By Samuel Flomo, Jr.
A fast-emerging disturbing national disgrace, has engulfed leprosy patients hosted at the Leper Colony Rehabilitation Community in Suakoko District, Bong County.
The patients are reportedly facing a looming threat of eviction as the land the patients occupy are being claimed allegedly by the “real owner.”
The “land owner” have demanded the relocation of the patients, but the land was lawfully set aside by the government to protect the afflicted individuals from loitering.
The patients raised the alarm at the Gbarnga Magisterial Court.
They accused one Dr. Raymond Sumo, reportedly residing in the United States, of orchestrating an illegal attempt to claim their land through questionable court actions.
The patients insist the land is not private property, but a government-designated settlement meant to permanently house leprosy patients.
According to the Town Chief of the Leper Colony Community, John Yarkpkawolo Nueapai, Dr. Sumo is allegedly operating through James M. Sulonteh, a security officer attached to the Bong County Health Team.
Some of patients claimed Sulonteh is being used as a proxy to legitimize the illegal land grab.
Other community residents described the situation as a “gross abuse of public office and influence.”
On behalf of the residents, the Youth Leader, Tamba T. Shello, recalled that the land was officially allocated during the administration of President William V. S. Tubman, at a time when leprosy posed a serious public health threat nationwide.
Shello said, the land has remained a government-recognized settlement for decades, housing patients, who were rejected elsewhere due to stigma and illnesses.
Residents further revealed that the land was surveyed and documented, with the official deed handed over to the Bong County Health Team in 2014 during the Ebola outbreak, when an Ebola Treatment Center was established on the site.
Shockingly, the community says the documents have never been returned, fueling suspicion, and fear that the papers are now being used to undermine their ownership and security.
For years, the leprosy patients say they have lived under neglect, but the current threat represents a new, and dangerous level of injustice one that could leave sick and elderly residents wandering (homeless).
They argue that any attempt to remove them from the land would amount to a violation of their human rights, and a betrayal of the state’s responsibility to protect the vulnerable.
Residents and patients at the Leper Colony Community, have meanwhile, appealed to the Ministry of Health, the Bong County Health Team, local authorities, and Bong County District #5 Representative, Eugine J. M. Kollie, to intervene immediately, and halt the “unlawful and inhumane process.”
“This is not just about land. It is about our dignity, survival, and whether the government still stands by the people it once committed to protect.”
The community warns that continued government inaction could escalate tension and unrest, as desperate residents struggle to defend their only place of refuge.