"About 1 million hectares of lands in Sierra Leone are presently in the hands of multinational companies," says Green Scenery Chief Executive Officer, Joseph Rahall.
One million hectares of our land in foreign hands-Green Scenery CEO
By Jenkins Bawoh
About 1 million hectares of lands in Sierra Leone are presently in the hands of multi-lateral companies,’ Green Scenery Chief Executive Officer, Joseph Rahall made this known to journalists at a one day training for journalists at the Hill Valley Hotel in Freetown.
The training was for journalists to get au fait with the “Voluntary
Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests” in the context of National Food Security.
He explained that most times the lands are bought at a minimal 15 United States Dollar per hectare. This, he declared, “is a mockery from both the government and investors and to the land owners” too. The companies, he opined, have “sexy names but most of them are not doing well.” The country lands, he said, should be given to companies for a maximum of 25 years and not more than that. The largest amount of land to be given out to companies, he stressed, should be around 1000 to 2000 hectares. Land, he assured, “is a human right to every people and land is a human security too.”
The training, he confirmed, is “for journalists to know how to report on land issues.” He said the Guidelines are there to encourage transparency and participatory application of the VGGT.
The Lead facilitator, Sonkita Conteh started by breaking down the key words in the concept. The concept, he said, was important talking about it as “through the activities of human beings we have mismanaged the lands.” He went on “And if you take away the land you take away the forest, water and mankind will automatically expire.”
Governments, he explicated, are not coerced to enforce the laws but that “its voluntary implementation is good for everybody.” He recalled how the activities of man have led to the extinction of the world five times. “And if we don’t be careful, we would be moving towards the 6th extinction.”
The VGGT, he said, is “reference tool for advocacy, benchmark and a tool for advocacy” for the poor and marginalized land owners. If Sierra Leone continues to go like this, he warned, “We are losing our natural resources.”
The one-day training looked at “Overview of the VGGT; the VGGT and cross-cutting issues; Using the VGGT in the media” with a group work at the end of the entire session.
