By Alpha Abu
In its continued offering of State Land on Lease to Sierra Leoneans, the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning has held another Raffle Draw for members of the Sierra Leone Commercial Bike (Okada) Riders Association and the Union of Rickshaw (Kekeh) Riders in which 1,000 winners emerged.
Cross section of both groups, lands ministry officials including the Minister Turaad Senesie Ph.D., Civil Society Activists, and Journalists witnessed the event that was televised live from the courtyard of Youyi building in Freetown on Thursday 11th May 2023.
Slips of paper with the details (names and telephone numbers) of those who entered the draw were placed into a large drum that was then rolled over for some time before individuals voluntarily dipped their hands without looking into the drum to take out the slips and then announcing on the microphone the lucky winners.
Minister Senessie was the first person to do the draw, announcing the first winner named Morlai Fofana. The President of the ‘kekeh’ union Serry Ibrahim and the President of the ‘okada’ riders association Umar Talie Bah were among those that won.
Before the draw, the lands minister addressed the crowd, pointing out the Government’s determination to sanitise land management and ensure its equitable distribution. He said the current administration’s policies on land are non-discriminatory and focused on ensuring roofs over the heads of Sierra Leoneans.
He said such an exercise was ‘’just the beginning’’ in addressing the less fortunate in society. The minister said some people tend to look down on the commercial ‘’okada’’ and ‘’kekeh’’ riders but that they’ve grown over the years and the government considers them responsible people.
He said everyone has the right to land in the ‘’Crown Colony’’ and stressed that the government has no regrets in taking away huge swathes of land from people that he claimed had illegally taken possession of such property in the Western Area.
The minister gave a rundown of the steps that will be taken by the ministry in preparing the land for the winners which he said include surveying the land and preparing the survey plan that will then be factored into the system, to be followed by the Director of Survey signing it and the Permanent Secretary presenting it to its rightful owner.
To avoid any conflict over boundaries between winners, all surveyed plans are to be uploaded into the phones of the rightful owners that can be accessed anytime, Dr. Senesie explained.
He said the lucky winners could now confidently claim to be land owners and could even be able to take loans from the bank since they would now have collaterals.
The kekeh riders president, Serry Ibrahim thanked President Julius Maada Bio for such an initiative that he said will be of immense benefit to members.
This is the third raffle draw to be held by the lands ministry; the first in December 2021 saw winners given two towns of land each at Allen Town, to be followed by another raffle draw in May 2022 that had five hundred winners including civil servants, security forces, teachers, journalists, and health workers benefitting from two towns plot of land each at two sites- Bureh Town and Kent Village, along the Freetown Peninsula.
All the recipients have leased the state lands which would be fully possessed by the occupants after developing the property within a timeframe and applying for full ownership.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (12/05/23)
