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79c
Smart Farm
Wilkinson Rd.
Freetown
Tel: 030 503 524
25/10/2011
The Director-General
Sierra
Leone Roads Authority
Kissy Rd.
Freetown
Sir:
MASSIVE
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE ON WILKINSON ROAD
Despite several previous
communications with you, you have continued to cause your workers to commit
large scale abuses of human rights on Wilkinson Rd and now
additionally on Spur Road. I refer to Chapter 3 of the Constitution of
Sierra Leone, entitled THE
RECOGNITION AND PROTECTION OF FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS OF THE
INDIVIDUAL. This is the ONLY chapter in the Constitution ENTRENCHED
IN ITS ENTIRETY – ie it can only be changed by
consent of the people in a referendum. Section 15 states “…EVERY PERSON IN SIERRA LEONE IS ENTITLED TO….PROTECTION FROM
DEPRIVATION OF PROPERTY WITHOUT COMPENSATION”
Section 21 of the same chapter
states “NO PROPERTY OF ANY
DESCRIPTION SHALL BE COMPULSORILY TAKEN POSSESSION OF AND NO INTEREST IN OR
RIGHT OVER PROPERTY OF ANY DESCRIPTION SHALL BE COMPULSORILY ACQUIRED
EXCEPT…”
Despite your having been made
aware of these fundamental mandates of our constitution (if you were not
previously aware of them) you have continued to forcibly seize property from
peaceful, lawabiding citizens up and down the
length of Wilkinson Rd and now Spur Road. And how have
these seizures been accomplished.? Have you used the
police to enforce laws in our statute books? Have you used bailiffs to
enforce some directive from a court? Have you used surveyors from the
Ministry of Lands to properly identify and record land to be compulsorily
acquired? Have you employed the provisions of the Public Lands Act, which
outlines the procedures to be followed and compensation to be paid in cases
of compulsory acquisition? NONE OF
THE ABOVE BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO LAW TO BACK YOU! No, your modus
operandi is to employ illiterate youths, working under equally illiterate
Chinese and direct them to start digging on private
property and to molest, harass, insult and assault any one who dares to
question them. In this way you have been able to intimidate hundreds of
affected property owners into silence. Could it be that this is the direction
you have received from the government of the day? Could it be that this is
their preferred approach?
Last year, when the first land
seizures took place you knew that the preliminary meeting with property
owners to discuss the Wilkinson Rd widening
project had ended in uproar when SLRA indicated they would not be paying for
any land taken. Shortly after that you sent in bulldozers and heavy
equipment, backed by gangs of young men, to break down walls and destroy
properties. You thus successfully cowed hundreds of property owners into
silence. This year this second round of land grabs has continued in like
manner
With regard to the Michael
Jones property at Aberdeen Rd. junction, for
which you have been sent a registered 1958 conveyance and site plan, the
Jones family, many of whom have US citizenship, will be making a
formal complaint to their government regarding the illegal seizure of
their property. They will also be pursuing their options in the Sierra Leone
and US courts. In your lawless land grabs it appears not to matter to you one
jot whether or not there exists a valid conveyance for the property – you
have thus not deemed my earlier queries worthy of a response. You have meted
out the same treatment to
scores of other property owners with valid, registered
documents. This appears to be a calculated effort to destroy the system of
property ownership in the Western Area.and indeed
in the rest of the country.
I am copying this letter to the
Special Representative of the Secretary General to the United Nations in Sierra Leone,
because your actions are also in violation of Article 17 (2) of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the United Nations on 10 December
1948 - “NO ONE SHALL BE ARBITRARILY
DEPRIVED OF HIS PROPERTY”
I am copying this letter to the
Chinese ambassador to Sierra
Leone, because you have caused Chinese
nationals to enter upon private property here and commit unlawful acts.
I am copying this letter to the
Anti-Corruption Commission because I have heard that compensation on this Wilkinson Rd project may have
been paid in a few cases. If money is available for compensation and you are
paying a few and denying others then that is a recipe for corruption.
I am copying leaders of the
main opposition parties in Sierra
Leone because this policy of land seizure
without compensation has been publicly endorsed by your political authority,
the Minister of Works and Infrastructure.
In general I am giving this
letter the widest possible publicity because the issue involved – the RIGHT TO HOLD PRIVATE PROPERTY
– is of such fundamental importance to the destiny of Sierra Leone.
As you very well know from your
experience at SLRA, when there are donor-funded projects of this nature, the
donors ensure that any private property taken is fully paid for. How ironic
that foreign governments treat SL nationals better than the Sierra Leone government.!
How ironic that at the same time as government is calling on foreign
investors to invest in Sierra
Leone it is busy seizing private property
from indigenous Sierra Leoneans .
Yours Sincerely,
Paul Conton
Cc Mr Donald Jones,
for the Michael Jones family
The SRSGSL
The Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone
The Minister of Works and Infrastructure
The Presidential Adviser on Works and
Infrastructure
The Ombudsman of the Republic of Sierra Leone
The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone
The Leader, Sierra Leone Peoples Party
The Leader, Peoples Movement for
Democratic Change
The Leader, National Democratic Alliance
The Project Director, China Railway
Seventh Group
Eddie Davis Consultants, ATTN: Mr Hamilton
The producer, Good Morning Sa Lone, 98.1 Radio Democracy
The producer, National News, SLBC
Awareness Times Newspaper
Awoko Newspaper
Standard Times Newspaper
Premier News Newspaper
Unity Newspaper
Salone Times
Newspaper
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