{"id":12343,"date":"2010-08-08T20:20:17","date_gmt":"2010-08-09T00:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/?p=12343"},"modified":"2010-08-08T20:20:17","modified_gmt":"2010-08-09T00:20:17","slug":"the-fracas-over-that-filthy-building-at-the-former-grafton-displaced-persons-camp-my-own-side-of-the-story-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/?p=12343","title":{"rendered":"The fracas over that filthy building at the former Grafton Displaced Persons Camp \u2013 my own side of the story (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Installation of 98.1 clandestine radio station on Monday 7th<\/sup> July 1997 as a propaganda outlet of the dethroned SLPP didn\u2019t only boost the morale of the pro-government militias (Kamajors) and the Nigerian pre-dominant ECOMONG troops, it also paved the way of many politically motivated youths and school dropouts to gain political appointments without merit. (Photo: Othman Sheriff)<\/em><\/p>\n

As the 98.1 FM station hit the air wave one early morning, a frustrated youth called Brima Babo Jr. who had been expelled from college for examination malpractices and later materialized under his wife\u2019s name, Theresa Babo, as one of the registered inmates of Grafton camp, started calling underground meetings to galvanize membership for a clandestine pro-SLPP organization called National Movement for the Restoration and Sustenance of\u00a0 Democracy (NMRSD).\u00a0 This organization, in other words, was the noncombat wing of the Civil Defense Forces (Kamajors) in the Freetown western area.\u00a0 Its earlier membership comprised of unemployed youths who hoped to be compensated by the SLPP government with jobs in government quarters after reinstatement, and some government employees who distinguished themselves from their colleagues due to tribal or regional affiliations with the dethroned SLPP in bid to gain automatic elevations in their respective offices.\u00a0 Some of the founding members I could still recall include Brima Babo Jr., Joseph Massaquoi of Moyamba, Mohamed Duwai Samu, Kenneth Swarray, Francis Foray and some diehard SLPP supporters who succumbed to president Kabbah\u2019s call for them to seek refuge at the ECOMONG base in Kosso Town.\u00a0 Among them were also a few traditional authorities like the late chief Taiyo and Pa Squire of Kosso Town whose residence later became the official meeting ground of the organization.\u00a0 Some of the main assignments of this organization included collection and transmission of intelligence information about the then ruling AFRC\/RUF junta government,\u00a0 to the 98.1 FM station through the ECOMONG\u2019s Military Intelligence Branch headed by the Nigerian born Captain Shegu. This group also recommended to the ECOMONG forces the arrest or release of individuals suspected to be collaborators of the AFRC\/RUF junta government.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The entire management team of IIRO including myself were one day intimidated and molested by the ECOMONG forces based on false information relayed to them by the NMRSD informants.\u00a0 As the IIRO representative on the ground, I managed on Wednesday 20th<\/sup> August 1997 to deliver some WFP supplied relief commodities to the poor and famishing beneficiaries of Grafton Camp who had earlier sought refuge at the College of Medicines and Allied Health Science\u2019s campus in Kosso Town.\u00a0 Before delivering those items, I was grossly molested, intimidated and physically manhandled by the AFRC\/RUF forces who were manning various checkpoints at Kalaba Town, Allen Town, Orugu Bridge and Jui Junction.\u00a0 It must be noted that all WFP stores were vandalized and looted in wake of the AFRC\/RUF military takeover and the only relief items remained therein were some quantities of vegetable oil and yellow peas (beans).\u00a0 It was our normal practice to receive the monthly rations from WFP into our temporal warehouses at least one day ahead of distribution. After I successfully delivered the food items at our temporal warehouse in Kosso Town, my colleagues arrived at Kosso Town on the following day with the hope of commencing our usual distribution exercise.\u00a0 This was the time the NMRSD deliberately misinformed the ECOMONG troops that we at IIRO were pro AFRC\/RUF and that we were engaged in delivering relief commodities to the junta. This message instigated the ECOMONG troops to arrest and detain us for more than eight hours full of intimidation, molestation and hunger.\u00a0 We were later released without any apology. Similar thing happened to many other peaceful citizens who visited the ECOMONG base during the AFRC\/RUF military interregnum.<\/p>\n

After the Nigerian led military intervention in Freetown which reinstated president Kabbah and his SLPP administration, the NMRSD moved to the Brookfields Hotels in Freetown where they merged with the real Kamajor fighters. Consequently, the few smart ones among them were able to achieve their goals in attaining political appointments.\u00a0 For example, the Secretary General, Brima Babo Jr., was quickly styled by the late CDF leader, Chief Sam Hinga Norman, as CDF Regional Administrator for Freetown Western Area.\u00a0 Mohamed Duwai Samu became Commandant of Brookfields Hotel Base.\u00a0 Many others were styled with diverse positions in the SLPP administration particularly under the purview of the Defense Ministry. All of them were placed on monthly payrolls.\u00a0 The less smart ones including Kenneth Swarray and Francis Foray remained tenaciously stuck to the NMRSD with the hope of using it as a get-rich-quick scheme of breath-taking simplicity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After the completion of the nationwide disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of all combatants who participated in the decade long military theatre, the incarceration and demise of the former CDF leader Ret. Captain Sam Hinga Norman, and the subsequent ejection of the CDF ex-combatants from their Brookfield Hotel Base where they had hoped to remain forever as a political compensation from the SLPP administration, Francis Foray and Kenneth Swarray who had become addicted to dwelling and dinning in some of the Brookfields Hotel rooms without any utility charge, went back to the old Grafton camp in search of similar opportunity.<\/p>\n

Joseph Sundima Lahai had earlier gone back to the Grafton Camp and illegally occupied the former IIRO office after he had been employed by the Forum for African Women\u2019s Educationalist (FAWE) as a teacher.\u00a0 At that time FAWE was headed by the current Electoral Commissioner Christiana Thorpe, and the School in which Lahai was employed is located half a kilometer from the former IIRO office – now the problematic building.\u00a0 Francis Foray who arrived at Grafton after he had been ejected from the Brookfields Hotel, begged Lahai to allow him access into the building thinking that he (Lahai) was occupying it legally.\u00a0 After he later learnt that Lahai hasn\u2019t got any authority over the building, Foray surreptitiously went to the Ministry of Lands where he acquired a lease permit for some part of the former Grafton camp including the area where this building is situated.\u00a0 He then quickly labeled it as the head office for his portfolio organization, the National Movement for the Restoration and Sustenance of Democracy (NMRSD).\u00a0 He later served his host, Lahai, an urgent expulsion notice to vacate the building immediately.\u00a0 The IIRO signboard which read: Grafton Displaced Persons Camp, Grafton – Sierra Leone, was quickly painted and its inscriptions replaced with \u201cNational Movement for the Restoration and Sustenance of Democracy\u201d.\u00a0 During my visit to the area on Saturday 31st<\/sup> last month, Francis Foray told me that he has a lease permit for the entire Grafton camp area including the problematic building.\u00a0 According to him, his intension was to construct some low-cost houses on this land, for whose purpose he never disclosed. But contrarily to his claim, I saw a great development on the land including dozens of dwelling houses and a Technical Vocational Centre constructed by the Rotary Club UK in collaboration with the Cotton Tree Foundation, and a large compound constructed by the Islamic Dawat Committee.\u00a0 The only new thing done by Mr. Foray\u2019s NMRSD in the entire area is the inscription of his organization\u2019s name and symbol on the words of the building he is occupying illegally and the unlawful painting of the IIRO signboard.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It is note worthy that, both Lahai and Foray share few things in common: they are Mende by tribe, hailed from the Southern region and are vociferous SLPP supporters.\u00a0 Lahai has extended connections to former vice President Solomon Berewa; Foray has similar connection to the late Ret. Captain Sam Hinga Norman.\u00a0 This means that both of them might have acquired official title deeds to this building through the backdoor.\u00a0 Lahai had the opportunity during the SLPP administration to legalize himself in this building using his extended relationship to former Vice President Solomon Berewa.\u00a0 As for Francis Foray, he could have done the same during SLPP regime using his NMRSPD. Or if SLPP had refused to grant him the opportunity, now is the right time for him since the current APC administration is demonstrating perpetual sympathy for former CDF members, particularly Sam Hinga Norman\u2019s relatives.\u00a0 It\u2019s being rumored that Foray has already introduced himself to some quarters in Freetown as one of the bereaved relatives of Late Sam Hinga Norman purposefully to claim this building.<\/p>\n

What is glaringly clear however is the fact that the Sierra Leonean leasing law doesn\u2019t permit leasing of any piece of land that has a house or a developed structure on it. Therefore, Foray\u2019s leasing claim on this land can only hold water if there is a deliberate shift of policy in the Land Ministry. The use of some professional surveyors in the Ministry who might have surveyed the area without mentioning the existence of the problematic building might not be overemphasized.<\/p>\n

According to some former beneficiaries of the former Grafton camp who preferred to remain anonymous, the entire Grafton settlement is now divided into pro-Lahai and pro-Foray groups.\u00a0 The pro-Lahai group even decided one night to forcefully remove the NMRSD symbols and inscriptions on the problematic building which brought about a great tension in the camp as the pro-Foray group vowed to resist.\u00a0 It seemed that Lahai\u2019s connection to Berewa has made him a \u201cgreen icon\u201d while Forays connection to late Hinga Norman has made him the \u201cred icon\u201d and each of the icons has it own admirers in the Grafton community.\u00a0 The \u201cgreen icon\u201d commands high support and respect among the local populace while the \u201cred icon\u201d is assured of powerful backing from political quarters in Freetown.<\/p>\n

In view of the above, I urge through this medium, all fellow patriotic writers who are resident in the Freetown western area to please open their eyes on Francis Foray, Joseph Sundima Lahai and the Land Ministry since I\u2019m permanently resident here in Germany from where I can hardly monitor the situation at home.\u00a0 The case is currently in the hands of the judiciary in Freetown.\u00a0 If the Minister of Lands Dr. Denis Sandi\u2019s promise to recover state lands and properties illegally claimed over the years by some corrupt citizens is not an ordinary farrago, this should be one of the cases he should use as a showcase of his competence and commitment. Our curious eyes must remain open till we see who is going to inherit that building and under what condition. Gone are the days when few politically motivated individuals were awarded with community lands and properties as compensations for being affiliated to specific political groupings.<\/p>\n

By Othman Sheriff, Berlin, Germany<\/p>\n

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Installation of 98.1 clandestine radio station on Monday 7th July 1997 as a propaganda outlet of the dethroned SLPP didn\u2019t only boost the morale […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":75801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[671,1],"tags":[4552,4562,4563,4554],"class_list":["post-12343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized","tag-francis-foray","tag-grafton-camp","tag-grafton-displacement-camo","tag-joseph-sundima-lahai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}