Hiding Under The Law, Lands Minister Turns Private Land to Government Property
Reports from the Office of the Anti-Corruption Commission has intimated this medium that the commission has a huge number of complaints filed against the Ministry of l Lands by members of the public.
Times SL undercover investigator, who visited the office of the Commission on Wednesday, was well briefed about the number of complaints filed against the Ministry of Lands presently before the Commission.
Our source at the ACC confirmed that the reason why the Commission has not acted on some of the complaints is as a result of some cases brought forward that are currently before the Court, and as a Commission, they want to respect the Court to enable them dispense justice.
Times SL also discovered that majority of the cases on land issues have to do with rightful ownership of lands over which officials of the Ministry have been accused of allegedly involved in corrupt acts, making it prominent as serious corruption cases.
Corruption at the Ministry of Lands have reached a crescendo that needs the intervention of the President, whose last and final word will help to wipe tears off the faces of aggrieved Sierra Leoneans at home and in the Diaspora.
According to some school of thoughts, top level corruption should be discouraged if really the ACC wants to succeed in the fight against this menace that is ravaging society.
Therefore, Citizens are now calling on the ACC to spring into action over the high level corruption at the Ministry of Lands, where officials have been hiding under the pretext of reclaiming state land, the covert strategy operations now being used to unlawfully take possession of lands belonging to private individuals. The action by the ministry of taking undue advantage over peaceful citizens who have acquired property through legitimate means, has been a cause for concern.
According to investigation, the Minister of Lands, Dr. Turad Sennesie, has been hoodwinked to believing that those lands, once occupied by private individuals over the years, are state lands. This has led to a situation wherein the Minister now uses his office to ‘‘unlawfully lay claims on private lands’’ plotting them and then selling them to others. This habit of going after private properties and transforming them into Government property and then selling them to the highest bidders will one day lead to serious crisis in the country, if not checked. Of recent, according to investigation, the Minister has dispossessed 4 acres of private land from the Conteh Family at Tokeh Village and distributed it for a whopping sum of money allegedly to interested individuals.
The land in question, according to the master plan, conveyances and chart from the Ministry of lands, belong to Alpha Conteh, Kadijah Conteh and Marion Conteh. The document clearly shows that the land is a private property and not government, as claimed by the Ministry.
Alpha Conteh, one of the claimant, who is a Sierra Leonean based in the United States, explained how he bought the land in 2011 to one Alhaji Slowe, former Headman of Tokeh village. Before entering into the transaction, Alpha said, he went to the Ministry of Lands to crosscheck the land document, and an assurance was given to him that the land is a private property of Alhaji Slowe.
Alpha said he went ahead and purchased the land and therefore changed all the documents pertaining the land in his family name. “After purchasing the land in 2011, it took a long period before the documents were signed by the Ministry”, he said, and threw an open challenge to the Ministry of Lands over claims of government ownership of the land situated along peninsular road, stressing that he has all the documents relating to the 4 acres of land owned by his family members, including the master plan. Alpha said when he realized that his land has been tampered with by some officials of the Ministry, he went to the Ministry and was directed to meet with one Noah Fofanah, who requested for a meeting with him at a private hotel to negotiate, asking him to give half of the land to strike a compromise. The claimant said he refused to dance to the tune of Mr. Noah, and as result of that, the Ministry ordered a bulldozer to destroy his perimeter fence around the property.
To show his proof of ownership for the land, Alpha said, he went to see the Minister of Lands, Dr. Turad Senesie. Upon meeting with him, the Minister did not even bother to look at his land document to ascertain his rightful ownership, but left him flabbergasted at his utterance that the Ministry has the right to destroy his perimeter fence and take away his legally owned property, because all lands in Sierra Leone is owned by Government, except one that is granted to someone by the government itself.
Conteh believes that his right has been trampled upon and has filed a case to seek redress over the matter in court.
Minister Dr Turad Senesie, while addressing a cross section of newsmen at his office, said documents in his possession confirmed that the land at Tokeh is State Land.
