According to findings by the Inter-Ministerial/Agency Committee during its robust field inspections on 19th January 2024, at the Guma site in Babadorie, Sugar Loaf, Banga Farm and No. 2, the rate of encroachments upon water catchments and deforestation are swiftly increasing, precisely in these communities within the Western Area Peninsula National Park (WAP-NP).
The field monitoring exercise is to see the extent of encroachments and to plan a way to stop the encroachments and other illegal activities within WAP-NP. As a way to subside these unfortunate threats by encroachers, the Inter-Ministerial/Agency Committee is poised for defaulters to be investigated and prosecuted, and to demolish all structures erected within the protected areas.
Meanwhile, the Sierra Leone Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jiwoh Abdulai, who was accompanied by his Deputy Minister, the Deputy Minister of Lands, Housing and Country Planning, Deputy Minister of Justice, the Deputy Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, the Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs, and senior staff of Guma Valley Water Company (GUMA) and National Protection Area Authority (NPAA), expressed deep dissatisfaction over the gross lawlessness in these protected areas.
The Minister noted that water is very significant to maintaining life, and considers Guma as the primary source of water supply to the entire city, adding that Guma has a lake that depends on catchments that are found within the Western Area Peninsula National Park. Consequently, he said that there has been lots of deforestation within WAP-NP, which has put the security of water in the city at high risk.
Minister Abdulai intimated that WAP-NP is been gazetted by law that needed protection. He continued that his Ministry has pulled out a joint public notice with the Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, admonishing people to stop with immediate effect all illegal activities, including brushing, clearing, burning and constructions that are happening within WAP-NP. He said the field monitoring is to get firsthand information to see whether people have deliberately violated the public notice or have been in compliance with it. He reemphasized that violation of the public notice would have severe consequences against defaulters by the law. The Environment and Climate Change Minister said the monitoring exercise is about protecting the security of water for the city. He said this move required collective effort to make sure that WAP-NP is well protected from illegal activities.
He emphasized that the NPAA Act is explicitly to protect all national parks in Sierra Leone, adding that the law gave it the mandate and powers to demolish any structure erected within all national parks. The Minister intimated that the Inter-Ministerial/Agency Committee shall be conducting such robust field inspections regularly until the level of encroachments and lawlessness is stopped. He noted that the committee would further engage the people residing within the greenbelt of WAP-NP to let them understand the consequences of engaging in illegal activities within protected areas. He disclosed that the Ministry is set to establish a hotline that would involve people’s participation to report any illegal activity within WAP-NP. Minister Abdulai explained that water is a sensitive resource that requires protection.
In addition to this, he admonished landowners to stop all constructions until physical demarcation is completed within WAP-NP. He further encouraged landowners to verify their land documents with the appropriate government institutions before taking any action within protected areas.
