By: Problyn J Alpha
Alleged land-grabbing by the former Anthonery General and minister of Justice in Sierra Leone Anthony Y Brewah Esq. Is reported to have posed serious insecurity in kori chiefdom Moyamba District. This was in a complaint letter written against the senior legal luminary by some people of Kawella village at Forgbo section kori chiefdom in Moyamba District. According to the complaint letter, the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice has allegedly illegally entered and claimed ownership of the Kawella community land and have also destroyed a good number of economic plants.
Talking to A-Z, one of the natives of the Kawella community Emmanuel Pessima Simbo maintained that their community was not peaceful owing to the way and manner the senior legal luminary has grabbed a very large portion of their land which according to him has been inhabited by their great ancestors.
He said the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice has not only Claimed the Kawella community land but he has also surveyed and sold a large portion of the said land, adding they have complained the senior legal luminary severally but nothing seems to be working. Asked how they have been using the said land?
Mr Simbo noted that the land in question has been used to cultivate rice and pineapples which he described as their major occupation for their livelihood. He further pointed out that the history of Kawella community has got nothing to do with the surname Brewah and that Mr Brewah has never paid local tax in the Kawella community. He told our correspondent that at any time the senior legal luminary visits the Kawella community he goes there with the message of president Bio sending him to undertake such work, this he said started when the information to divide Moyamba District was making the rounds and that for any visit, he goes along with some OSD personnel who in one instance have fired live bullets thereby posing insecurity in their community.
Emmanuel Pessima Simbo noted that such ugly developments have been officially reported to their paramount chief and efforts by the paramount chief to have audience with Mr Brewah on the issue have always proved futile because the senior legal luminary has almost always turned down his invitations to address the said impasse. Mr Simbo intimated this medium that the matter has also been reported to the AIG South.
He has therefore on behalf of his colleague natives of Kawella community in kori chiefdom Moyamba District pleaded with the concerned authorities to intervene in the matter because at any time Mr Brewah visits their community he goes there with the message of president Bio sending him to acquire land for developmental purposes.
“We know president Bio is a very peaceful and law abiding leader and we don’t want to take the law in our hands,” Emmanuel Pessima Simbo concluded.
Similar statements were also expressed by a third year student of Njala University also a native of Kawella community Samuel D. Gbinga and an aged woman Elizabeth Bona.
Meanwhile responding to the aforementioned allegations or statements, the former Attorney General and minister of Justice Anthony Y. Brewah foremost noted that the provinces Act doesn’t make any provision for communities, villages and to own lands but rather family members, noting the allegations made against him were baseless and unfounded.
He said the one thousand and five hundred arches of land at the Kawella community are owned by his late father Alfred Brewah but due to his death the town chief was appointed to serve as care taker of said land. He said the land in question is reserved for developmental purposes for the whole Kawella community and not individuals.
“I have given one acre of land to the Ahmadiyya mission for the construction of a school and college, noting plans were underway for the said mission to undertake most of its activities at the Kawella community, the only way forward on the matter is law suit,” the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice explained.