, leaving the MCC with a 40% pittance.
Worse still, a subsequent 2018 forensic committee review under the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) administration revealed that these private companies operated with total impunity. They routinely printed their own black-market parking tickets, completely hid their operational costs, refused to submit monthly income statements, and physically locked out state auditors from the Internal Audit Agency (IAA). The LSCI and CPM threw crumbs to the city while previous MCC administrations looked the other way.
Rather than entering a protracted legal battle that would outlast the contract, the subsequent MCC leadership played a disciplined administrative hand. They strictly enforced the rules, squeezed the vendors, and let the clock run out. On September 30, 2021, the contract expired. The private entities were kicked out, and the in-house Monrovia City Parking Service Unit was born.
The economic transformation that followed stands as undeniable proof that public assets should remain in public hands.
The numbers do not lie. Over five whole years, the CPM & LSCI combined remitted a pathetic 6,931,723.00 LRD to the city. In sharp contrast, within just its first eight months of public operation, the Monrovia City Parking unit generated 47,113,723.00 LRD and $65,586.50 USD. By 2023, within a mere 27 months, the MCC Parking unit raked in an astronomical 159,008,815.13 LRD and $221,354.43 USD, instantly becoming the MCC’s third-largest revenue stream.
On the employment front, the Monrovia City parking unit expanded the workforce from the private cartel’s stagnant 207 employees to 327 young Liberians, providing university students with reliable, dignified paychecks.
Princess Parking: A Text-Book Case of Nepotism:
Why would any sane, responsible city administrator look at an internal unit generating millions in public revenue and employing hundreds of vulnerable students, and decide to dismantle it? Why would Mayor Siaffa outsource this goldmine back to a private entity, slash the city’s revenue share down to a miserable 30\%, and simultaneously cry that the MCC is too broke to clean the mountains of garbage rotting on our streets?
The answer lies in the registration papers of the new vendor: Princess Parking Company.
Concocted just this year in 2026 as a simple “Transport and Car Dealership” firm, Princess Parking has absolutely zero track record of managing municipal parking logistics. What it does have, according to widespread reports, is an inside track to the mayor’s mansion—the company is reportedly owned by Mayor John Siaffa’s own sister.
Violations of the PPCCA:
The PPCA was enacted in 2005 and amended in 2010, to “provide equal access without discrimination to all eligible and qualified providers of goods, works and services; fair and equitable treatment of all bidders and Promote integrity, fairness, accountability and public confidence in the procurement process; Achieve transparency in the procedures, processes and decisions relating to procurement and Concession agreements; Eradicate monopolies and promote competitiveness in the Concession procurement process, etc,” and applies to:
“(a) All executive agencies including Government ministries, commissions, bureaus, departments and agencies; (b) The Judiciary and the Legislature; (c) Subsidized Agencies; (d) Independent bodies and commissions set up by the State; (e) All public enterprises which are wholly owned by the State or in which the State has a majority interest; (f) Counties, districts and local authorities; (g) Public universities, public schools, colleges and hospitals; (h) Financial institutions, public trusts, pension funds, insurance companies, building societies and similar institutions which are wholly owned by the State or in which the State has majority interest; (i) National security institutions subject to the provisions of subsections 3(c) and 5 of this Section; (j) Any private sector entity vested with the responsibility for the execution of activities using public funds.” Section 1.2 PPCA
The Public Procurement and Concession Act (PPCA) is not merely a bureaucratic hurdle; it is the primary firewall against the weaponization of public contracts.
Section 1.2 of the PPCA strictly applies to all local authorities, executive agencies, and public enterprises. The MCC, as a local government authority, is legally obligated to procure services within the perimeters of this Act. This requires:
- Maintaining an active procurement committee.
- Utilizing open, advertised competitive bidding (National or International Competitive Bidding, Requests for Quotations, or Restricted Bidding) for contracts exceeding established monetary thresholds.
- Advertising the tender in widely circulated daily newspapers or on the PPCC website.
- Obtaining a official “No Objection” clearance from the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC) before contract execution.
The current leadership has provided no evidence of public bid advertisements or PPCC clearance, rendering the contract a textbook case of conflict of interest and administrative ineptitude.
The MCC was established as a body corporate by the Legislature in 1973. Under this corporate structure, the City Council serves as the supreme governing board, regulating the actions of the mayor through official resolutions.
There is no record of the City Council passing a resolution to approve the outsourcing of parking services to Princess Parking Company. Without a council resolution, the mayor lacks the legal authority to mortgage municipal assets.
The mayor cannot mortgage city assets without an official Council Resolution. No such resolution exists.
Void in Law, Devastating in Reality:
Mayor Siaffa and his co-conspirators need to be reminded that under Liberian common law, an illegal contract is null, void, and dead-on arrival. As laid down in 17 AmJur 2d 238, the law will never lend its aid to promote an illegal end.
The Supreme Court of Liberia has made this definitively clear:
Agreements in violation of the law have never been regarded a valid under common law; the law which prohibits the end will not lend its aid in promoting the means designed to carry it into effect.
It will not promote in one form that which it declares wrong in another, and hence contract which bring about results which the law seeks to prevent are unenforceable. 17 AmJur 2d 238. The Supreme Court of Liberia has held that where a contract contravenes the law, the court will hold it void. See Lib. Realty Management Corp. v Montgomery 33 LLR II (1985).
Also, in the Bhatti & Son case, Justice Belleh speaking for the Court held that
“It is a general rule that an agreement which violates a provision of a constitution or of a constitutional statute or which cannot be performed without violation of such a provision is illegal and void.” Insurance Co. of North America v Bhatti & Sons Inc. et al 35 LLR 191(1988).
Indeed, our laws are replete with emphasizes that contracts must comply with applicable statute and in this case in point, the PPCA, else, it would be void for illegality. From Liberian Realty Management Corp. v. Montgomery (1985), the High Court ruled that any contract contravening statutory law is completely void.
If Mayor Siaffa honestly believes this transaction is legitimate, I openly challenge him to publish the public bid advertisements, the PPCC clearance certificate, and the City Council resolution. He cannot, because they do not exist.
Conclusion:
The re-privatization of Monrovia’s parking sector is an act of economic sabotage. Private corporations are driven solely by profit maximization. To fatten the profit margins of a preferred family vendor, Princess Parking Company will do what predatory private entities always do: reduce wages, slash benefits, and mass-lay off workers.
In the coming months, we will inevitably witness hundreds of young, hardworking university students thrown back into the harsh ranks of the unemployed, their educations derailed. Meanwhile, Monrovia’s streets will descend right back into chaotic gridlock, and the MCC—having traded its 100% internal revenue for a 30% kickback scheme—will be left completely broke, unable to manage basic sanitation.
Mayor Siaffa has traded the economic survival of Monrovia’s youth and the financial independence of the city for private enrichment. This backdoor hustle is an absolute betrayal of the public trust, and it must not be allowed to stand.
Mayor Siaffa must be told that the management of municipal infrastructure is more than a logistical challenge; it is a fundamental test of a city government’s ability to generate independent revenue and exercise fiscal sovereignty. In the context of the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC), the move to outsource parking services represents a dangerous shift away from the principles of fiscal autonomy and public accountability. To understand the gravity of this decision, one must look at the intersection of administrative law, local revenue mobilization, and the socioeconomic duty the city owes to its youth.
Ignoring this will create a future setback for the city administration and reverse the gains made by the CDC government.
Mohammed M. Bamba, Jr.
The Author is a political activist and an administrator. He holds a Master of Public Administration in Local Government and Rural Development Administration from the Cuttington University School of Graduate and Professional Studies. He worked as an Administrative Assistant of the Monrovia City Corporation from 2018-2023.
