People gathered at the Mortormeh mudslide site yesterday afternoon to hear an announcement from Chief Minister, David Francis, and other high-ranking officials about the status of the area and payments to be dispersed to people living in the area. The Chief Minister said that the government will be handing out food packages and financial compensation to those that were living in danger demarcation zones near the landslide, repeatedly stating that his government was one “with a human face”. Whether he knew it or not, humans are capable of having a poker face.
When the names of nearly a hundred heads of household were called to collect their aid packages— totalling Le7.2 billion, food, and living materials donated from the Sierra Leone Office of National Security—and they went to accept their cheques, they noticed something was wrong. For many of the recipients, they were given cheques that undervalued the land and homes they were occupying. One of the beneficiaries’ disclosed that his property was initially valued at Le165 million, but received a check for only Le35 million.
Many of the heads of household received less than Le30 million, which they felt was a drastic misrepresentation of what they were owed. The “human face” of the government’s endeavour ended up bringing tears to the faces of most beneficiaries.
The Chief Minister faced criticism. The payments seem to be legitimizing illegally occupied lands by offering payments for houses and properties damaged.
“I’m not satisfied; however I accepted the compensation package to reduce the stress,” remarked Juliana Allieu.
“This is totally wrong,” said Mohamed Samura. “You don’t need to be a quantity surveyor to know that our property worth more than Le35 million.” Adding, “this is just a camouflage, a media stunt as if they have paid us well for our property when in actual fact that’s not what has happened. The cheque is not even one tenth of the value of the property,” he said.
“I’m not satisfied with the payment cheque,” said Prince Alieu. “However, what is important is that the government made a proactive decision to evacuate us from this place. It is because we are alive that is why we are able to express our satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the package or not. Life is more important. The compensation is secondary. What they gave us is not even 30% of what I’ve spent on my property but no qualms…”
“After a series of engagements, we are giving financial packages to the 86 houses in the red zone,” the Chief Minister said. “With the houses you see here, we have agreed on the price, and we have the cheque, which they will have to sign. We have the media here to ensure transparency, which is very important.”
The Chief Minister said that the action was prompted by a UN agency report that questioned not if another disaster would happen, but when it would take place. Thus, a deadline of July 13 was set for people living in the area to voluntarily leave, or else they would be… “grabbed by the scruff of their necks” and subjected to “the full force of the law.”
OG/27/6/18
By Ophaniel Gooding &Jack Russillo
Thursday June 28, 2018.
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