The Vice President’s visit to the company is to demonstrate President Bio’s commitment to encouraging genuine foreign investors to make more investments and for the government to attract more potential investors into the country.

However, unsubstantiated reports indicate that quite recently a number of unidentified people raided the Socfin oil palm plantation and harvested palm kernels indiscriminately and without the permission of Socfin management. The Member of Parliament Hon. Sheka Sama reportedly is backing the people who raided Socfin plantation for reasons that are still unclear.

Several efforts to get him to respond to a litany of allegations leveled against him by residents of Sahn Malen where Socfin is located were futile until press time but we shall continue to try and get to the Honorable Member of Parliament Sheka Sama for his own side.

However, the residents say they only hope that President Bio and the Pujehun District would look into this matter with the objective of ensuring that Hon. Sheka Sama seeks the interest of the people he is representing in the House of Parliament.

In the meantime, the residents say they will welcome investigations into what they describe as wanton damage to the Socfin oil palm plantation by unidentified persons while they also accused Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and their international partners like FIAN of paying lip service to supporting human rights while some lawlessness people are going around wreaking havoc on the agricultural company in Sahn Malen Chiefdom.

As we went to press, it was reported that at least two suspects (one of them identified as Gbessay) were in police custody but somehow managed to escape. Investigations continue.