Is Lands Minister Jittery?

Reports from the office of Lands Ministry have it that the Minister of Lands, Dr. Turad Senessie, is presently worried, having learnt that the ACC had indicted the Director of Lands in Makeni, Noah Fofana, on allegations of corruption and fraud.

Times SL gathered that Fofana, who before this time, was alleged to influence the Minister to unlawfully take possession of 4 acres of land belonging to one Alpha Conteh in the United States of America, is now being visited by karma.

Contehz according to investigation, was reported to have bought the said land from one Alhaji Slowe with the requisite documents all intact. It could be recalled that the land bought by Mr Alpha Conteh at Tokeh was a business transaction, way back in 2012 and since then, nobody has ever come up to lay claims to the land, except Noah Fofana, who few years ago came to the picture demanding some money from Mr Conteh, who declined to offer bribe on the grounds that his documents were legal. As if Conteh’s refusal was a problem, Noah Fofana later devised another cynical strategy to take possession of the land with the influence of Lands Minister, Dr Turad Senessie.

It is understood that Noah has got himself messed up while in Freetown, a major reason why he was transfered to the provinces. Concerns are that now that he has been indicted by the ACC, officials at the Ministry, including the Minister, are afraid that Noah might implicate them in the activities over which he has been indicted and more.n

However, there are concerns that the current Minister, Dr Turad Senessie, should appear before the ACC to clear his name against corruption allegations.

Mr Conteh, who lives in the United States of America, has been deprived of having access to his 4 acres of land at Tokeh, and this has affected his development plans for the project, hence the urgent need for government attention.

ACC Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala should be seen taking the lead in fighting corruption and not providing blanket cover for Ministers or public officials, whose influence in state governance is being used to trample on justice.

Alpha Conteh, in an interview with this Press, expressed frustration at the Ministry and the Minister for deliberately doing what they know was wrong. ” Before paying for the land, we ensured a background check was done, wherein we went to the Ministry to corroborate the documents, and there again they were confirmed authentic. I have been paying taxes for the land in question to Lands, FCC, NRA and other government entities, yet the Minister never considered that, but went ahead and took possession of my lands, Conteh said. Now that they had taken possession of my lands, with properties worth hundreds of millions of Leones stolen and some destroyed, the Minister and his team took a decision to sell my land to other people, who are busy erecting fence. This is a case of injustice. I cannot sit here with folded hands and allow such advantage to go on this way. I will continue to fight for my land,” Alpha concluded.

In an interview with Alhaji Slowe, he told this writer that the land at Tokeh that was sold to Alpha Conteh and Family is not a state land. Slowe added that the Ministry of Lands is taking undue advantage over poor Sierra Leoneans.