By Foday Moriba Conteh
In a random interview that was conducted in different parts of the country to gauge the views of citizens relating to the performance of the Minister of Lands, Dr Dennis Sandy who was recently rated among the top 6 Minsters in the President Bio’s Government in an Integrity Score Card, most of the responses received stated that he is doing what no other Minister in that Ministry has ever done over the past 20 years; that he is also treading on grounds where no other Minister before him has ever trod.
Some said before Dr Sandy’s second coming into that Ministry, it was seen as having interest in settling only land disputes within cities in the country but he has showed from recent activities that his Ministry could reach every place within the boundaries of this country.
According to an influential personality in Bo, land owners of Mokonde Town in the Bo District where the main Njala University is based, were made to smile recently by Dr Sandy when he went himself to settle a very serious land dispute involving close to 400 acres piece of land, between the University authorities and the land owners who felt hard done by the University which overstepped its boundaries and took land belonging to the original owners of Mokonde.
“Dr Sandy was able to negotiate with the land owners who accepted cash payments and handed over the said land to the university with no problems at all,” he revealed.
What was also relayed is that Clay factory in the East End of the City of Freetown, over the past years saw land grabbers taking over its environs with impunity and putting up makeshift shacks but Government wants it back. Some intimated that like the good servant, Dr Sandy jumped into action to recover what rightfully belongs to Government.
“Not by force of arms but with decency, Dr Sandy encouraged shack owners who grabbed that land to hand over with the Ministry paying each shack owner Le10M for agreeing to leave without fuss,” Pa Alimamy Sesay who has resided in that community for over three decades intimated this medium. It was also revealed that again, under the leadership of Dr Sandy, leaseholds and free holds of Government property are now carried out in very sanitized manner.
“Before Dr Sandy the Ministry of Lands was a liability to government but since he came to that office Dr Sandy has raised billions of Leones for government through leases of Government property,” an official of an auditing firm asserted giving an example of how revenue is being raised by citing the case of the UMC Pa Loko land dispute where over a thousand land grabbers illegally occupied Government property.
“Now under Dr Sandy, all the illegal occupiers have been made to regularize their documents through leasehold with them now paying for those leases to Government. Over Le4Bn was raised in that venture,” he furthered.
It was further disclosed that before Dr Sandy, the Ministry of Lands used to hear over 25 land cases per month but under his leadership they have dropped to just ten per month.
What was also disclosed is that the Charting Office in the Ministry of Lands has now been converted to electronic charting which makes it easier for Government property to be identified right from the office. Under Dr Sandy the time for processing private land documents has been reduced to just a week instead of the years it used to take before. This is to meet World Bank Standard of Doing Business which recommends for property rights for citizens, this medium learnt.
The Lands Ministry can now boast of drone surveillances to identify Government property and access roads which have been breached.
To stop land owners from disrupting the business of investors like SOCFIN, the Ministry of Lands under the leadership of Dr Sandy has introduced a Country Planning Initiative where Government has been able to acquire large portions of land in the provinces so that investors will no longer have to go through land owners to secure Agriculture areas.
The Integrity Score indeed got it absolutely right to have named Dr Sandy among the top 6 government Ministers in the President Bio Government.
