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    Sierra Leone’s first lady defends having council flat in London
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    Sierra Leone’s first lady defends having council flat in London

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    13 Comments

    1. Phoenix_Reforged on

      So, from 2018 I’ll assume she either been Subletting or just have the flat sits empty?

    2. GAdvance on

      Shit politics all round tbh.

      It’s be totally reasonable and normal to give her a small reasonable home firvthe purposes of good diplomacy, noone would know of bat an eyelid if they did.

      But a council flat comes off a million times worse, it’s exactly the sort of thing that comes off terribly that should just be another anonymous pad in London for a currently good to keep looked after person, there’s millions of flats in London

    3. hime-633 on

      Cant read the link because paywall. But read elsewhere. Yeah, I think this is pretty shit. “My kids live there” – on their own, one assumes, so adults.

      Sounds like she had a rough start and that coming to the UK and accessing UK support systems helped her. Now she’s doing great things like campaigning against child marriage in her home country. Amazing and positive story. Now give up the council house so another family can similarly benefit.

      For others similarly without a Telegraph subscription:

      *Something else she gained in the UK was a council flat in Southwark in central London, a home she still keeps today where her children live.*

      *As a form of social housing, council homes are usually cheaper to rent than private accommodation and applicants have to meet certain criteria.*

      *The fact that a sitting first lady, who lives in a presidential mansion in the capital, Freetown, retains a tenancy has drawn criticism in both the British and Sierra Leonean press.*

      *With more than 18,000 people on the borough’s waiting list for housing, the council’s website says that “even people in the greatest need can face several years’ wait”.*

      *But it is a situation she defends. “My children are all British citizens,” she says. “I’m paying for my council house myself. I have not committed any crime.”*

      *In a statement, Southwark council told the BBC that it does not comment on individual tenancies but “if there is doubt that tenants are meeting the obligations in their tenancy agreement, we carry out regular checks and investigations to determine that those obligations are being met” .*

      Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgzpz7zyd4o

    4. Embarrassed_Grass_16 on

      Oh no no no, we can’t touch council tenancies, once someone’s down on their luck once we need to give them subsidised rent for the rest of their lives and if they becomes rich we’ll even give them a discount on buying the house.

    5. Comfortable-Class576 on

      But if she lives no more in the UK, why does she still have the right to keep the council flat? No wonder there are such long queues for one.

    6. FREE_BOBBY-SHMURDA on

      Someone from Sierra Leone was able to come to the UK and get social housing in one of the most expensive cities in the world, great

    7. paraCFC on

      Have many friends at work who came here about 5 years ago I know when as all applying now for citizenship so … They are from Nigeria or Ghana . Bottom line is 80% of them recently like in last two years got a mortgages , but the best part is that they used to have counsill houses , never gave them back to council . Paying mortgage and subletting council homes to friends. They seems to very proud to be smarter than English social system …

    9. NoBrother6430 on

      Need to charge market rent for council housing after people find their feet

    10. DimensionMediocre439 on

      Oh, you mean the mother-in-law of the Netherlands most wanted criminal Bolle Jos? (Round Jos in English)

    11. prongleprongle on

      Don’t worry Reddit assures me this doesn’t happen! Only the deserving downtrodden British citizens get council flats!

    12. SufficientPen1320 on

      Given the vast majority of us have to survive without any access to cheap council housing, it’s hard to care who gets it. I don’t see why anyone should, unless everyone can (and I know that successive governments have made it impossible for everyone to).

      As someone who has been poorer than the people I know who get subsidised rent through council housing, I struggle to empathise with them when they (by god, near constantly) complain. I know, I know, race to the bottom and all that.

    13. MapDiscombobulated1 on

      She’s a rags to riches beneficiary of the social safety net here before she rose. It would be consistent with the “image” she is now cultivating if she used some of the wealth she now has access to (that’s the polite way of putting it) to support her adult kids in a property that didn’t deny it to those that would be on a waitlist and probably more “deserving.” 

      I’m hesitant to fall into the Torygraph trap here though………