TRACE Joenal: Denis Sandy Salone Land Field Marshal
Indeed those who are fortunate to get one-on one discussion with Sierra Leone’s Lands, Housing and the Environment Minister will notice that he is very practical.
As stated recently, his being in that ministry is not a mistake by President Bio. If a man and his team can achieve some of these things in one year, imagine what they will achieve in five years
Below are some of the success stories:
The ministry has refined the procedures and processes regarding the management and acquisition of lands (both private and state) to meet the demands of the 21st century. The steps to acquire State Lands have been simplified and for the first time in the history of the ministry, a verification and complaints unit has been created to ascertain the provisions contained in the Letter of Offer before any lease payments could be made in the banks. The result has been a drastic reduction in the multiple claims of ownership over a piece of land in the western area.
For the first time also, interviews for applicants have been held in an open and transparent manner for 1,000 people that have applied for State Lands and the category include -civil servants, police, military, journalists, physically challenged, women and youth, ministers, politicians and members of parliament of which the ministry has already commence the effective distribution for successful applicants in the western area.
With the moved taken by the ministry headed by Dr. Denis Sandy, they have able to record remarkable success in the reclaiming state lands in the western area.
To date, state lands have been reclaimed around the Aberdeen/Lumley Area, Gloucester Saddle, Mongegba, Mothaim, Grafton, No.2 River, Charlotte, Baw Baw, Sussex, Waterloo among others.
An estimated 4,800 acres have already been reclaimed with some of the site plans sent to the office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice for documentation.
In the provinces, the Ministry has also successfully paid land owning families in Bo and Kenema Districts to the tune of Le 1.5 B (covering both arrears owned over time by the government and outright purchase of these lands) for the reservation and airfield lands. These lands are now properties of the government of Sierra Leone.
We have seen the establishment of the State Lands Management and Allocation Committee in pursuance of transparency and accountability, which is charged with the responsibility to allocate state lands to the public for mainly residential purposes and to investors for responsible investment in Agriculture, mining and industrial estates.
Another history has been made in that ministry by setting up a Regularization Committee to handle the huge backlog of genuine cases wherein state land holders want to abide by the lease agreements of the government but because of the unnecessary delays, inconveniences involved in receiving the correct lease documents and site plans, such people have stayed away and failed to pay revenue to government.
Not to talk about the site plan which was handed over to Fourah Bay College of 463 acreage after years of battle for such with past government.
Land to the acreage of ninety has been accrued and surveyed for the possible relocation of the Sierra Leone Correctional Centre from Pademba Road to the Songo Area, Moyamba District. Also site plan has been presented to the Presidency for the construction of a state of the art conference centre in Lungi at the airport area after the survey of land in that area.
Land has also been provided as cemetery for the people of Tombo.
When it comes to revenue generation, the ministry has excelled, during the past one year (April 2018 - February, 2019) Le 2,941,090, 400.00 (Two Billion, Nine Hundred and Forty One million, ninety thousand four hundred Leones) was generated.
These success stories from the Lands Minister and team paved the way for President Bio to state during the state opening of parliament that:
“Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, the growing demand for housing and other infrastructural facilities has severely constrained the limited space. We inherited a situation where disputes about land ownership overwhelm the courts often with multiple claimants. My Government promised to sanitize and reform the land tenure system to make it compatible with the increasing demands of a modern economy and ensure equitable distribution of land and related issues.
To this end, Government has refined the procedures and processes regarding the management and acquisition of lands (both private and state). The procedures to acquire State Lands have been simplified and a Verification and Complaints Unit has been created for the first time to ascertain the provisions contained in the Letter of Offer before any lease payments could be made in the banks. This has resulted in a drastic reduction in the multiple claims of ownership over a piece of land in the western area. Interviews for applicants are now held in an open and transparent manner. Currently, applications for 1,000 people are being processed and the ministry has already commenced the effective distribution of state lands to successful applicants in the western area.
To demonstrate transparency and accountability, Government has established State Lands Management and Allocation Committee with the responsibility to allocate state lands to the public for mainly residential purposes and to investors in agriculture, mining and industrial estates. The committee has concluded interviews for over one hundred applicants for the allocation of state lands in the Western Area. The committee has also approved a total of one hundred and ninety-four (194) freehold land ownership amounting to 39.8 acres.
Applications for Freehold are also handled by a Committee headed by the Minister in an open and transparent manner. A total of 60 Freehold Conveyances have been duly processed by the Ministry and handed over to individuals in the full view of the media.
We have also set up a Regularization Committee to handle the huge backlog of genuine cases wherein state land holders want to abide by the lease agreements of the Government but because of the unnecessary delays, inconveniencies involved in receiving the correct lease documents and site plans, such people have stayed away and failed to pay revenue to government.
Furthermore, the Ministry has recorded remarkable success in the reclamation of state lands in the western area. To date, 4,800 acres of state lands have been reclaimed around various locations in the Western Area. In the provinces, the Government has also successfully paid land owning families in Bo and Kenema Districts to the tune of Le 1.5 billion (covering both arrears owed over time by the Government and outright purchase of these lands) in the Reservation and Airfield Area. These lands are now the properties of the Government of Sierra Leone.
To demonstrate its commitment to protecting and securing lands belonging to educational institutions, the site plan of Fourah Bay College (one of the constituent colleges of the University of Sierra Leone) with an acreage of 463 was signed and handed over by the Ministry and College Authorities after several decades. Lands belonging to other schools like Huntingdon in the East and Approved School have almost been protected from land grabbers.
While we shall continue to improve on the management of state lands, in the coming years, the focus will be on improving the enforcement of land use planning and building regulations, codifying land tenure through a GIS Cadastral system with standard town lots as basic module, and provide land for the construction of affordable housing.”
Sierra Leone is presently ranked at the bottom of the Environmental Performance Index and is ranked as the third most vulnerable to climate change in the world or is one of the countries in the world with the least capacity to respond or adapt to environmental change. About 13% of the country’s area and more than 35% of the population are at risk to disasters.
The overall objective in the New Direction is to protect the environment. Specifically, the policy actions will focus on (i) environmental governance; (ii) managing forest resources; (iii) ecosystem conservation, and (iv) environmental education.
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, on assumption of Office, the Environment Protection Agency Act had been amended to completely change the governance mechanism of the Environment Sector. It removed all Government Ministries previously on the Board, transferred its supervision to the Office of the President and changed the title of the Chairman of the Board to Executive Chairman and Professional Head of the Agency.”
TRACE Joenal is a regular column brought to you by Ibrahim JoenalSesay, Senior Staff Writer of SALONE TIMES NEWSPAPER, Best Human Right Reporting award winner and Advocate for Change in Sierra Leone. You can follow him on www.samnewsplus.com,Twitter &Facebook @tracejoenal or E-Mail salonesij@gmail.com
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