By Francis H. Murray
The Minister of Lands, Dr. Dennis Sandy, has defended his action to rename Gibo Town in Grafton to Pa-O-Pa Town, insisting that it’s a legitimate act.
The move by the minister last month provoked anger, with critics saying he acted outside his powers. Sandy said that his decision to rename the town was supported by many laws, including the Freetown Improvement Act (Cap 66 of 1966) that gives him the authority to do so after settlers had “illegally” named it Gibo Town and APC Corner.
“We went there and found out they were state lands which were not properly acquired. So we reclaimed them and re-allocated the lands in a structured and orderly manner, and we are monitoring every construction on that land and every other settlement that we have identified, reclaimed and re-allocated for that matter. We called the key settlers, including Gibo, to a meeting here at my office and we all agreed to rename the area Pa-O-Pa Town,” Sandy explained in a meeting with representatives of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalist (SLAJ) last week Wednesday.
“It seems as if it is the name some people are unhappy about. When it was called APC Corner, nobody raised concern. Pa-O-Pa is not SLPP. Pa-O-Pa means for the good of the country,” he added.
The renaming of the town was notably opposed by the West Area Rural District Council which, citing the Local Council Acts of 2004, claimed the right to name any community or street within its jurisdiction.
The Council’s spokesman did respond to a request by Politico to respond to the recent comment of the Minister.
The SLAJ executive had called on the minister as a courtesy visit to urge him to speak to the public on prevailing concerns over how he is handling land issues in the country, specifically the Gibo Town (Pa-O-Pa Town) incident.
A press statement issued by the umbrella journalist body after the meeting quoted the minister saying that people were just faulting him because he did not use the normal approach to reclaim government properties. And he noted that this was necessary because of the need to be aggressive to address the issue.
“Everybody wants land; it’s a whole industry. It’s challenging, it’s chaotic and dirty. The land space in the Western Area has been squeezed over time. Our approach has been aggressive. Sometimes we have to behave abnormally for the benefit of the country and its citizens,” he said.
SLAJ, according its press release, also used the meeting to appeal to the minister to provide it a plot of land for its headquarters. President of the association, Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, said it was important for a land to be allocated to the association’s regional and central body “to avoid high rent”.
Sandy said he was willing to provide a land for SLAJ but advised that they followed due process.
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