Notice to vacate due to disappointment, ungratefulness, failure to pay rent, insurance, etc was served by the landlord of the office occupied by the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) at Hanga Road in Kenema. The letter dated 10th October 2021 and titled “NOTICE TO VACATE PREMISES AT 18 HANGA ROAD KENEMA” came at a time when the SLPP Leader, President Julius Maada Bio is in Dubai attending the 2020 Expo.

Whether he has received the letter or not, his party’s regional office in its backyard is neglected to rot just as his government seems to have neglected the welfare of Sierra Leoneans. This failure by the ruling party to pay its rent and maintain its own offices speak volumes for the political negligence the Bio-led administration seems to have been practicing in the country.

The public has been stunned by a particularly embarrassing quit notice issued against the SLPP regional headquarters in Kenema. The notice was issued Wednesday, 13th October by a very angry landlord called Musa Gbao.

Part of the notice to vacate reads: “…due to disappointment, ungratefulness, failure to pay rent, insurance … The SLPP Regional Office is also a dumping ground for PARTY THUGS & CRIMINALS who threaten the landlords, other tenants, and party members.

The deadline to vacate is 31st December 2021.

The embarrassing notice is coming at a time when the party is investing lots of money in a new office in Kailahun District.

An SLPP member who spoke on the condition of anonymity stated that “All of what’s expressed here may be true especially when I personally know that area very well. But if I find it hard to believe that the owners of that house do not have an attorney to write a proper ejectment notice to a whole national institution like SLPP and instead would choose to put out this garbage hoping that it would pass as quit notice. This could be something concocted with the sole aim of creating embarrassment for the embattled SLPP party.”

The quit notice produced verbatim stated thus:

“I wish to write and express my disappointment in SLPP Kenema District in particular and SLPP in general for their ungrateful attitude toward the Gbao Family in Kenema. The party requested the Gbao family to rent their family house at 18 Hagan Road Kenema to be used as SLPP Regional Party office in 1996 through Mr. Joseph Samba Keifala.

“Since that time, nothing good has come from the party to Gbao family. Even in term of payment, the party has never paid out rightly let alone to talk of repairing their own regional office structure. They have also failed to insure the office structure even though a lot request has been made by the family to the party to do so.

“Also, the SLPP Regional Party office in Kenema is now a dumping ground for Party Thugs and Criminals who always almost threaten the family members to enter their house let alone other party members. I want you to know that the presence of those thugs and criminals has threatened the right of other tenants who have shops downstairs. It has now therefore become a concern of those tenants and their shops are no longer secure.”

Finally, the last attack on one of our family members (former councillor Sally Vandy Gbao) by one of the SLPP Party thugs of the District Chairman Mr. Moriba Koroma, which went viral, has become a concern to us and the family has condemned that particular unruly and inhuman act by your party members. Because of the above reasons, I therefore request the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) to handover our family house which they are currently using as Regional Party Office to me after the end of their tenure on December 31st 2021. Thank you very much for your cooperation.