By Umaru Fofana
Some years ago one of the lead travel guides in the world, Lonely Planet, rated Sierra Leone as having one of the most beautiful natural beaches in the world. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to discern that. The over 100-mile stretch of coastline from the north to west to the south is amazing.
But beneath the veneer of that beauty belies the acrid sweat and blood of some people deprive of that land by government officials because they are weak and powerless. Sometimes indigenous Sierra Leoneans are robbed of their land for the sake of foreigners simply because of the spinelessness of our corrupt public officials and political leaders. I know the issue of land fraud and deprivation goes beyond the coastline. The lack of transparency and fairness in land matters in our country is ubiquitous.
With the advent of more raw mineral resources and the so-called Black Gold, things can only get worse if the leaders do not become honest and fair to all citizens equally. The middle class will get richer and more expansive. Their ability and desire to build a house will get stronger; hence their need for land. Their reaction to government incompetence or injustice can spark off unrest. Egypt and Tunisia are not too far away.
But let me ask you a few questions and please be very honest in answering: Are a Sierra Leonean? Do you own a plot of land in the country? If you do did you acquire it through statutory declaration (from a private individual) or from the state? If from the state, for how long was it leased to you? Is it freehold? Did you have to bribe anyone to acquire it? I do not mean you to give me the answers in public. So at your leisure please go over the questions again and be honest to yourself as you answer them. Then you will have an idea of what I am alluding to.
It is the sad reality of the state of affairs in our country, especially in recent times, that if you buy a plot of land from an individual you are hardly certain of your ownership of it. The transaction may have been fraudulent even when it looked or actually was very genuine. No fault of yours, I know. You were given genuine documents. The seller’s children or parents may come around to say it was sold to you without their say-so.
If you acquired it from the state, chances are that you may either have been given a plot of land that had already been leased to someone else with authentic documentation to accompany such a claim, or you stand the risk of a change of government and some people who think it is their “turn to eat” will come at you and deprive you of your property.
What is no less worrisome is this: you bought a plot of land from a private individual, and the stat, or more aptly, the government of the day turns round and dispossesses you of it in the name of wanting to develop it for the name of the public good. Now most frustrating and unjust of it all is when such a plot of land is then given to another individual because of their connections.
Let me confess from this point that I do not own a plot of land, excepting that the town chief of my hometown of Bumpeh in Kono district and the Paramount Chief have agreed to give me a nice plot of land there. Early this week I called up the town chief and he certified that my land is secure. When I would have gone through the necessary documentation then I would have had a plot of land. So safe to say so far I do not have. And that is not to say I have not tried to.
Now a press release from state house of 22 May, not on this matter, starts thus: “His Excellency Dr Ernest Bai Koroma has said that Sierra Leone belongs every citizen”. The operative words there are that the country belong to “every citizen”. While you mull over that, consider that section 4/2/a of the Sierra Leone 2005 Land Policy says thus: “Every Sierra Leonean can have access to land in any part of Sierra Leone provided that land is available for disposal in the part of the country where he seeks to have access to the land.” In a way this takes care of the crown colony-protectorate divide over land.
I went to the beach town of Tokeh last week after it had emerged that some tension was brewing over land. What I saw was tear-dropping. A lady known to those who know her only as Binta, said to be very close to the government, and said to have been extraordinarily close to the governments of Siaka Stevens and Joseph Saidu Momoh, has erected a massive wall on one of the most beautiful white sandy beaches anywhere in the world. Besides her wall, there were bulldozers clearing further afield. Parts of the fenced plot are claimed by another lady who has documents to show that she has been dispossessed of her land. She has nowhere to run to. The lands ministry officials have been corrupted. The minister of lands, whom I have been trying to reach since without success, is said to have approved of the Binta’s walls and ownership of the land. Binta herself was quoted by various sources I spoke to at Tokeh and elsewhere as saying that the land was leased to her “by cabinet”. I hope that is not true.
Let us for a minute assume that it is fair for the state to repossess the land because of its pristine nature or because it wishes to give it to a company for some business development that will create jobs especially for the people of Tokeh. I would imagine that such would have been done with the acquiescence of the lady who has authentic documents to prove her ownership of at least part of the land Binta has created the Berlin Wall on, the lady should have been compensated. But not only was she not compensated, the land was not repossessed for state use. It was taken back and apparently given to another individual simply because she is close to those in the corridors of power. This is not only criminal, if all Binta had over this land were “connections”, it is sinful.
In 2005 I applied for state land and duly had a plot leased to me; At least on paper. Later in the year I got an overseas job. That was after I had planned myself to put up a small structure however modest to lay my head and for my children. My plans were delayed for a year. In 2006 I felt homesick and resigned my job and returned home. I went to the ministry of lands and was shown my plot. The next time I visited, it was in 2007, someone had started constricting on it.
I returned to the ministry and reported the matter. It was in August of that year. I was told to wait until after the runoff presidential election a month later because, they said, there was so much tension that they did not want to trigger further unrest.
The election passed off. I went to the ministry again and none of the guys I had met there were present. They had either been sacked or they were simply hangers-on who worked in the ministry for some strange reasons. No one was willing to look into my case even though I had the authority of the state over the land. I gave up.
In 2011, my wife, who is a lot more patient than I am, took time off to find out whether the plot was still in my name. “Yes” she was told at the ministry; again at least on paper. A few months later I went to the ministry and spoke with very senior officials – both civil and public servants. A file was opened to look into the matter as my documents were certified as true. As at the last count I had been to that ministry 47 times. No headway. I have given up again.
If Lonely Planet’s rating of Sierra Leone should continue to hold true, the handling of the pristine beach areas should be done with honesty. Binta’s project should be put on hold and the claims investigated openly and fairly. And if instability is to be stemmed, land rights must be enjoyed by all and no one should be dispossessed of their property because they are not “close to those in power”. It can only entrench disgruntlement and expose to danger even those who think “it is their turn to loot”.
