Land Corruption at Tokeh…. Lands Minister “Rob Peter To Pay Paul”
By Kelvin Jay
When President Bio assumed the mantle of leadership in 2018, he declared a war on corruption and placed more emphasis on the fight by going after against grafts.
The President took the fight very strongly by going after people believed to be engaging in corrupt practices at the detriment of the country.
Recent investigation done by Voice of Salone Newspaper has implicated the Minister of Lands, Dr. Turad Senesie, for corruption and for taking undue advantage to dispossess four acres of land at Tokeh Village from the Conteh Family (Alpha Conteh, Kadijah Conteh and Marion Conteh) and shared it among several individuals that are connected to the seat of power. One of the beneficiaries of the land in question is the brother of the First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
This action of the Minister is tantamount of “robbing peter to pay Paul”, an expression used to refer to a situation wherein resources that legimately belongs to or are needed by one party are used to satisfy another party especially within the same organization or group to solve a problem in a way that makes another problem worse, producing no net gain.
According to the land right act, it is the right of every citizens to acquire any land in Sierra Leone. Land in Sierra Leone can be obtained through purchased, lease, allocation, gift, clearing and adverse possession.
Speaking to this press, one of the claimant of the 4 acres of land in Tokeh Village, Alpha Conteh, a Sierra Leonean based in the United States of America explained how he legally gained ownership of the said piece of land over a decade ago at Tokeh, further revealing that he bought the property from one Alhaji Slowe, who was at that time the Tokeh Headman, stressing that he is in possession of all the requisite documents pertaining to the land in question.
Before purchasing the land, Conteh said, he did a background check to ascertain the ownership of the property and even went to the Ministry of Lands to verify the land document, revealing that during the verge of verification, senior officials in the Ministry confirmed the ownership and legality of the property and that prompted him to buy the land.
Sometimes back after purchasing the land, Conteh said, he decided to sell one acre of the piece of land with the LS number 3559/12 for the sole purpose of constructing a school.
He stated that of late he was shocked to learn that his land was now deemed to be Government property, a claim which he has been contesting with documentary evidence.
When Conteh returned to Freetown few months ago, he went to the Ministry of lands to make certain clarifications, but to his chagrin he was directed to contact an unknown fellow by the name of Noah Fornah at a hotel.
He said when he contacted Fornah he was told to forgo half of his land so that an amicable settlement will be strike to which he stoutly opposed lamenting how what followed next was the demolition of a perimeter fence he had erected in the property.
Alpha said he later realized that the land has been allocated to various individuals thereby losing the entire piece of land that he formerly possessed.
In order for him to clear the doubt by showing a proof of ownership of the land, Conteh said, he went to see the Minister of Lands, Dr. Turad Senesie, with his document, but said the Minister without setting eyes on his land document dismissed it and instructed him to write a letter after which he will consider assigning him an alternative piece of land.
In a dejected mood, Alpha accused the Minister of complicity in depriving him of his land as he displayed supporting documents, including conveyances, a Police report, a Ministry chart indicating private ownership, an independent surveyor’s encroachment report, and registration receipts.
When contacted the Minister of Lands, Dr. Turad Senesie via text messages backed up with telephone calls to seek clarifications on the issues under investigation, he refused to respond us. More on this in subsequent editions.
