Wednesday 17 August 2016

Works Ministry Hunts Land Grabbers At Grafton





In a desperate and calculated posture to retrieve all lands belonging to the Ministry of Works, Housing and Infrastructure that were illegally grabbed and occupied by unscrupulous private individuals and institutions, the Ministry has issued a stern warning to all  those involved in such a dubious and criminal activities to stop, vacate or face eviction.

According a document available to this medium indicating 7.4 acres of land illegally grabbed and occupied by one such private individual in the person of Ishmael Hassan Kanu at Grafton, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, Housing and Infrastructure, T.R. Gbetuwa has in a letter dated 22 June 2016, addressed to Ishmael Hassan Kanu who had illegally grabbed and occupied the said land for over decades to vacate with immediate effect or face court action.


In furtherance of this action, the Permanent Secretary, T.R. Gbetuwa stated that, any lease agreement for the said land without the Ministry of Works, Housing and Infrastructure is illegal and tantamount to court action against any private individual or institution caught in such illegal and criminal activity, also the Ministry cannot approve any application from whosoever for the regularization of the 7.4 acre property at Grafton.

Mr. Gbetuwa also warned that if Ishmael Hassan Kanu refuses to vacate the said land, the Ministry of Works Housing and Infrastructure will undertake a robustly eviction of any grabber or grabbers on the said land, and the latter was addressed to the various heads of state institutions, such as the Inspector General of Police, Secretary to the President and the Deputy Minister of Works Housing and Infrastructure among others.

During a fact finding mission with regards to the ownership of the land in question, the Professional Head in the Ministry of Works, Housing and Infrastructure, Slyvester Pratt informed this press that the 7.4 acre land at Grafton which Ishmael Hassan Kanu is purporting claiming is property of the Ministry of Works Housing and the Infrastructure.

Sylvester Pratt disclosed that over the years, unscrupulous individuals and some institutions in the country have illegally grabbed and occupied the Ministry’s lands and other state lands in Freetown and its environs with impunity.

He stressed that, all those engaged in such a dubious and criminal activity will be prosecuted, stating that after they had conducted a thorough survey of the Ministry’s lands in Freetown and its environs, they realized that many misguided and unscrupulous businessmen and women had illegally grabbed and either sold or occupied those lands.

Such a naked aggression directed at the Ministry’s land by the so-called grabbers at Grafton, he went on will soon be a thing of the past as one of the claimant, Ishmael Hassan Kanu had received thirty six thousand united states dollars from an international company called Hawk Sierra Leone as proceeds of a portion of the 7.4 acres of lands he criminally and illegally leased to the company.


Furthermore, the Lawyer Vandy Nabie who is providing Legal services for Hawk Sierra Leone told this medium in an interview that, Hawk Sierra Leone paid a whooping sum of thirty six thousand United States dollars to Ishmael Kanu as lease agreement for a portion of the land he presently occupied at Grafton.

‘we didn’t know that Ishmael Hassan Kanu is a falsely claimant and we paid him thirty six thousand united states dollars in a form of lease agreement, and that it was after we have paid the money that, we realized that he is not the rightful owner the land in question, but very soon we are going to drag him to court or cough up our money,’ lawyer Nabie concluded.


By Mohamed Kai

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