FREETOWN, Aug 16 (SALONE TIMES) – Over the past weeks, newspapers and social media have been inundated with articles about Solar Hotel with little or no fact about the whole transaction of the said hotel.
This flurry of articles was prompted by a letter from the Ministry of Lands claiming that the hotel in question is own by the Ministry of Lands and that anyone who is claiming ownership of the land must ensure that they bring their documents to the Ministry for confirmation.
A spokesman for the Solar Hotel Management Limited have explained to this Medium that Solar Hotel Management Ltd was formed in 1979 with the Drapper Family as the majority Shareholders, FM Minah and Dalton Fredrick Sheers as the other shareholders but the Drapper Family sold their shares to SMRT in 2011 which makes the later the largest shareholder
That in 1983, Solar Hotel Management Ltd wrote to government for a piece of Land to develop Hotel and the Government of Sierra Leone granted a piece of Land for about 12 hectares to the company for a lease of 21yrs.
The spokesman explained that in 1991, the company asked for 99yrs Lease extension because of the development that had been done on the land and the Government granted them that plus another 99yrs option.
That in 2013 Lawyers of Solar Hotel Management Limited wrote to the Ministry of Lands, asking for a freehold which was actually due them because of the huge development they have made in the land and the freehold was legally granted them.
“The freehold to Solar Hotel was done at the time when government was struggling with resources and Solar Hotel Management Ltd paid all revenues due Government at the time.”
Meanwhile, documents from the Ministry of Lands revealed that when the Government of President Bio came to power in 2018, an investigation was launched in September 2019 by the then Minister of Lands, Dr Dennis Sandy into the Solar Hotel Land, but it all came down to nothing because they saw that the Land in question went through the proper process before a freehold was granted to the Lessor (Solar Hotel Management Ltd).
A letter From the Ministry dated April 28, 2020 and signed by the Permanent Secretary states, “at a senior management meeting of the Ministry of Lands, chaired by the Minister, I am directed to inform you that subsequent to a just concluded investigation into matters touching and concerning the transfer and sale of solar of the erstwhile solar land to Solar Hotel Ltd, it has been unequivocally established that the said property was duly conveyed by the Government of Sierra Leone to Solar Hotel Ltd free of all encumbrances”
The letter added “in the circumstances, it follows therefore that the shareholders of the said company are free to deal with the land as they see fit which includes selling, leasing or any way they so desire.”
It is believed that the huge investment that is going on in the hotel so that it will become operative and employ Sierra Leoneans in the tourism and hospitality industry have been stalled because of the action of the current Minister of Lands, Dr Turad Senesie.
While the President is going about looking for credible investors, it may be construed that some people in his government are bent on discouraging the few ones that are in the country particularly when the country like the rest of the world is battling a terrible pandemic.
It is true that the former government gave a freehold to the erstwhile Solar Hotel Management Ltd but that was after they fulfilled the requirements and now that they want to develop it, they have problems here and there just because it is something that was done by the former government.
What will this government say, if all the deals and private sector investments they have made are shutdown when they would have gotten out of power?
At least they should learn from the recent SL Mining and Government of Sierra Leone stalemate for which the government and the people suffered a lot.
