Wife of the dead man wailing as the house was being demolished
By Joseph Lamin Kamara
A sick octogenarian man died yesterday at Aberdeen after his house was demolished.
Family members attributed the death of the sick Juma Jalloh to the breaking down of his 74a Sir Samuel Lewis Road residence which they say he had toiled hard to acquire and lived in for 30 years.
His eldest daughter, Dalanda Jalloh said the demolitionists “did not wait for us to take our father out of the house and they started destroying it, which caused a brick to fall down on his chest that made his breathing slow.”
She said her father who had been grappling with asthma died hours afterwards.
One of his widows, Kadiatu Jalloh said that after her husband died they repeatedly called the Ebola emergency line – 117 – “but we got no response, which made the youths to block the road”.
The blockade and ensuing riots were broken up by police reinforcement from the Congo Cross division.
Mrs Jalloh said her late husband owned and occupied the residence for over 30 years, but “about two weeks ago a group of men came and asked us out because they said we were occupying a government property and they would therefore come and destroy our house if we did not move.”
She said the group which involved a police officer had promised to come back on Saturday 22 November but that they saw a truckload of police guarding a group of men to their compound yesterday 20th.
She said there had not been a court order for the action nor had they been officially warned to leave the property and accused the demolitionists of stealing money and valuables in her room. Three tenants claimed same.
Assistant Inspector General of Police for Freetown West, Philip Wellington said he provided police escort for land ministry officials to demolish the compound after receiving a letter dated 17 November to do so. He said they did not know the story of the property and that “we merely provide security for government agencies when they are carrying out their work”.
He told Politico that the letter of request which was signed by the Director of Country Planning, Augustine Kai Banya had requested the police “to provide police personnel to ensure that this ministry carries out a demolition exercise at Aberdeen without any obstruction”.
Even though the letter specifies that the demolition should be carried out on 20 November, Mr Banya told Politico that the demolition was “not to our knowledge this day”. He admitted that he had written to the police for escort to demolish the house but that there was no confirmation on the part of the constabulary to oblige on the suggested date.
“The people who carried out the demolition were not our staff. We would have done it differently and would have been humane” Banya said.
He said however that the pristine land had been leased to Melron Nicol-Wilson by the state.
The bereaved and distressed family say they will challenge the demolition and dispossession of the land and have made a report to the police as a first step.
© Politico 21/11/14
