By Oumar Farouk Sesay
In the 1970s and 80s, when performing Hajj was a nightmare for ordinary Sierra Leoneans, a group of visionary Muslim leaders created the Sierra Leone Pilgrimage Movement (SLPM). They gave structure, dignity, and support to pilgrims—especially those from the provinces who had no place in Freetown while preparing for Makkah.
The government of the day recognized this service by granting land at Bai Bureh Road for a headquarters, a mosque, a school, and plans for a hotel to accommodate pilgrims. To secure this legacy, the SLPM paid its lease sixty years in advance. That land became more than property—it became a sacred trust, sealed by sacrifice.
Today, that trust is being desecrated. Some greedy relatives of the late Haja Dankay Kabia, once an advisor to the Movement, have colluded with misinformed officials in the Ministry of Lands to sell the property to Fawaz the SLPM produced valid title deeds, lease documents, and even secured the intervention of the Vice President and Presidential Spokesman – Alpha Kanu.
Yet, Fawaz pressed ahead, demolishing the perimeter fence and beginning construction of a cement factory.
Fawaz’s bulldozers are not just tearing down walls at Bai Bureh Road—they are tearing down faith, desecrating sacrifice, and mocking justice. The land they have targeted is not an ordinary plot of soil.
It is the only major property ever granted to Sierra Leone’s Muslim community for pilgrimage—a legacy sanctified by prayer, sacrifice, and the sweat of pioneers who sought to make Hajj accessible for ordinary people. If this theft of Muslim land is allowed to stand, it will burn a permanent scar on Sierra Leone’s soul. Only President Maada Bio can stop it.
In broad daylight, under the watch of a silent government, this sacred trust is being bulldozed into rubble.
Land lawfully leased, paid for sixty years in advance, consecrated with vision and sacrifice, is being sold off to Fawaz and his associates for a shameful $200,000. This is not just a crime against the Sierra Leone Pilgrimage Movement (SLPM); it is a crime against faith, against justice, and against the very heartbeat of our nation.
This is not merely a land dispute. It is a battle for Sierra Leone’s soul. For decades, successive governments have allocated prime land to foreign nationals of all shades for schools, mosques, and cultural centres. No, Sierra Leonean has ever reclaimed those gifts.
Yet today, the only significant property ever granted to Muslims for Hajj is being stolen by a so-called member of the Ummah, aided by backroom deals and forged papers. What message does this send? That Sierra Leoneans must surrender their heritage while others remain untouchable? That the prayers and sacrifices of our people can be bulldozed for profit?
Mr. President, this is where you come in. Sierra Leone is admired worldwide for its rare religious harmony—a harmony you have often celebrated and defended. To let this injustice stand is to desecrate that reputation.
As a national leader of the Christian faith, your timely intervention here will not only defend justice but also embody the tolerance and unity that define our nation. By halting this fraudulent sale, stopping construction, and restoring the land to its rightful custodians, you will anchor peace for generations.
This moment also carries an opportunity: instead of ad hoc interventions like the ephemeral Hajj task force, you can establish a permanent Hajj Commission—giving Sierra Leone’s Muslims the institutional home envisioned by the SLPM’s founders.
Nearly all the heirs of those founders (including yours truly) and the Muslim Ummah of Kissy are united: this land must remain a home for pilgrims, not a cement factory choking schools and homes.
The choice before us is stark. Will Sierra Leone be ruled by bulldozers, fake deeds, and the greed of a few—or by justice, truth, and moral leadership?
History will not remember the signatures on a forged paper, but it will remember a president who stood up against corruption to defend the nation’s soul.
The Bai Bureh Road land at Kissy belongs to the Sierra Leone Pilgrimage Movement. It was rightfully allocated, sanctioned by cabinet, fully paid for, and faithfully used for decades. No fraud, bulldozer, or conspiracy can erase that truth.
We therefore appeal directly: His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio, act now. Halt the construction. Revoke the fraudulent sale. Restore the land to its rightful owners. Anything less is complicity. Anything less is betrayal.
History watches. The people watch. The world watches. And God Himself watches. No bulldozer can bury truth. No bribe can silence prayer. President Bio, the defence of Sierra Leone’s soul now rests in your hands.
