Sierra Leonean lawmakers have asked the Minister of Lands to get rid of all corrupt officials from his ministry as a way of minimising graft.
The lawmakers told the minister, Dr Turad Senesie, that cleansing the ministry of corrupt officials will prevent acts that undermine his efforts in ensuring proper land administration.
Dr Senesie was in parliament on Tuesday 26th July, when the House debated the National Land Commission Act 2021.
“If the minister is to succeed, every member of the ministry of Lands should be removed… They are not helpful. They are not efficient to his course. They have been undermining every policy of every minister before him, and they will continue to undermine every other minister that comes to that ministry,” said Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) lawmaker, Ibrahim Tawa Conteh.
Hon. Conteh, who represents Constituency 132 in the Western Area Urban, is also the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Lands in the House. He praised reform measures undertaken by Senesie, citing his effort to secure land in fulfilment of a pronouncement by President Julius Maada Bio, proposing the creation of a land bank for investment purposes.
Tawa lamented that while these efforts are been made, some officials in the Ministry of Lands were busy distributing pieces of lands to buyers.
Senesie, a former university lecturer, was appointed to head the Lands Ministry in January 2021. He replaced Dr. Dennis Sandy, who presided over the ministry for a chaotic three years, amidst reports of land grabbing and maladministration. But that had always been the situation at the Ministry long before Sandy took over. His critics said he only took the chaos to a different level.
In the well of Parliament on Tuesday, some MPs recalled summoning Dr Sandy to submit the schedule of the land bank that the ministry had put together, and to tell parliament how the pieces of land had been distributed. They said they never received that document.
“There are cases everyday…But how can he succeed when he has people around him that are not ready to work with him,” Tawa said.
The lawmaker recalled experiencing the effect of corruption when he wanted to construct a bridge in his constituency.
“Before I commenced the construction of that bridge, I engaged every member of the community. There was a certain resident in the community; he hadn’t started construction of his fence. While the bridge was being constructed, he started the construction of his fence. I went to the police, I made a report, spoke to all the land title owners. They gave me their documents. I submitted those documents to the police; the report was sent to the ministry…To this day, the report is yet to come out,” he narrated.
Tawa later told ManoReporters that during his engagement with civil servants in the ministry, he found out that all what they do is to stifle the work of minsters and the innocent citizens, by demanding bribe, among other dubious practices. He praised Senesie’s initiative of convening a weekly meeting, every Thursday, to address issues of land disputes like encroachment, access road, and infringement on private properties.
Tawa promised to move a motion before the enactment of the Bill for the House to give the minister the power to clean up his ministry by doing away with such corrupt officials.
Fellow lawmaker, Horace Ekuyemi Vincent, who represents Constituency 111 in Western Area Rural District, said they have the highest number of cases within the district before the minister regarding land issues.
Hon. Vincent said the establishment of the Commission would be a tremendous assistance to the ministry.
He lamented the existence of many players involved in land administration in the Western Area Rural District – the Village Heads, Chairmen of land committees, Chiefs – who he called “land grabbers.”
Vincent revealed that there were some serious fighting in his constituency, around Yams Farm and New York communities, which he said the minister was very aware of. He noted one individual claimed to be the owner of over 100 acres of land.
Because of the way land is administered in the district, Vincent said the community lacks recreational facilities like a football field, or cemetery or health centre.
According to Vincent, 60% of lands sold around the Devil Hole axis, another community within his constituency, are sold with the involvement of officials of the Lands ministry, singling out surveyors.
The ministry officials, he said, now even use the security apparatus in their dubious schemes.
The Land Commission bill, after the second reading and debate, was sent to the legislative committee for further scrutiny.
Details of the bill show that besides the National Land Commission, it also provides for the establishment of the District Land Commission and other land administrative bodies, to ensure effective and holistic land administration across the country.
