PWD Area Youth Development Organization Writes President Bio
Calls for review of judicial proceedings and exposes Shalimar Trading‘s Cynical Dealings
A letter from PWD Area Youth Development Organization addressed to President Julius Maada Bio has exposed the double standards of the Sierra Leone Judiciary, as well as the cynical dealings of Shalimar Trading and officials at the Ministry of Lands.
According to the letter, PWD Area Youth Development Organization is calling on President Bio to speedily look into the matter by ensuring that the land allocated to them in 1992 at Ferry Junction for the purpose of ‘‘Youth Skill Training Centre,’’ be protected, as Shalimar Trading has allegedly taken possession of the land, in connivance with some officials at lands ministry…The letter is therefore published verbatim…
PWD Area Youth Development Organization
“Empowering Future Leaders of Tomorrow”
Open Letter to His Excellency Julius Maada Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone
Your Excellency,
We, the members of the PWD Area Youth Development Organization, write to you not only as citizens, but as children of Sierra Leone who grew up believing in the same dream that once inspired you as a young man in 1992. That same year, when you and your colleagues showed this country that its youths could lead, we too rose to the call. It was your generation’s courage that inspired us to establish the PWD Youth Training Center, a place where young people from deprived communities could gain skills, dignity, and hope.
For more than three decades, on the land lawfully allocated to us at Ferry Junction in 1992, we have trained carpenters, welders, mechanics, tailors, and countless other young men and women, who might otherwise have been lost to the streets. In 2015, this legacy was reinforced through a conveyance from the Government of Sierra Leone, duly registered in Volume 126, Page 62. This was not just a legal document—it was a covenant between the state and its youths.
Yet today, that covenant is under brutal assault. In January 2023, police officers and agents of Shalimar Trading demolished our training center, destroyed our tools, and seized our land. We turned to the courts for justice. Twice—in August 2024 and again in November 2024—the High Court ruled in our favor, affirming our rights and granting us protection. And yet, shockingly, on September 9, 2025, the very same judiciary turned its back on its own rulings, expunging our legally registered conveyance and handing victory to a foreign business with no binding claim to ownership.
Your Excellency, this is not just a land dispute. It is a question of whether Sierra Leone will protect its children, or abandon them. It is a test of whether influence, money, and intimidation can triumph over law, history, and justice. If this injustice stands, it will not only erase our land—it will erase the dreams of the poor young people we have served for over 30 years.
We appeal to you directly, Mr. President, because you, above all, know what it means to be young, to be overlooked, and yet to fight for a place in history. We ask you to:
1. Direct the Ministry of Lands to reaffirm the 1992 allocation and the 2015 conveyance of Ferry Junction land to PWD Youth Development.
- Call upon the judiciary to revisit and reverse the September 2025 miscarriage of justice.
- Protect the youths of Sierra Leone from dispossession, ensuring that land meant for their empowerment is never sacrificed to profit or influence.
Your Excellency, we are not asking for favors. We are asking for justice. Justice for the youths who have trained on that land. Justice for the mothers who have watched their children turn from despair to dignity. Justice for the promise of Sierra Leone itself.
The credibility of our democracy, and indeed of your government, will not be measured by speeches or policies, but by whether justice prevails in moments like this.
With hope, with pain, but above all, with faith,
PWD Area Youth Development Organization
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Address: 10 Kissy Bye Pass Road, Freetown | Phone: +23276680401 | Email: [Placeholder]