By Janet Sam-Kobba
Health Alert, a civil society organization dedicated to the promotion of healthy living in Sierra Leone, has called out the government for allowing the construction of buildings in prohibited areas, thereby endangering the lives of citizens.
The organization said that selling of illegal land like drainages, culverts, and dumping sites has become a normal business under successive governments.
This expression of concern is contained in a statement dated 17th September, coming in the wake of the collapse of a seven-story building in Freetown, which claimed 16 lives, according to data from the National Disaster Management Agency.
The rising number of buildings that have collapsed in Freetown from January to September 2024 due to poor constructions by unprofessional engineers leading to many tragic deaths serves as a call for concern for the government of Sierra Leone, say observers.
The problem is exacerbated by unprofessional among engineers.
Observers say many illegal constructions are owned by highly placed personalities in society, who either use the place to do business or rent it out as dwelling places.
According to Health Alert, this has led to the death of many innocent people over the years.
“This act has led to hundreds if not thousands of peaceful and innocent souls to perish over the years. Many at times these lands are sold by these greedy politicians to business tycoons for their own personal or self-aggrandizement,” it says.
Health alert is a human rights advocacy organization in Sierra Leone that advocates for the rights of citizens. The organization lamented that successive governments have embarked on the selling of land with no benefit to citizens.
“As a Health and Human Rights Advocacy organization, we vehemently condemn this reckless and unpatriotic attitude and we say it must stop now,” it stressed.
The organization proposed several actions for government to undertake as part of efforts to address thus issue, including conducting investigation into the conduct of officials of the Ministry of lands and Freetown City Council (FCC). It also specifically called on President Julius Maada Bio to completely overhaul the entire Ministry of Lands and FCC.
Health alert also called on the president to make declarations banning all construction of buildings in prohibited areas for any purpose.
It also suggested introduction and enforcement of rules requiring all construction works within the Western Area Urban and Rural be done by a recognized, trained and qualified engineers.
The advocacy organization also call for owners of all the buildings that have collapsed within the Western Area Urban and Rural between January and September this year to compensate families of victims.
Health alert promised to follow the implementation of these demands and it vowed to take legal action against the state and the building owners if action isn’t taken in this regard.
