HABITAT-SIERRA LEONE: Moving From Bad To Worse

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, Jun 23 1998 (IPS) - Thousands of squatters in the Sierra Leonean capital have been moved to a former camp for the displaced under what the squatters describe as the government’s “wicked” resettlement programme.

Up to 4000 homeless people had their slum houses bulldozed earlier this month in east Freetown, as the government attempts to clean up the city.

The people were moved to Jui, 20 kilometres east of the capital, a former camp for some 10,000 internally displaced civilians during the civil war, which began in 1991 and ended in 1996.

Many of those resettled say they have gone from bad to worse, because the former camp has no running water, no electricty and the mud houses are without sanitary facilities. Some of the squatters have decided to abandon the camp, preferring the open area at a children’s hospital less than five kilometres from Moa Wharf.

The squatters, who mainly make their living from fishing, have tended to set up their homes near the Wharf. “We are traditionally a fishing community,” says Mohamed Kamara, who lives at the new settlement with his two wives and seven children.

“By settling us here, the government has naturally cut us off from our regular source of income as the Wharf is several kilometres away,” Kamara adds.

Mariama Conteh, who has been a fish monger at Moa Wharf for over two decades, says she cannot cope in the new environment which has no viable commercial fishing outlets. “I don’t see how I can start off in this place, when there is no resettlement package given out as yet,” Conteh says.

Those squatters who have not yet moved to Jui have threatened not to go if they are not provided with fishing nets and a modest form of transportation to shuttle to and from the Wharf.

According to Wusha Conteh, public relations officer in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning, the squatter settlement near Moa Wharf is not the only one that will be demolished.

“Dozens more of these unauthorised and landslide-prone settlements will be demolished by the government and Moa Wharf is just the start of the exercise,” Conteh says.

The government says the aim of the exercise is to safeguard the lives of people who live in these areas. Two recent landslides at Moa Wharf left more than a dozen people dead and homes demolished.

Squatter settlements have been built in contravention of the Freetown Area Improvement Act, which gives the government the powers to bulldoze the structures.

According to sources within the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning, the demolition exercise will affect over 500 ‘homes’ and at least 50,000 people.

Although the government has issued announcements on radio and television calling on the squatters to vacate their settlements, it has little to offer as adequate housing since it does not have the funds to embark on a full-scale resettlement programme.

One human rights activist says the government has gone about the removal of the squatters in a manner which will lead to more problems.

“I think the government should first consult the inhabitants of the prohibited areas, know their problems, community engagements and sources of livelihood before relocating them,” says Mohamed Koroma.

“That is why some of the Moa Wharf squatters have resorted to felling firewood in the bush which they sell to the local people for money,” Koroma continues, adding that this leads to environmental problems.

The government however, has vowed that it will continue with the demolition exercise and has warned the squatters to vacate or be forcefully bulldozed from the illegal settlements.