Community leaders fight over disputed slum land

By Ben Samuel Turay 

A Freetown church leader is accusing the Kroo Bay community of stealing his land for a Youth Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) community project and training centre now being built in the impoverished slum area.

Pastor Israel Koroma of Christ International Assembly said he will soon go to war with the Kroo Bay Area Development Community (KADC) for selling the land twice, to him and to the YMCA.

On Monday, Koroma showed the Concord Times a document proving he leased the land more than 10 years ago. 

“The land which they want to give Youth Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) is mine,” said Koroma.  “I bought that land from the Kroo Bay Area Development Community in February 1993 for the sum of Le 2.2 million.  The Chairman and Secretary General of the organization signed on the Document,” he said.

The pastor said he plans to build a church and a free primary school on the site and Monday claimed he had recently received money for the project from Christ International Mission Assembly in the United Kingdom. 

“If the community wants to give land to YMCA let them look for another place,” said Koroma.  “But that particular land belongs to me, if the community wants to use force to take it from me, I will not agree.”

However, the YMCA last week launched their development Programme for the area.

Francis Raffell, the Programme Manager said, “We want to build a school and a community center for the youths. Our target is to cater for 1,200 youths.”

 “With this vocational center, I hope it will reduce the number of idlers in the area and also help these people to be able to work for themselves in the future,” he said.

Chairman of the community, Bamba Carru yesterday confirmed he had leased the land to Koroma in 1993 and said: “We did negotiate for Le 2.2million from this Pastor to cut a portion of land at the Kroo Bay community in 1993, but since then the Pastor never put any sign of improvement, so this is the reason why we gave away the land.  Now we have got an NGO that wants to come and develop the area and there is a free space to build, so we, the community, decided to go to the Lands Minister today and explain this matter to him, so that he will come and address it for us, as he is the only person that has the right to do so.”

Carru said if necessary, the community will refund Koroma’s money, but it has no intention of giving back the land. 

Meanwhile, a rift has formed in KADC and some are now defending Koroma’s claim to the land. 

Mohamed Kargbo, KADC Secretary General, has taken Koroma’s side.  “The pastor has the right to do whatever he wants to do with the land,” he said.  “I have all the documents from all the past governments regarding this land.”

Therefore, said Kargbo, it is only fair that Koroma gets the land because documents show it is his.     

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