Mohamed K. Fofanah
Officials from the Ministry of Lands continue to undermine Bio’s government, which will cause serious setbacks and also have the propensity of making his 2nd term difficult. Certain officials in the ministry are taking undue advantage over poor citizens, dispossessing them of their lands and later selling the same to other people.
Despite the effort by the media to expose rampant corruption on land matters, nothing has been done by the country’s anti-graft agency to either prosecute or charge corrupt individuals on land matters.
Quite a good number of people have suffered corporate bullying and political intimidation at the hands of the Lands Ministry. If not on private land, they will use different laws just to take possession of people’s property. Among those who have suffered this fate is the Conteh Family.
Investigation revealed that one Alpha Conteh, who resides in the United States of America, is said to have bought 4 acres of land from one Alhaji Slowe at Tokeh. Alpha, in his wisdom, decided to share the said land among his family, a decision he took to assist his siblings. As if his effort has no value, a particular officer at Lands Ministry by the name of Noah, who prides himself in land grabbing, is alleged to have secretly grabbed the 4-acre land of the Conteh Family, hoodwinking the Lands Minister, Dr. Turad Senessie, into believing that the land in question was government land. After an investigation was carried out, there was no evidence to show that the land at Tokeh belonging to the Conteh Family is government property.
Inside sources within the ministry confided in this medium that Noah is very notorious for land grabbing. “He is doing this to always curry favour from the minister. He has so many cases of private property sale in court that he has been accused of, allegedly selling them under the guise of state lands.
The 4 acres of land at Tokeh, which is presently a subject of investigation, was sold to the Conteh Family by Alhaji Slowe. Documentary evidence in possession of this medium, and also verified at the Lands Ministry, indicates that the land in question at Tokeh is private property.
What has become a cause for concern is the move by the ministry to plot the area for different people, despite knowing that the land is private property.
Mohamed Conteh, who happens to be the younger brother of Alpha Conteh in the United States of America, told this medium that Noah had earlier approached them, requesting that they surrender 2 out of the 4 acres of land to him (Noah); a request Mohamed and his family rejected. “A few months later, what we saw was a bulldozer destroying our fence and other building materials. We later learned that one Jabbie carried the demolition work in exchange for 8 town lots out of our 4 acres of land. As we speak, the land has been under the supervision of an armed guard, who has now prevented us from going there, allegedly due to the blanket cover provided by the Minister of Lands, Dr Turad Senesie, for Noah.
However, more findings into the matter are that Noah has allegedly collected huge sums of money from people, and therefore decided to illegally grab the 4 acres, using the influence of Minister Dr. Turad Senesie.
Recent development unearthed by this medium is that the 4 acres registered in the name of Alpha Conteh and Family are documented at the Lands Ministry, Office of Administrator and Registrar General, and other government offices. Despite this information, known to Noah and the team of land grabbers, they went ahead to illegally grab the land.
Speaking to Noah via a telephone interview, he told this medium that he was not in a position to talk on the issue, as he was in the provinces.
In our next edition, we will bring out the conspiracy theory at the Lands Ministry, which has been used to illegally grab private lands.
