By Ragan M. Conteh

During a Town Hall meeting organized at the Bintumani Conference Centre, President Julius Maada Bio spoke about his stance to protect the green belt areas in Freetown.

“If even my relative is involved in the protected areas. That house will be demolished,” President Julius Maada Bio said.

The country has also been considered as one of the disaster prone countries in the world.

As a way of expressing their frustrations publicly, stakeholders at Charlotte community have called on the government especially the President to put more efforts in protecting the green belt areas, prohibited areas of building.

According to stakeholders, one of the prime perpetrators going about dismantling the protected forest is an All People’s es Congress (APC) key politician, an MP. She is Hon Adama Conteh.

They community people said the MP had almost grabbed all the community lands as she purports to be an indigene of Charlotte Village.

One Magaret Morgan, a resident gave her testimony in an interview with Africa 24.

“We are dumbfounded every day to see Hon Adama Conteh with bulldozers in our plots of land belonging to the community.”

Morgan explained that the green belt area had been tampered by certain officials in the Ministry of Lands who are part of the connivance to exploit the community.

“This was not the case during Ernest Bai Koroma’s era. We were fully protected by the then Koroma’s regime. Almost all our precious land has been sold and the reserve forest is now under threat,” she said. The community is now like a military barracks where certain people could bring soldiers to cause embarrassment to  land owners with no  remorse.

“We have even been considered as strangers in our own property.” “Sierra Leone is becoming a country that have no respect by its citizens, ” one Alusine Kamara said.

“What beat my imagination is that, everyone is now claiming to be a land owner and the threat has increased.” “Hon Adama Conteh is using the porous platform to enter the land and sell.”

“She has successfully piloted land grabbing at Charlotte community and also used some of our brothers including the Chief to achieve her goal,” Mustapha Sesay said.

Meanwhile, one of the indigene of Charlotte, Denis Valcarcel, has complained to this medium that they are now being treated like foreigners in their own lands.

He said he had protested against disadvantages meted on them the community people squarely faced by certain officials in the government circle.

He said he had been locked up in prison for days for property that belongs to them.

He further called on President Julius Maada Bio to do all he could to put a stop to the unprecedented land grabbing occurring at Charlotte community.

Denis Valcarcel also spoke about the invasion of military personnel at Charlotte community which he considered as a ‘clever plot’ by using the military to exploit them as land owners.

“Our God we serve is powerful and we continue urging President Julius Maada Bio to intervene in this matter and as well as calling for the removal of military personnel who supposed to be in the Barracks at Charlotte.”

“It seems as if a whole battalion has been transferred at Charlotte community just to protect land grabbers,” he said.

Many other stakeholders lamented on the deplorable state of Charlotte community.

Moreover, Hon Adama Conteh had earlier denied all allegations.

She told journalists in her residents that, she was only contracted by Ministry of lands to create access roads.

“I am not an indigene of Charlotte. I can’t take a land that does not belong to me. I am just a contractor and am paid by the ministry after doing my work, “she said.