By Danesius Marteh,
The government says it will reclaim public land owned by Monrovia Club Breweries general manager Dr. C. Nelson Oniyama in the Hotel Africa community.
Public Works Minister Roland Lafayette Giddings says Dr. Oniyama neither owned nor bought any property in the community.
Dr. Oniyama owns and operates the Sea View Golf Club, Liberia’s only 18-hole golf course, opposite the Unity Conference Center and situated on 100 acres of landscape where the St. Paul River empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia, Montserrado County.
It is about 10 kilometers northwest of Monrovia and next to the Hotel Africa.
Sea View was formally established in June 2004 by Dr. Oniyama, who is also president of the Liberia Golf Association.
There is another golf course on the Firestone plantation in Harbel, Margibi County.
Giddings was speaking on the Prime Morning Drive on Prime FM on 21 July on a wide range of issues.
“Nelson Oniyama’s property will not stay. It will be taken [away] from him. He doesn’t own it! He didn’t buy it!
“Of course, he ran to the court and said he had some deed. Nobody conveys public land besides the president.
“That deed wasn’t sign by President [George] Weah. So it is not for him. And he is not going to own it.
“If we are going to break ordinary people’s property down, there is no exception. He is not an exception.
“So whether he goes to court or not, the government will repossess the land. It is not his. The golf course is not his,” said Giddings.
He explained that the government will provide a compensation for movement allowance for the remaining illegal occupants to transport their belongings.
According to Giddings, all demolition exercises in and around
Monrovia have been moved to the dry season.
He disclosed that the Hotel Africa demolition has been delayed following an intervention by the legislature.
Residents have been claiming compensation for the stay and property, which was valued at between US$10 to US$11 million.
“There is a compensation just for movement allowance for those who built on those places.
“It [Hotel Africa] isn’t alley but it is government property. Government is looking for land for investors to come [and invest].
“People just went and took the Hotel Africa property and built everywhere. There were people selling the land [but] they weren’t there.
“People started to sell land but their houses were built in other places but then they were selling land, deeding land to people and acting like they were owners. People [are] just brave in this country.
“But maybe because they felt like nothing happens and we allowed that to happen,” he explained.
Expressing his frustration, Giddings said Hotel Africa and other public infrastructures were demolished after the war.
“Even some of our infrastructure that got damaged and that’s why it really gets to me to be frank.
“Hotel Africa never got damaged during the war. I went to Bacardis [Disco in Hotel Africa] in August 2002.
“Right after the war, people scrapped Hotel Africa to the point that you see it today you think it was because of the war.
“Ducor [Hotel] in the city center. Ducor was just here. You know even [Charles] Taylor’s time, Ducor was still intact.
“Go there and see! People just scrapped [everything from there].
“Even the Executive Mansion, 2006, when the fire gutted the Executive Mansion and Madam [Ellen Johnson] Sirleaf left and went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We never protected our installations. People scrapped the Executive Mansion.
“Today we are trying to renovate it [and] every day there is some renovation of the Executive Mansion that can’t get completed and nothing went wrong with it.
“But we sat down and allowed it to be scrapped by even some of our partners. It is just so wrong!
“Mount Coffee Hydro was intact up to 2007. It got scrapped while we were here. So we have to be able to protect our national installations,” Giddings emphasized.
