By Wiseman Dee
The people of Lower Bambara Chiefdom, Kenema District, have accused, complained, and have expressed intention to stage a protest against the operations/activities of the Sierra Diamond Mining Company- a company they said has operated in the chiefdom for over five years.
Poverty is rampant in the chiefdom while the roads are terrible in addition to the lack of basic and other amenities like water and electricity supply.
And what they argued is alarming is the irreversible environmental damage the company’s mining activities has caused in the community especially during blasting rocks which they claimed has resulted in damages of their houses for which they are not compensated.
Furthermore, the frequent underground blasting done by the company is described by locals as an earthquake, and that at the rate at which the underground blasting is conducted, it would destroy the chiefdom within years and as one resident observed, “we will wake up one morning in a sea of river unable to escape to save our lives and properties with unimaginable damage to the environment and the chiefdom.”
The company has engaged in kimberlite mining in the chiefdom for the past five years.
The chiefdom authorities are appealing to the company to establish a Technical Training Center where youths can be trained in various skills that would make them marketable to the company and the country as was the case with the former National Diamond Mining Company (NDMC) that operated in the chiefdom for several years and even established a renowned hospital where not only Sierra Leoneans were treated but citizens from the entire sub-region.
According to the locals of the chiefdom, with the exception of a few of them, most of the youths in the chiefdom are not employed by the company. They said no indigene is holding any senior position in the company. “We therefore think we are not adequately represented in the affairs of the company, that unlike in the past, we are not paid on time except two weeks after the end of each month. There has not been any salary increase for the past years. Even that as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the company has only constructed three primary schools over the past five years. We also think the lease agreement of 25 years is too long and want it reviewed and that the surface rent paid to the chiefdom is a pittance.”
One of the workers informed this medium that the radius where the company operates is 7 miles by 7 miles that requires about two or three companies to mine not one, reiterating that they want competition and not monopoly in the chiefdom.
He alleged that locals are qualified for the jobs but not employed and continued that white staff just supervise while locals do the actual job, revealing that workers who go underground are paid Le900 thousand monthly and that only 50 out of the 1000 staff the company promised to employ are indigenes of Lower Bambara Chiefdom.
He noted that in spite of several complaints made to management and the chiefdom authorities nothing has been done to address their concerns.
He further alleged that white staff are paid between Le50-100 million equivalent in dollars which to them is unacceptable.
“White staff learn the job here while locals are paid between Le2-9 million but are discriminated against.”
The spokesman of the Lower Bambara Indigenes in the Diaspora, Edmond Joe Quee Nyagua called on the chiefdom authorities and indigenes from the chiefdom holding senior positions in government to put premium on the development of the chiefdom for generations yet unborn and appealed, especially to Paramount Chief Alimamy Farma and Dr. Julius Sandy, Secretary to the President, to address the issues raised by the youths to prevent unrest in the chiefdom.
The Youth Chairman, Swarray Balema lamented the deplorable state of the chiefdom in all facets and cataloged some of the high personalities in government who hail from the chiefdom like the Head of the Road Maintenance Fund Administration and former Resident Minister, East, Andrew Fatoma, underscoring that Lower Bambara Chiefdom has produced great sons and daughters who are holding prominent positions in government and even abroad but that they are either not interested in the development of the chiefdom or created any impact in the chiefdom.
Until press time, efforts to get the side of Sierra Diamond Mining proved futile
