Who bears the greatest responsibility?

By Thaimu Thullah

Sierra Leone’s Minister of Lands, Dr. Turad Senessie, keeps playing the hide and seek game, as his cynical dealings at the Lands Ministry keeps coming to the limelight. Since the 4 acres of land belonging to Alpha Conteh and Family at Tokeh Village was unlawfully taken by the Ministry, with the implicit approval of Dr. Senessie, Alpha Conteh and his family have been crying for justice. The land in question was legally acquired, as evidenced by authentic documents from the same Lands Ministry, National Revenue Authority, Freetown City Council etc, where Mr Conteh is said to have been paying taxes to government for the said property.

Despite Conteh’s legal and authentic documents for the land at Tokeh Village, yet the Ministry, through one Noah Fornah, machinated a plan to unlawfully take possession of the land.

Recent development into the operations of the same Noah Fornah, has got him trapped in another land case in Makeni, and this time, he is in the net of the country’s anti-graft agency. He is facing four charges under the Anti-Corruption Act, which include: Soliciting an Advantage, Accepting an Advantage, Abuse of Office, and Abuse of Position.

According to the ACC, Fornah, a resident of Karim Drive in Makeni, solicited a bribe from Abu Bakarr Sillah, a private land buyer, through his representative, Alfred Kamara. Fornah allegedly requested Le 20,000 (Twenty Million old Leones) for approving a survey plan relating to the land about to be purchased by Sillah, but ultimately accepted Le 10,000 (Ten million old Leones) from Kamara as an illicit advantage.

The alleged offenses took place between April 4 and October 7, 2024, during Fornah’s tenure as Director of Lands at the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Country Planning in Makeni. The ACC has announced that the trial will be held in Freetown.

This is the same man who clandestinely took possession of the land belonging to Alpha Conteh and Family at Tokeh Village. During investigation, it was learnt that the Lands Minister, Dr. Turad Senessie, supported him and endorsed his decision on the Tokeh matter, even though Noah Fornah was alleged to have approached Conteh earlier, demanding that Conteh bribe him to have his property untouched by the ministry, which is now the covert strategy of dispossessing lawful land owners, termed: ‘‘reclaiming state land’’, a request Conteh deliberately refused to honor on the grounds that the land in question was acquired legitimately and that he had been paying taxes to government for over ten years for the property.

In all of these, Lands Minister Senessie went ahead and endorsed a decision to unlawfully take possession of the land from Alpha Conteh and Family, and later sold the said land to other people, who are currently building on the land. Cases like this cannot be shelved by the ACC, if they are serious in the fight against corruption. Concerned citizens and aggrieved parties familiar with the antics of Noah and cohorts, are calling on the ACC to dig deep into the issue and even bring the Minister for questioning.