By Nelson Manneh
Sangmarie Correa, the Principal of St Francis Senior Secondary School has on Sunday evening informed Foroyaa that their various schools will resume learning today.
St. Francis has three schools covering from Lower Basic School to Senior Secondary School. The closure of the School was as a result of alleged encroachment into the School land by some alleged land grabbers.
St. Francis Senior Secondary School is located in Kunkujang Mariama Village, Kombo South District. The school was established by the Catholic mission and currently has an enrolment of over one thousand and eight students.
“After our meeting with the parents, the following day we formed a delegation and went to meet the Chief of Kombo South District and the Governor of West Coast Region. When we went to the Governor’s Office, we did not meet the Governor there but we were able to meet the Deputy Governor who received us. We then explained everything to him, but he told us that since the matter is still at the high court, he cannot do much but requested for the injunction that was given to us by the court,” he said.
Mr Correa said the Deputy Governor told them that if they give him the injunction, he will use it to engage the police on the issue.
“We promised to meet him today (Monday 13th May 2024) to give him the injunction,” he said.
Mr Correa said if the situation continues, the school authority will come up with another alternative to make sure that the issue is permanently resolved.
“We will resume learning but if the other parties continue to work on the land, we will use other alternatives to make sure that all works on the land are stopped. Enough is enough,” he said.
The reporter engaged two (2) people who claimed that they owned two plots of land in the land area.
“We have bought our plots of land from the Alkalo of Sinchan Village. We are no more interested in the plots instead we want him to return our monies,” the two buyers said.
They said they don’t want their names to be revealed because they are not interested in any conflict, but all they need is their money.
“If we knew that the area was a reserved land we would not have purchased the two plots,” the two said.
St Francis is facing challenges as some people allegedly encroached into the reserved land of the school by building structures there. The school authority took the matter to the court, but they are yet to obtain judgement.
On Monday, 6th May 2024 the school authorities decided to temporally close the school calling on the Government to solve the land issue.
The case regarding the land is before Justice Ebrima Jaiteh, who already passed an injunction on the land. The case will be coming on the 27th May 2022 at 10 am.
