Another Disaster Looms Wellington Community
BY ABDULAZIZ SAMURA
Recent development over illegal occupation of wetlands within the western area municipality have it that old wharf which is located at Wellington, east of Freetown, has become the new hotbed for illegal construction of houses.
It has become the hottest of cake to acquire state lands, and because of that, environmentalists believe that another disaster looms soon as we are in the rainy season.
Because of the illegal construction of houses at the wetlands, Sierra Leoneans foresee problem which they strongly believed could be a catastrophic disaster that is about to happen.
Wetland banking has been a practice by which new homes or houses are constructed forgetting the risk it poses to lives and properties.
Current victim of this practice is the New Site Old Wharf community, Wellington in Freetown. Some irate youths, allegedly conniving with some unscrupulous community stakeholders, are for the past seven years in the habit of engaging in illegal banking of wetland to create new land, sell and build houses. This action of theirs has posed not only flood and health risks, but also threat to the lives of certain widow farmers, who have been utilizing the wetland for agricultural purposes, the exact and legal purpose of any wetland in the country.
Probing into the matter, this medium in September 2024, engaged some of the affected widows to know how they are faring, since this said land is their only source of livelihood.
Kadiatu Kamara, Chairlady at Active Women Development Association, said that since the late former President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Dr. Ahmed Tejan Kabba, they have been using that piece of land for farming, furthering that they decided to establish the above organization at New Site, Old Wharf, to bring together all women involved in farming in that community.
“The issue started when some of the youths decided to bank the water to create new land. We gently approached them and tried to make them see reason that their action is not only destroying the plants, but also poses serious threat to the community. You cannot divert water passages. Banking this water may lead to flooding and other unforeseen disasters in the community. All our advice remained pointless. Chief Lama, Mohamed Dumbuya and some youths continued the banking and destroying our plants. Since we are women and law abiding, we decided to report the matter to the Ross Road Police Station and the Ministry of Forestry. The ministry stopped them and told them to remove the said banking,” madam Kamara said.
“They did not stop the banking even after the intervention of the then Councilor, Arthur, in 2017. We decided to explain the issue to the Freetown City Council, to the Deputy Mayor then, Osman Kamara. He engaged us in the community and decided to draw the boundary separating our plantation to that of where they claimed they are banking for farming. He said that since it is for agricultural purpose, let us all work in harmony, as the said land is a state land.”
Chairlady Kamara said two years after the demarcation by the then deputy mayor, we noticed persistent intimidation from these same youths, to the point of chasing us from our gardens with machetes, adding that they reported the matter at the Wellington Police Post, but to no avail.
“Since our lives are in danger, we decided to report again to the current Mayor, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, whom, after a lengthy dialogue, instructed the Councilor and Member of Parliament to address the issue.”
According to Hon. Nfa Alie, the current Member of Parliament for that community, a meeting was held at his residence to address the matter. He continued that he listened to both parties before arriving at a conclusion. “I told them that they should live as one. I am not in support of anyone to bank that wetland to create land or build houses. The wetland is only for farming or agricultural purposes. Anyone found wanting would be dealt with,” he said.
Yatta from the National Protected Area Authority (NPAA), who deliberately refused to give her complete names and designation, said the wetland at New Site Old Wharf is a state land like many other state lands in the country. She furthered that wetland, according to the NPAA Act, is only for agricultural purposes.
She quoted that “the National Protected Area Authority in Sierra Leone is a governmental body established in 2012 to oversee and manage the country’s protected areas. Its primary goal is to conserve biodiversity and natural resources, while promoting sustainable land use practices and awareness of environmental issues.”
“We want to station our guards permanently at each and every wetland, for which New Site Old Wharf is not an exception; as most banking is done during the night. However, due to lack of logistics, we are not able to materialize it. At NPAA, we believe also in Public Private Partnership (PPP) wherein, private companies or individuals can partner with us in developing these wetlands through agriculture or eco-tourism,” she said.
She ended by revealing that the issue of banking at Old Wharf will be permanently put to rest, cautioning those involve in such act to desist, as it is illegal to bank wetland to create land or build houses.
Residents at New Site Old Wharf community are currently living in fear; as according to them, ‘our community is at risk of flooding, for which we do not know how the level of harm and destruction it may cause’. The questions this medium is posing to the Freetown City Mayor, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, is why the delay to take action after having knowledge of the said issue? Why the delay from NPAA to permanently resolve the issue of banking wetland at Old Wharf community? This medium will continue to update the public as and when the issue unfolds. Watch out for next edition!