Over a year ago (11th June, 2024), the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone who triples as the Leader of the governing Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), and Chairman Authority of ECOWAS Heads of Stat Julius Maada Bio summoned key government officials to a meeting at
State House to address a land dispute at Bathurst Village, Western Rural Area, Freetown involving a Non-governmental organization , Development Initiative Program (DIP) and Politically Exposed Persons – Napoleon Koroma Deputy Minister of Marine Resources, RPG Robert, Director of Crimes, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in alleged connivance with officials at the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning grabbed and converted a private property into state property.
President Bio’s instruction to his Chief Minister, Dr. David Monina Sengeh was: “Go and thoroughly investigate who owns the thirty-nine (39) acres of land in question at Bathurst-Gloucester Road, Gloucester/Bathurst Community, Western Rural Area, Freetown and come back with a report to me.”
Bio’s instruction came on the backdrop of a complaint by DIP Founder, Human Rights Advocate, Philanthropist, and sitting Member of Parliament (MP) representing Constituency 005 Kailahun District, Eastern Sierra Leone, Hon. Roseline Hawa Siaffa that DIP’s
activities in caring for orphans, widows and the aged is being hindered by efforts to illegally take away portions of the NGO’s land.
The land was a designated site for the implementation of a Eight-Hundred Thousand Euros (800.000) donor project for the construction of an orphanage, vocational training center and a school
for the Bathurst Community and the conveyance dated 19th February,
2015 registered in Volume 745 Page 12 with a survey plan dated 20th June, 2012 with LS No. 4510/12 according to public records.
Hon. Siaffa was elected to Parliament with an overwhelming grassroot support following a bye election in the year 2022.
DIP’s complained to Pres. Bio that with the assistance of some unscrupulous officials at the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning (MLHCP), a certain Napoleon Koroma immediate past National Secretary General SLPP, former Deputy Attorney-General, and, the Director of Crimes at the Sierra Leone Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), RPG Robert have illegal laid claims and took over ownership of portions of DIP’s land in contrast to the investigated and recommended report published by the Ministry of Lands officials in 2016 and 2017.
During the State House meeting, Pres. Bio reportedly expressed dismay over the issue particularly when it involved a sitting SLPP MP and Deputy Minister both of whom belong to the same political party and are public figures. Sources say Pres.
Bio cautioned both parties to
exercise restraint and decorum while a fair and impartial investigation was done.
Reported to be in attendance at the meeting were Lands Minister, Dr.
Turad Senessie,former SLPP Chairman, Dr. Prince Alex Harding, SLPP immediate-past National Secretary General who doubles as a Defendant, Napoleon Koroma, Hon. Mathew S. Nyuma SLPP Parliamentary Leader, Hon. Quinton S. Konneh Chairman Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Lands,
Hon. Veronica Kadie Sesay former President Parliamentary Female Caucus
and Head of Delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament and Hon. Alusine Kanneh, former MP and Chief Immigration Officer.
Observers say the composition of the delegation, purpose and timing of the meeting with Pres. Bio underscored the importance that he placed on the DIP complaint and how seriously he wanted an amicable solution but questioned why the situation has gone from bad to worse.
According to DIP, a year after, Pres. Bio’s instructions seem to have fallen on deaf ears. “At the moment, there is an escalation of construction activities at the disputed land by the alleged grabbers
disregarding the President’s instruction and ongoing court action understood to be seriously influenced by Napoleon, who also doubles as a senior lawyer,” the DIP Founder said.
Massive and rapid construction work are on the horizon dislodging DIP’s expectation for justice to be delivered under the delegated stewardship of the Chief Minister.
The Office of the Chief Minister was highly commended and efforts to
investigate the matter were hugely welcomed. However, what is disturbing and disappointing after the fact is that the Chief Minister upon concluding his investigation did not serve on DIP a full copy of his report.
The absence of the full copy of the report was used as an opportunity by the defendants with the support of Lands Ministry officials who pelted a lie that the Chief Minister ordered the conversion of the DIP private land to be turned to state property, a claim that the Chief Minister’s office later denied.
In October 2025, Ministry of Lands officials reconducted what they described as visitation and boundary identification exercise for the same parcel of land which they had ruled to be the bonafide property of DIP since 2016/2017.
DIP says what emanated from the so-called visitation exercise by the Ministry of Lands is a doctored revised report that is diametrically opposed to what was stated in the Ministry’s previous findings in 2016.
The new report now suggests that a portion of the land is state property.
The Lands Ministry report embarrassed itself by admitting “error” close to ten years after its first report.
This ridiculous situation has reignited fear on the side of DIP who asked what kind of error is it that the State cannot tell the
difference between private land ownership and the State? What caused
the error? Who is responsible, and why now? The answers to these questions, DIP believes, is the conspiracy to cloak the real ownership. The Organization argued that the sudden change of
private to state land ownership of the land is in line with an alleged threat made by Napoleon Koroma that if DIP does not gift portion of the land to him , he will use his office, political and legal connections to let the Ministry of Lands designate part of the land a state property. This is now the new twist in the plot.
DIP expressed worries that the illegal acquisition of the land rages on with the deployment of armed security guards to protect a rapidly built massive concrete perimeter fence and structures.
An on-site undercover investigation conducted revealed that the owners
of two different construction projects on the disputed land, according to a Police Officer, are under orders to provide protection for the workers on site and property of Napoleon Koroma.
This comes on the heels of a lopsided meeting held at the site on 30th
September,2025, during which DIP officials were not invited but rather
the vendor of the land Ekudice Thomas.
Mohamed Gbla, Youth Chairman Bathurst Village, said if something is not done speedily, the issue may lead to tension and violence as they are aware that DIP is the true landowner. He recalled that it was the belief of the community people that a demarcation survey by the Ministry of Land was to have put the dispute to rest.
DIP has filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Lands which has so far been fraught with the usual problem of delay in the dispensation of justice. Interestingly, the Ministry of Justice, the Government’s
principal legal adviser, did not file a representation on behalf of the Lands Ministry on the understanding that the Ministry had been cautioned not to contest or challenge DIP’s ownership as it was a dead-on arrival effort.
Amidst the growing community and personal tensions, officials of DIP took upon themselves to rekindle the mind of President Julius Maada Bio that the tasked he delegated to the Chief Minister is yet to be fully delivered and the other party has not only grabbed their property but using intimidation tactics, brutal force in erecting massive concrete walls, while houses sprouts from within its
perimeter walls.
“Mr. President, your intervention was intended to resolve this matter once and for all but sadly, it is the reverse that is happening with a fast deterioration of the situation. Please Mr. President, it is clear that without your decisive intervention, this matter is taking a rapid unjust decline for which DIP would not withhold exploring all lawful options in getting justice and our parcel of grabbed land,”
Hon. Siaffa said.
All eyes are on what would be Pres. Bio’s follow-up action on his good intention to settle a dispute that is putting his leadership and the SLPP party in a bad light.
An Opposition Spokesman mocked the situation as: ” if the SLPP can’t be good among its members, would they be good to members of the opposition? Is it that the SLPP party Leader, Julius Maada Bio has lost control of not just the party but the country even when he promised in a Town Hall meeting that “I will be engaging the local authorities directly. We must work together to protect what belongs to
the people.”
Critics have asked why Pres. Bio not able to act decisively on a matter involving members of his government and political party. They accused him of being too weak or either compromising with his
appointees some of whom he had publicly chastised for shady land deals.
Another question begs, why has the Chief Minister not presented his investigation’s full report to the President? Why did he not furnish the complainant, DIP, with the full version of the report? Has he been
indulged by the land grabbing ring become so powerful that it cannot
be busted? What do these resentments mean for the internal cohesion of the SLPP and its formidability ahead of 2028?
Ordinary citizens are also skeptical, suspecting that the Chief Minister’s incomplete action on Pres. Bio’s instruction places him in a rather guilty by omission or association spotlighting his caving attitude to the vices and people that are believed to be on the wrong side of justice.
President Bio has been urged to act now and save his government the bad name and embarrassment prompting the question if officials in Pres. Bio’s administrations are grabbing each other’s lands with impunity, what about the ordinary citizen without any political or
financial exposure.
Hon. Hawa is a liberal in a traditionally conservative SLPP party. She had spoken out against the government’s action to deprive thousands of kids from taking the 2024 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations due to delay in registration issues. She called on school authorities to be professional and maintain accountability in their job dispensation, adding that, “the pupils should not be punished for what they do not understand.”
Threats and smears campaigns have not only been mounted against Hon. Siaffa, whom they alleged is ” an opposition APC sympathizer and financier,” The situation has spilled over to local journalists and
bloggers who dare to challenge the status quo by giving her their platforms have been ostracized or intimidated with threats of SLAPP actions.
.
A group of SLPP Bloggers terminated the membership of Justice Boima, a Podcaster for speaking up against the injustice against the MP and political embarrassment done the governing SLPP party.
A pro-SLPP publication described the situation as an embarrassment that is making the President, the Government and the Party look bad.
It should be recalled that after the Ebola outbreak, DIP donated start up kits to all Ebola survivors across the country. They opened an Ebola orphanage in Port Loko District targeting orphans of the mudslide and constructed a safe home for suffering women s affected
SGBV. The Organization has made donations to Susan’s Bay, a slum community in the country’s capital. They made donations to Kenema District flood victims and dug ten boreholes in the same District. DIP has also constructed eight school buildings in Kailahun District and also providing startup kits. They have set up a camp at Services Secondary School, Freetown and took care of over 600 pregnant and lactating women for more than a month before the government’s intervention during the mudslide disaster. They have provided startups to women in Bonthe District in the South, Port Loko in the North, Kailahun in the East, and Western Area Rural in the West.
They have been supporting women farmers in Kailahun, Bonthe, Port Loko
and feeding homeless people on the streets of cities across the country. During all the lock downs for the outbreaks, DIP fed more than 1000 homeless, and abused people.
Yet still, it is all of these efforts that are being put to the drain because of the seeming inaction of President Julius Maada Bio, who has been reminded that his authority is being undermined and challenged by the very people he has appointed to serve either in cabinet or the
government.