The Wise Bird has been getting sleepless nights since the unfortunate incident of the seven-storey building collapsed few days ago in the east end of the capital, Freetown.

Since that incident, the bird had been receiving series of calls from people who believe that, it is only the bird that can tell the story of the collapsed building correctly.

The most respected animal took time to know and understand what actually is responsible for the collapse of houses in the country these days.

The first thing that comes to mind was to think of the Ministry of Lands Housing and Country Planning which is the supervising Ministry for house building in the country.

Make no mistake about the whole thing; the Ministry is largely responsible for all the dangers of our collapsed houses now, because it is only the Ministry that has the authority to give permits to people to build houses in the country.

In the same token, it is only the Ministry that has the map for all government lands in the country, and only them can give out lands to people for the purposes of constructing houses.

The Wise Bird can say categorically clear that, the seven-storey building was not built overnight that could make the authorities at the Ministry not to have seen it at the time of its construction; the building took some time to be completed.

Where were the Inspectors of Lands, surveyors and other relevant authorities in the Ministry?

The fact of the matter was and still is as long as authorities at the Ministry may have received their kick-backs, and so anybody can build at anywhere.

At the moment, the bird cannot give a clear-cut reason for the collapse of the building, the only thing the bird can say is that the Ministry of Lands is largely responsible for the problem coupled with today’s deceptive contractors.

The rescue team did all they could at the site since the incident took place on Monday 16 September, 2024 to save the many lives and by extension the valuable properties of the victims.

The Wise Bird will launch a full-scale inquiry into all disasters that have taken place and will let the public know the outcome pretty soon.

The brave bird did not know it all, so the bird went out to sound the views of people as to what could be the cause of the collapsed building.

All the people the bird had met put the blame squarely on the Ministry of Lands for issuing “building permits” to construct houses and for poor construction of the buildings.

Others say the Ministry can even give out permits to people to build  houses in the sea, as long as they have received their kick-backs (bribes) and they are fine; they will allow anybody to build anywhere.

The Wise Bird can say without hesitation that, the Ministry is in the habit of selling, for example, one piece of Land to two people, creating fracas and intractable squabbles.

The question the Wise Bird wants to ask is, who sold the land where the building was poorly constructed, who was the surveyor of the said land?

If only the Ministry worth its salt, this is an issue for them that is worth investigating to the letter to know who had sold the piece of land, and who was the surveyor that surveyed the land.