June 3, 2021
By Mohamed Jalloh
The name Honorable Sheka Sama is a thorn in the flesh of many people that make up the political divide. Be it the opposition All PEOPLE`S CONGRESS (APC) and the ruling Sierra Leone People`s PARTY, (SLPP).
The firm and astute politician has resisted attempts by the political duopoly to sell out his people against western capitalist attempts to recolonize Africa through shady land deals that is trumpeted in the name of foreign direct investment (FDI).
Under the reign of the former president Ernest Bai KOROMA swathes of land was arrogated in a capitalist gangster fashion and sold out to a predatory European company called Socfin that has a blemish track record in African soil dating back to the colonial period.
The quest to controlling the resources of Africa is not done in isolation. It has almost always been characterized by political complicity in distort in the socio-economic wellbeing of locals. Land grabs have always been a predatory trend with neo colonial face.
Former colonial agents only need local proxies who appear in the form of the government in power amplified by local traditional authorities to dispossess the people of their God given land. To an African, the land is not only of an economic value it is also of an ancestral and cultural significance.
In an opaque deal coerced upon the indigenes of Sahn malen chiefdom, Pujehun District Southern Sierra Leone, acreages of land was surrendered to a bio fuel company called Socfin. For millennia, the indigenes of pujehun have regarded palm oil production as dietary worthful and the excess production is sold to generate financial returns. There has been controversy in the mode of SOCFIN land acquisition with the suspicion that local prior consent was not obtained.
The situation could be best equated to giving away ones birth right in a land deal that was signed to give out token gestures to land holding families. This was the beginning of setting into motion the vicious cycle where Honourable Siaka Sama would become victim of grassroot land defense in the face political inclination towards protecting investor’s interest at the expense of local interest.
Capitalist apologist always point out the face value social developments initiated by Socfin as benefits in which locals must show gratitude. These bio fuel advocators are oblivious of the fact that the burden of providing primary social developments rest with the political establishment. Other secondary social patrons could only buttress the efforts of the central government. It should be noted that the insatiable pursuit by European citizens to breathing a carbon free oxygen should not be achieved at the detriment of oppressing the locals of Sahn malen Chiefdom. Local efforts towards resisting the exploitation by Socfin Agricultural company is always accompanied by a combative push from the central government to silence the affected land owners who are bearing the brunt of land deprivation. The people of Sahn malen are frustrated to the point of having nothing left to live for, as their ancestral land bequeathed to them by their forefathers have been stolen away by capitalist gangsters acting in cohorts with national authorities.
Without fear of exaggeration, a parallel can be drawn to the despondent afflicted Palestinians who have suffered over seventy years of Foreign Israeli occupation. Apartheid South Africa was under the same spell until it was politically liberated by Nelson Mandela.
A liberation of contradiction, considering the reality that over 75% of South African Land is owned by the Boer settlers, mainly of Dutch and British descent. That is why Robert Mugabe, the former president of Zimbabwe was not a great fan of the widely idolized African Leader. Until his deposition by the military, he often finds time to jeer “Freedom Mandela”. “I left my people with land but Mandela left his people with beautiful quotes and statutes”. Mugabe boasted.
The Sahn malen affected land owners is not short of their own Robert Mugabe in the context of indigenization and land reclamation, by way restituting the land that has been appropriated by capitalist predators. They have reposed their trust in the hands of Malen affected Land Owners (MALOA,) a local pressure group whose existence was precipitated by the injustice and exploitation meted out by Socfin Agricultural Company.
With the backing of indigenes and the support of MALOA, Honourable Sheka Sama was seen as the freedom fighter who would use his influential position as a member of parliament to champion the cause of MALOA. Ever since he was elected under the ticket of the Peoples Movement for Democratic (PMDC) in2007, he has incurred the wrath of successive governments irrespective of the political party that is in power.
He has been a comrade at the Pademba road maximum prisons under consecutive governments and is regarded as a villain and protagonist that inspire Indigenes of Malen to engaging in strike actions against Socfin Agricultural Company.
Shunning all political party representation, Hon Sheka Sama decided to run under an independent ticket to represent his people in the legislature. In the same position, he has been victimized by the ruling government for instigating strike actions against Socfin, which regrettably led to the gunning down of Two Sahn Malen indigenes. He stripped of his parliamentary immunity and sent to the maximum security detention center. Rather than find fault in the legitimate representative of the people, it is politically naïve on the part of the ruling government to isolating and victimizing the genuine representative of the people in a so called designated SLPP stronghold. Adopting the tactics of the APC regime in antagonizing Hon Sheka Sama in a hung parliament is politically suicidal for the Bio led government.
In what could be described as wisdom driven, Hon Sheka Sama`s recent cooption in a delegation to the ECOWAS parliament is a step in the right direction. In his presentation of human rights situation in Sierra Leone to the August body, Hon Sheka Sama revealed that more than 400 Liberian refugees remain without legal status. According to the Member of Parliament, their refugee status expired in 2017 when they became “residual Case loads” under United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) status. He furthered that the Liberian refugees refused repatriation and integration and demanded resettlement in a third country. He noted that UNHCR denied their resettlement claims citing the former refugees` contradictory statements. According to the Honourable, the group applied for national identification documents but authorities are yet to act on their application. His submission to the ECOWAS parliament regarding the plight of stateless Liberian refugees has positioned the honorable in an elevated duality role play- championing human rights at both local and international level. In that regard it is wise and prudent on the part of the SLPP government, not to marginalize the Member of Parliament but to utilize him in a differentiated national capacity so as not to repeat the political suicide committed by the erstwhile APC regime.