Sierra Leone Telegraph: 30 November 2020:
Following a barrage of damning stories and social media lampooning of Sierra Leone’s minister of lands – Dr Dennis Sandy, for what many regard as his thuggery and bully-boy tactics in managing the affairs of his ministry, questions are now being asked within the ruling SLPP party by party grandees, about Sandy’s continuing presence in, and political laibility to the SLPP government of President Bio. (Photo above: Dennis Sandy).
Some political analysts believe that minister Sandy’s behaviour has the full backing of President Bio and others within the leadership of the ruling SLPP party. But this may not be true.
Writing in a controversial article published last week, the editor of the ruling SLPP party’s news organ (the Global Times) – Mr Sorie Fofana, who himself is believed to be a grand chief patron of the SLPP, is under no illusion about the damage Dr. Dennis Sandy is causing the ruling party and the government’s credibility.
“Dr. Dennis Sandy (Photo: Minister Sandy posing with his foot rested on the land documents of those whom he has dispossessed)) has become the most hated Minister in the SLPP government. He has been busy dispossessing people of their rightfully acquired lands in the Western Area, using a band of thugs to intimidate them,” Sorie Fofana wrote.
Sorie Fofana’s story, with the front-page headline – “How Dr. Dennis Sandy Is Destroying The SLPP,” is not only a damning indictment of President Bio’s minister of lands, but the entire leadership of the government and party that continue to allow dangerous behaviour by out of control ministers and senior officials.
So, what does Sorie Fofana believe is the solution to the Sandy menace?
“It is time for Dr. Dennis Sandy to be booted out of this government. Let him return to his PMDC Party. That is where he rightfully belongs. The SLPP has no place for hooliganism and/or gangsterism. This is a government of law and order. Period!” That’s the message Sorie Fofana has for President Bio and the SLPP leadership. And there is more.
This is what Sorie Fofana said:
“In 2007, the SLPP lost both the Parliamentary and Presidential elections to the APC (All Peoples Congress) Party. In fact, in the whole of the Western Area (Rural and Urban), the SLPP did not win a single Parliamentary seat in 2007. The APC won all twenty-one Parliamentary seats in the Western Area that year.
“The devastating defeat of the SLPP in the Western Area, in both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections in 2007 was due partly to Dr. Alfred Bobson Sesay (the SLPP Lands Minister’s) decision to demolish people’s private property and the forceful seizure of private lands in the Western Area.
“Dr. Bobson Sesay became notorious for destroying people’s private property thought to be built on State land. Voters in the Western Area decided to severely punish the SLPP in the ballot box for the sins of Dr. Bobson Sesay, voting the party out of office in 2007.
“Dr. Dennis Sandy
“Since his appointment as Minister of Lands in 2018, Dr. Dennis Sandy (Photo) has become the most hated Minister in the SLPP government. He has been busy dispossessing people of their rightfully acquired lands in the Western Area using a band of thugs to intimidate them.
“Some of the people whose properties Dr. Dennis Sandy is illegally taking away from them are even fit to be his parents. Some of these people acquired some of these properties even before Dr. Dennis Sandy was born.
“We call on His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio to put the interest of the SLPP Party above the interest of Dr. Dennis Sandy by removing him from that office. Dr. Dennis Sandy is destroying the SLPP in the Western Area. He has given the Party a bad name in the Western Area.
“There is a pending re-run election in Constituency 110 in the Western Area Rural on 12th December, 2020. The SLPP Parliamentary candidate, Madam Josephine Jackson is finding it very difficult to convince people in her Constituency to vote for her, simply because, Dr. Dennis Sandy has given the SLPP a bad name in the Western Area.
“By the way, why is Dr. Dennis Sandy using armed security personnel to intimidate peaceful citizens in this country?
“We insist that, Dr. Dennis Sandy is destroying the good image of this government by the way he is going about intimidating and dispossessing people of their rightfully acquired properties.
“A stitch in time saves nine! It is time for Dr. Dennis Sandy to be booted out of this government. Let him return to his PMDC Party. That is where he rightfully belongs. The SLPP has no place for hooliganism and/or gangsterism. This is a government of law and order. Period!”
Reactions to Global Times – Sorie Fofana’s prophetic warning to President Bio to put the interest of the ruling party above that of Dr Dennis Sandy have been encouraging and supportive of Sorie Fofana, with many congratulating Sorie Fofana for speaking out where most within the SLPP party and government have kept their mouths shut, for fear of losing their jobs.
Thanks to everyone who took his/her time to make us understand about the reckless doing of the ruling government (SLPP). Den guys ya den wicked ooo.
The reality is, come 2023 Mr. Dennis Sandy will not be a candidate in the presidential election, so speculation that President Bio is losing the next election because of Mr. Sandy makes no sense. The only people that hate Mr. Sandy are the land grabbers in the peninsula of Freetown because he has reclaimed most of the crown lands. Most voters in the south-eastern and even in the northern part of our country don’t even know and care less about Mr. Sandy. But unfortunately the media continues to throw the spotlight on him.
I personally believe that he is a honest man who is trying to do the right thing, but unfortunately he is the male form of Sylvia Blyden who is constantly seeking attention and the media is directly playing in his hands. He seems to be enjoying the attention based on the fact that the president trusts him and no amount of propaganda will waiver that trust. I hope and pray that he will continue to prevent land grabbers from building in those disaster areas because the people of Sierra Leone don’t want another mudslide disaster.
“It is time for Dr Sandy to be booted out of this government. Let him return to his PMDC party. That is where he rightfully belongs. The SLPP has no place for hooliganism and/or gangsterism. This is a government of law and order. Period!” Hmmm … very interesting outburst from the editor of the ‘Global Times’ – the mouthpiece of the ruling SLPP party. Many would say the editor, Sorie Fofana, is on the right path, but he has missed the highway. Yes, Dr Dennis Sandy has become a menace to the residents of the Western Area, through his thuggery and bullying tactics in dispossessing people of their rightfully acquired lands and premises. But wait a minute! Ever since the paopa SLPP came to power in 2018, through the back door, there has been constant chaos and anarchy in the country.
From the forceful imposition of the Speaker of the House of Parliament, to the series of massacres of people in the strongholds of the Opposition APC party, to the arbitrary arrests, detentions and beatings of people advocating for their civil liberties and human rights, or simply people who do not understand the language of the ‘new direction’. Prior to the Makeni massacre, the resident Minister North, Abu Abu Koroma, openly threatened to kill or disable the youths of this once peaceful city; for which he was suspended, but only to be reinstated within a matter of weeks. And, for the first time in the electoral history of Sierra Leone, people witnessesed the bombardment of polling stations and the wilful destruction of ballot boxes by SLPP ministers and thugs in broad daylight.
With all these atrocities and blatant thuggery the President, Maada Bio, was in silent mode. It would be one of the greatest hypocrisy to attempt to say that the President is not behind the recurrent barbarity and unconstitutional activities. Even the word ‘PAOPA’ is a declaration of hooliganism and gangsterism. One thing that is certain is that the current batch of SLPP criminals have destroyed the party; and with other things equal, the APC are on a cruise on the road to win the 2023 parliamentary and presidential elections. What is wavering in people’s minds is the probability of rigging the next elections.
Thanks my brother for penetrating light into darkness.
Talking about the SLPP party these days? Tu parles. There is nothing like the SLPP party anymore. The SLPP party has been hijacked by the Bio SLPP kakistocracy since late 2018 and left to fade into the political history of Sierra Leone. It is good news that some SLPP party supporters have started voicing their frustrations and bitter disgust with the Bio SLPP kakistocracy. Good luck and I hope the SLPP organise themselves and come back in form after their defeat in 2023.
God help the SLPP party champions who are now silent because of fear for their jobs. Thank God, that SLPP champions like Hon Hindolo Gevao, Hon Tawa, Dr Francis Kai Kai to name a few are watching and taking note. God bless the the SLPP party champions and strengthen their position to be a responsible opposition party after the 2023 General elections. That at least will make them happy and feel good. Yeah!
Thanks a lot my Sierra brother. Hope others will get your message.
A picture is worth a thousand words. There is no need to explain what this alter ego Hon. Minister Dr. Denise Sandy’s picture is telling the Sierra Leonean public, the diaspora, and indeed foreign investors that want to come and do business in our country. Even a 4year old child will not display such contempt of the law in the light of what we are dealing with here. A state sanction land grab that would not look out of place in Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. At least Mugabe was trying to correct historical wrongs where four thousand white farmers owned 85% of Arable land.
Hon. Minister, if this is the way you are advertising Sierra leone Plc, you are in the wrong job. For no one with the right frame of mind will see your foot resting on those documents that authenticate your thuggery, and lack of respect for the rule of law, and most importantly the right to own your property, without the fear of one of the highest holders of office in the land coming after you by deploying hired thugs ” RARAY BOYS” to do your bidding. This naked abuse of power is not good for our country, and certainly not good for president Bio who has staked his pride in fighting corruption and nepotism in Sierra Leone. This minister must have something on Bio for him to allow him to stay in his post.
I agree with you Mr Jalloh – this minister must have something over president Bio. God knows whether the minister is protecting president Bio’s crooked and corrupt land deals in Freetown. After all minister Sandy has been in that ministry since the previous government, and therefore has all the sordid information about corrupt public land grab by this president and his ministers as well as those in the previous government.
But time will tell. Bio is not going to be in office forever. The truth will be out.
After reading this truly informative article about Dr Sandy I am beginning to like the guy.(lol) Who would have thought or even guessed that he could be the essential catalyst that speeds up the whole process of obliterating the Criminal SLPP Cabal?(lol)You keep on doing your thing Mr Sandy and remember by steering the ramshackle SLPP ship over a cliff, you will be highlrevered and considered by many of us as a great and unique patriot forever. Bravo!(lol)
Thanks my brother for your comments. God bless.