Another year has gone by with no sign of resolution on the demolition at Angola Town by the Ministry of Lands of houses of ordinary Sierra Leoneans, including a prominent journalist, Alex Lawrence Koroma, former producer of Radio Democracy (98.1FM), Managing Editor of the Drone Newspaper and Managing Partner of Liberty Online TV,.
During engagement with the affected parties, it was revealed that they were not notified by the Ministry of the pending demolition, nor was there any Court Order to that effect. Even prior to the said demolition, the Ministry did not invite them nor engage them on the legality of their occupation of the said lands, or proof of claims to the said properties.
They maintained that they had taken the matter up with the Ministry to no avail, and had brought the attention of the Parliamentary Committee on Lands to their plight and are yet to get any information on its findings. This matter, they furthered, has drawn on for some two years now, with no sign of resolution. Parliament, they maintained, had promised to investigate the matter and make known their findings, but no result has been made public.
However, their appeal for the intervention of President Bio is as a result of a flicker of hope displayed by His Excellency, when recently he committed his government’s determination to ensure that citizens enjoy their rights to land free from any encumbrances. As father of the nation, it is the belief and hope that His Excellency, known for his talk and do stance, will come to their rescue and ensure that Justice is done to them. All the aggrieved land owners, including Journalist Alex Lawrence Koroma, maintained that they have put their lives’ savings on the demolished structures, and that taking it away from them without due process is a clear violation of their rights to own land.
Concerned Sierra Leoneans are of the view that this action by the Lands Ministry in depriving the land owners of their rightful ownership of the said lands in favour of foreign investors without recourse to law, is a blatant violation of their fundamental human rights.
Koroma’s plea and those of the other affected land owners to the President to intervene and rectify this unjust situation, is a call for the protection of their basic rights and the upholding of the rule of law. It is therefore, the view of Human Rights Campaigners that the Investments of the affected land owners in building a home for their families, using hard-earned money, should not be undermined by arbitrary and unlawful actions.
These campaigners say that this case will be a test case of the President’s commitment to fight for his people, or his comments were mere rhetoric and lip service
