…Lands Ministry Defrauds Journalist
By Ibrahim Alusine Kamara (Kamalo)
A Sierra Leonean journalist, Mani N. Sorie, has become a victim of land robbery by certain authorities in the Ministry of Lands, and complaining to the Minister about their unwarranted behaviour could not even yield any dividend, it emerged.
Some six months ago, Salone Compass was privy to a letter of complaint written by the journalist to the Minister of Lands, Housing and Country Planning, Mr. Turaj Senesie.
The said letter informed the minister about an alleged amount of over one thousand United States dollar (US$1000) being paid by Journalist Mani N. Sorie to certain Directors in the Ministry, including Musa Koroma and Tamba Dauda, to issue an “offer letter” for the
lease of a plot of state land.
Sadly, we learned that other than acting on the complaint in a judicious manner, the minister allegedly took sides with the Directors and seems to be giving them a protective cover.
The complainant indicated in his letter to have owned “a two-town plot of leased land” at Regent Road, off Spur Loop (LOA 11878) in Freetown, Western Area of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
According to Sorie, he travelled to Freetown in December 2022, after a two-year COVID travel ban, and discovered upon arrival that the beacons demarcating his land had been vandalized.
He relayed how he got a surveyor from the Ministry to re-plot and put back fresh beacons, and then sought for a contractor to construct a perimeter fence to secure the place and protect construction materials.
Surprisingly, the group of people that went to start the work were attacked by some youths in the area, with OSD personnel dispatched to the scene later, arresting one suspect and impounded Sorie’s construction equipment, all taken to the OSD Headquarters in Freetown.
He said that the suspect was later released but he lost millions of leones worth of building materials, with his impounded construction tools never handed back to him.
Journalist’s Mani Sorie’s letter of complaint to the Minister reads: “Three months later in September last year, I travelled to Freetown and upon arrival, I went to the Ministry to see the Director of Lands and Surveys. One Mr. Sheku came out and met with me. He later took me to an Engineer Musa Koroma. I explained to him the disturbances on the land. He called and spoke to one “Rambo,” and had me and two other workers in his office: Henry and Bockarie to go see him. Rambo drove me and three of his colleagues, while Henry and Bockarie rode on a bike to the site.”
He added that upon arrival, Rambo spoke to a young lady who lived there with her husband in a patchedup structure and cautioned them to vacate the place. He also told her that the land was leased to him Sorie by the government.
“When we left the scene and drove back to the spot where we met them, Rambo told me they don’t work for the Ministry and that they are security personnel attached to the State House. He said I must pay for them to provide security for the land while construction work is going on. I parted with US$1000. That doesn’t include the Le 900,000 that I gave to Engineer Musa’s two staff members,” Sorie narrated, adding that they then returned to the Ministry, where Mr. Musa took him to the office of one Director, J.T Dauda.
“I explained to him the theft and destruction of work and efforts by some individuals to prevent me from undertaking any development work on my land. Mr. Dauda then asked for my documents to the land. I presented them to him. He made a phone call to New England Ville and gave the LOA number on the certified true copy of my leased plan. He was told that my name is in the system. He then told Engineer Musa to re-issue another offer letter and claimed that there was an error on the one I had presented. He also said that I would have to pay penalties for default in NRA taxes.”
Sorie said Mr. Musa then took him back to his office where they agreed that he Musa would now take over the construction work, and paid him US$100 for the fence/building permit.
He said Musa referred him to his brother, Captain Hydara, with whom he spoke to help construct the perimeter fence.
“Hydara met me at the office and as we went downstairs onto the street outside the main entrance to the Youyi building, I saw Mr. Sheku running franticly towards me. He pulled me on the side and showed me a small piece of paper given to him by Engineer Musa. The number “24 mill” was written on it,” Journalist Sorie disclosed, but said he told Mr. Sheku that the
amount of 24 million Leones was too much.
According to him, Mr. Sheku responded that some people pay more than that for an offer letter.
“I went back upstairs with Mr. Sheku and headed to Mr. Musa’s office. He gave me a white envelope and told me to go by the tall open cabinet and put the money on top of the shelf. I then placed US$1000 in the envelope. My new offer letter was later prepared and handed to Mr. Sheku to hand over to me.”
Sorie said before all of this, on the 28th of September, 2023, he received in the early hours of the morning a call alerting him that the pillars that his contractor had put up the previous evening had been vandalized, leading him to contact Rambo,
the man Engineer Musa had referred him and who had received US1000 from him to secure the place.
Rambo told him to contact the Lumley Police Station and report a case of malicious damage, but that he received a call from one Solomon Gembeh while at the Station the land he was claiming to have bought was initially given to his friend Wanza by the previous APC government.
He said the caller further told him that “Number One” was aware of the land, and asked who “Number One” was, he named
President Julius Maada Bio.
“Mr. Gembeh also intimated that the issue of that land went to the ECOWAS Court. I told him that ECOWAS is a loose union of member states and that whatever decision may have been reached there (if any), has no bearing on our domestic laws,” Sorie stated.
Monday, October 1st, 2023, Sorie said Capt. Hydara reached out to him. They bargained for the construction of the fence and agreed on the payment of Le20 million, and made a part payment of Le15 million prompt, noting that the next morning, he received another distressing call informing him that his iron rods and sand that Captain Hydara had asked him to leave at the
site as materials that he was going to use for the work had been stolen.
“I had to rush again to the Lumley police station, but this time made it known to Engineer Musa that it is the responsibility of the
government to provide security personnel that would protect my assets on the land. I, Mr. Musa, Mr. Sheku and Henry, a staff member in Mr. Musa’s office, drove to the site. Capt. Hydara also met us at the scene with two OSD personnel. We later retrieved the iron rods after a heated confrontation with
a group of suspected family members who live close to the site. Mr. Musa cautioned them against any act of vandalism and told them that if anyone has any claim to the land, that person should see
him at his office.”
Sorie and his entourage of Lands Ministry officials and security personnel then left the scene and drove back to the Ministry, but he said that no sooner he bade farewell and left the office than he came across two Lebanese nationals heading to Engineer Musa’s office.
Further explaining his ordeal, Journalist Mani N. Sorie said: “On October 5th, 2023, a couple of days after I arrived in the United States, I wired US$450 (Le 9.719 million) to Engineer Musa for NRA taxes. He made Le7.5 million payments to one Messie, which amount was deposited into the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank account 003001101179112119 for three years: 1st October 2023 – 30th September 2026. The invoice is now in my possession. I flew to Freetown again this past May to start work on the land. I was told Mr. Musa was out of the country and could not see the Director either. The next day I paid for building materials and visited the site only to find out some malicious damage had been done to the place. I contacted the Lumley police again and got some officers from the Anti-Lands Grabbing Unit to go with me to the site. We were confronted by an OSD personnel who claimed he was sent there by the Police Inspector General. I later met J.T Kai at the OSD Headquarters. He told me some political pressure is involved in the matter.”
Sorie said he was appalled that as a Sierra Leonean citizen, his fellow citizens hired to serve his interest in public
office could treat him in such a callous manner in favour of a Lebanese national.
“I am not only asking for fairness and justice but would pursue this matter wherever it leads me,” he vowed.
Meanwhile, not just the victim, but many Sierra Leoneans who have following the issue with keen interest say they are left flabbergasted over the journalist’s ordeal, especially when informed that he has still not secured his land from the clutches of rogue Lands Ministry’s officials who seemingly ganged up not just to extort him but against him in favour of foreigners.
Sorie’s pathetic journey to owning a land by legal means only to be left again to grapple for his rightful ownership to it could be suicidal! And the kind of subtle and psychological conspiratorial tactics employed by Lands Ministry officials against him shines a brighter light on how public officials, even as they take oaths to serve with probity, are deep-seated in corruption and abuse of power.
In fact, this issue is one that warrants a serious concern from anti-graft officials. If those involved in what is a “grand conspiracy to fraud” are left to go untouched and unabated, then the call by our President for Sierra Leoneans based in the diaspora to come home and invest will be a waste of time, because they would be fear-struck, have their investment spirit killed, and shy away.