By Saio Marrah
The Sierra Leone Land Alliance (SLLA) has in partnership with Amnesty International called on the Chief Justice to set up a tribunal that will swiftly and efficiently deal with land disputes.
The Director of SLLA, John Paul Bai told a policy briefing event organised by the alliance, at the Council of Churches Sierra Leone Auditorium in Freetown on Monday 19th June that the call is among recommendations contained in the 2021-Land Complaints Committee’s Murtada Report.
Among other things, he said the committee’s findings recommended the establishment of two new institutions, reaffirming Justice Marcus Jones’ 1999 recommendations for the establishment of a Land Tribunal and a Mediation Desk within the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning, to facilitate the reforms.
Also, he said the committee’s findings are aimed at reversing unlawful actions and ensuring land reform by creating an enabling policy and legal framework.
He said the report also recommended that all titles for illegally acquired land should be cancelled and that such be repossessed.
According to Bai, a land tribunal would serve the dual role of providing an alternative land justice system and a forum for addressing historical injustices related to land.
“To date, none of the recommended institutions have been established. Currently, there is no public institution with the capacity to implement the recommendation of the report,” the SLLA director noted.
He said SLLA is of the notion that the establishment of those organs can be viewed as foundational to the successful implementation of the report. The failure to deal with two recommendations while purporting to implement the findings of the Mutarda report, casts doubts on the intent to reform land issues in Sierra Leone, he stated.
Bai also noted that the tribunal would be inexpensive and speedily resolve past wrongs in relation to land and that it would also provide a forum for justice on land matters as a first step before litigation in formal courts of law, thus alleviating current delays.
The alliance’s press release read out by their director at the programme noted that the land tribunal, which the alliance envisages, is one that will be set up by the Chief Justice with powers of a high court and that it will involve land experts from the ministry of lands and environmental experts.
He noted that in 2021, the government set up a nine-man committee, headed by the Vice President of the Inter-religious Council of Sierra Leone, Alhaji Mutarda M. Sesay to unravel the numerous land disputes in the country.
According to him, “The land complaints and dispute resolution committee report was submitted to the president in December 2021, but sadly no implementation mechanism was evident.”
Bai also noted that the former speaker of parliament, Dr Abass Bundu, promised that the report would be implemented.
The speaker was also reported to have called on Chief Justice, Attorney General, Law Reform Commission and other related bodies to expeditiously establish a special court or tribunal to address land disputes, which he said has plagued the justice system in the country.
Sesay also quoted the Director of Amnesty Sierra Leone, Solomon Sogbandi saying the land tribunal is the way to solve the many problems of land in the country, to avoid chaos.
But Alford H. Wilson, representing the aggrieved land owners at the programme, objected to the establishment of the tribunal saying his fear is that people do not have integrity.
According to him, the same people at the courts delaying land cases for years would be the same people sitting at the tribunal.
He narrated a story about his father purchasing a plot of land at Waterloo during the 1960s, which he said military personnel have occupied and despite official confirmation that the land belongs to Mr. Wilson, the military personnel are reluctant to evacuate it.
Several other aggrieved parties at the programme expressed their plight in having their lands unlawfully taken away m cases which are yet to be resolved despite recommendations in the Mutarda report.
SLLA is a civil society organisation on land that seeks to mobilise the people of Sierra Leone for a realisation of land reform ideals, which they consider indispensable to the realisation of land and environmental security and the survival of the country.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (21/06/23)
