By Prince J Musa in Kenema
The District Multi-Stakeholders Land Dispute Platform under the land for life project implemented by Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD) with support from German Government through BMZ has presided over complaints received from the community people of Dama, Small Bo and Niawa chiefdoms in Kenema district over ownership of lands in their respective chiefdoms.
This district multi stakeholder’s platform is operating under the land for life project to probe the root causes of some of the land disputes within the communities and their operational chiefdoms in Kenema district.
Addressing members of the district multi stakeholders platform and the conflict communities at their monthly stakeholders meeting at NMJD office in Kenema on the 22nd of April 2021, the Kenema district facilitator for land for life initiative Sierra Leone, Aiah Charles Jabba said the engagement is to show case land related issues that are happening within their operational chiefdoms in Kenema district which helps resolve some of the land conflicts that exists within the communities.
Jabba said the multi-stakeholders platform was set up by institutional representatives that have interest in land issues to enable the community people from those chiefdoms express the problems of land that are hindering their sources of livelihood.
He added that of the two land matters that emerged from the engagement one involved two communities in the Dakowa section of Dama chiefdom and the other between Niawa chiefdom and Wanjama in Small Bo chiefdom.
He alleged that in Lower Bambara chiefdom and Tongo field to be specific one mining company, Sierra Diamond mining company acquired sixty acres of Land from the people on which they were doing some artisanal mining and agricultural activities.
He said the multi stakeholder’s platform uses dialogue model instead of violence to see how best they could mediate on some of the problems instead of embarking on violence which leads to destruction of lives and properties.
Christopher Morie Brima a member of the multi-stakeholders platform encouraged the aggrieved people to guinely present their issues without resorting to violence, saying the role of the committee is to get the views of all parties concerned and see how they could intervene to restore sanity among the communities. “We are not here to decide cases neither do the work of the court but to see how best we can bring you people together”, he said.
Brima cautioned the people to remain calm and allow the technical team to look into those concerns.
Chief Allieu Bawoh from Dakowa section Dama chiefdom said that they have been dealing with their own matter since last year and they have spent a lot of resources on it without any resolution.
The representative from the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone East Ibrahim Lahai encouraged the local authorities to allow the technical committees look into the issues.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online 23/04/21
