By Prince J Musa in Kenema
Community leaders in Tiloma Village in Kenema have called for a review of a lease agreement for the use of their land by the city council as a dumpsite.
The villagers’ decision stems from a disagreement over payment of the lease for this year. While the council claims it has paid, the villagers denied it.
Tiloma Village is located at the southern end of Kenema City. The agreement was signed between the villagers and the council in 2017, according to Brima Swaray Fugbawa, Chief of the village.
He said the agreement entailed that payment should be made for two years. He added that the council last paid in 2019 for only one year, noting that the payment for 2020 was due last August and it didn’t materialize.
“The council has not paid the lease for this year. The Kenema City Council has only paid us fifteen million Leones for last year, 2019, not for 2020. We were expecting the council to pay for two years, and the council is supposed to effect payment before the year starts,’’ Fugbawa told Politico.
He added: “The 1st August every payment year is the actual time for the lease payment.”
But city council mayor, Thomas Karimu Baio, denied this, saying that they have paid. He said if Chief Fugbawa is sure that the council hasn’t paid, he should take the matter up with them rather than talking to the media.
"You don’t need to talk to the chief about that if he feels we are yet to pay him. Let him come to the council and demand it,” Mayor Baio said in a telephone interview with Politico.
While confirming receipt of money from the council, Chief Fugbawa insisted that the money was for one year payment.
“If mayor is saying they have paid fifteen million Leones to us for one year, it is correct, but not more,” he said.
The chief said under the current circumstances, they will be pushing for a review of the lease agreement with the council in the next two years.
“By 2022, the council and we the land owners should revisit the lease agreement” he stated.
When the lease agreement was signed, Joseph Samba Keifala was the mayor of Kenema City. Keifala told Politico that the lease agreement should not expire in 2022 as Fugbawa claimed. He said the land was leased under him for more than twenty years.
Keifala left the council after the 2018 elections.
Asked why it is preferable for the council to lease a land rather than buy one for their services, he said: “The reason for going in to a lease agreement is that if we are to buy those lands, next generation of the land owning families will interfere with the land. So to prevent future members of the land owning families from selling the land, that is the reason why we agreed on the lease.”
Keifala said the payment for the dumpsite and cemetery is done every two years, confirming the chief’s position.
The city council leased the land for the cemetery from a different community.
The Tiloma dumpsite was the subject of a report in our last week, Wednesday, 2nd September edition, in which the villagers complained of an invasion of flies attracted by the dumpsite. The villagers cried that the situation is so bad that they have been forced to do everything indoors, in fear of a possible outbreak of a disease.
Council officials said they were working on resolving the issue.
Copyright (c) 2020 Politico Online
