Sierra Leone to evict senior civil servants to make way for Turkish and Saudi embassies
By Alpha Abu
The authorities have ordered some senior civil servants and their families to vacate their quarters at Hill Station, close to State Lodge, within the next two weeks for their housing units to be knocked down and the land allocated to the governments of Turkey and Saudi Arabia to construct their embassies.
Some of the affected people told Politico they were “devastated”.
According to official documents seen by Politico, on the 11th April 2022, the minister of Lands wrote a letter to his colleague at Works and Public Assets asking for his “concurrence” to take over the area and hand it over for the construction of diplomatic missions.
Dr. Turad Senessi said that the government was acting on a request made by Turkey and Saudi Arabia through president Bio for land to build their embassies but that “all parcels of land identified for such purpose are either hard to go areas or do not presently have basic facilities such as roads, electricity and water supply, hence cannot be allocated to the two countries for a diplomatic missions”.
Dr. Senessi said that after a field visit with representatives of the two countries he was asking for concurrence for the “allocation of land situate and lying at Hill Station with old government quarters to be allocated as follows: Turkey HS6, HS2, HS7, HS3, Saudi Arabia HS 5 and HS 11.
Following this letter the Public Assets ministry held meetings with the occupants of the housing units now earmarked for demolition and in November last year the Permanent Secretary sent them a letter saying that “whilst modalities are being put in place for a compensation package, I am further under directives to request that you kindly give vacant possession of the aforesaid Government Quarter you are occupying”. Recent documents seen by Politico suggest that the government now intends to speed up the eviction of the civil servants and their families even before the promised compensation package is fully delivered.
According to a letter from the Public Assets ministry “His excellency president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to visit Sierra Leone in March 2023 and during his visit, the Turkish president will turn the sod for the construction of their embassy in Sierra Leone on the 3rd of March”. The Permanent Secretary says construction equipment should be mobilized to the site “on or before the 20th February 2023”.
Politico understands that some of the affected civil servants have been making frantic efforts to discuss their plight with President Julius Maada Bio because they suspect that portions of the land the two ministries are attempting to take over may be converted to private use. They say should they be compelled to move, adequate compensation must be made available in full and a reasonable time given to them to relocate instead of rushing them out of housing units they’ve occupied for years, seriously disrupting their lives.
Under the Bio administration ties with both Turkey and Saudi Arabia have grown with the former having the Summa Company that is building the new Airport, whilst the latter is on elaborate plans to recruit hundreds of Sierra Leoneans for domestic and skilled jobs.
Copyright © 2023 Politico Online (30/01/23)
