The fracas over that filthy building at the former Grafton Displaced Persons Camp – my own side of the story (part 2)
The Installation of 98.1 clandestine radio station on Monday 7th July 1997 as a propaganda outlet of the dethroned SLPP didn’t 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)
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’s 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 Democracy (NMRSD). This organization, in other words, was the noncombat wing of the Civil Defense Forces (Kamajors) in the Freetown western area. 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. 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’s call for them to seek refuge at the ECOMONG base in Kosso Town. 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. Some of the main assignments of this organization included collection and transmission of intelligence information about the then ruling AFRC/RUF junta government, to the 98.1 FM station through the ECOMONG’s 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.
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. As the IIRO representative on the ground, I managed on Wednesday 20th 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’s campus in Kosso Town. 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. 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). 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. 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. 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.
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. 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. Mohamed Duwai Samu became Commandant of Brookfields Hotel Base. 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. 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.
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.
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’s Educationalist (FAWE) as a teacher. 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. 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. After he later learnt that Lahai hasn’t 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. He then quickly labeled it as the head office for his portfolio organization, the National Movement for the Restoration and Sustenance of Democracy (NMRSD). He later served his host, Lahai, an urgent expulsion notice to vacate the building immediately. The IIRO signboard which read: Grafton Displaced Persons Camp, Grafton – Sierra Leone, was quickly painted and its inscriptions replaced with “National Movement for the Restoration and Sustenance of Democracy”. During my visit to the area on Saturday 31st last month, Francis Foray told me that he has a lease permit for the entire Grafton camp area including the problematic building. 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. The only new thing done by Mr. Foray’s NMRSD in the entire area is the inscription of his organization’s name and symbol on the words of the building he is occupying illegally and the unlawful painting of the IIRO signboard.
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. Lahai has extended connections to former vice President Solomon Berewa; Foray has similar connection to the late Ret. Captain Sam Hinga Norman. This means that both of them might have acquired official title deeds to this building through the backdoor. Lahai had the opportunity during the SLPP administration to legalize himself in this building using his extended relationship to former Vice President Solomon Berewa. 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’s relatives. It’s 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.
What is glaringly clear however is the fact that the Sierra Leonean leasing law doesn’t permit leasing of any piece of land that has a house or a developed structure on it. Therefore, Foray’s 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.
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. 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. It seemed that Lahai’s connection to Berewa has made him a “green icon” while Forays connection to late Hinga Norman has made him the “red icon” and each of the icons has it own admirers in the Grafton community. The “green icon” commands high support and respect among the local populace while the “red icon” is assured of powerful backing from political quarters in Freetown.
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’m permanently resident here in Germany from where I can hardly monitor the situation at home. The case is currently in the hands of the judiciary in Freetown. If the Minister of Lands Dr. Denis Sandi’s 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.
By Othman Sheriff, Berlin, Germany
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