By Kemo Cham
The imposing view of a mountain at the distant horizon is almost impossible to miss on entering Koidu, the administrative town of Sierra Leone’s Kono District.
This artificial mountain is the result of over a decade of excavation and blasting of kimberlite rocks, and has become the symbol of the dark side of what’s supposed to be a blessing for this mineral resource-endowed land – diamonds.
Prior to Sierra Leone’s civil war (1991-2002), diamonds were the main foreign currency earner for the country. Kono and its eastern neighbor, Kenema, were at the heart of the mining activities. There are also deposits in Bo and Pujehun in the south, and Bombali in the north.
Kono has been the most significant among them, as evidenced by its dominance of the sector over the last eight decades. It has produced the largest share of the precious stones legally exported from Sierra Leone since 1930 (when the first gem was discovered in the Gbogbora Stream in Kono’s Nimikoro Chiefdom), according to the National Minerals Agency (NMA).
It is in this district that three of the world’s 20 largest diamonds were found, starting with the Woyie River Diamond in 1945, which weighed 770 carats and ranks 6th biggest in the world. Then there was the Star of Sierra Leone in 1972, which weighed 968.9 carats and ranks 4th in the world. The Star remains the largest diamond ever discovered in the country, and is one of the largest alluvial diamonds ever found anywhere in the world.
Most recently, in 2017, the 'Peace Diamond' was discovered in another village in Kono, weighing 709 carats and earning the title of being the world’s 14th largest diamond.
Since 2002, Sierra Leone has largely shifted its attention to Iron Ore, with mining activities concentrated in the north. But diamonds still remain very relevant to the economy.
In 2007, the overall mining sector accounted for 4.5% of the country’s GDP and minerals made up 79% of its total export revenue, according to a publication by the African Development Bank. By 2008, diamonds accounted for 46% of the export revenue, according to the US Geological Survey.
In spite of all this, the people of Kono say there is hardly anything to show in terms of development for the district, which is considered to be one of the most deprived among Sierra Leone’s 16 districts.
The civil war, which was largely fueled by diamonds, worsened the situation of the district. According to a UNDP assessment, 96% of Kono’s infrastructure was destroyed by the war.
Along the streets of Koidu, there are still reminders of those dark days in the form of destroyed buildings, and the effect on social services like water and electricity is still evident.
Squatters in their own land
There have been about half a dozen international mining companies operating in Kono since the end of the war, notably Koidu Limited, which currently dominates the sector.
Sahr Emmerson Lamina, a former mayor of Koidu, said the resumption of mining activities post-war held promises for the Kono people, but that their experience in the last decade has dashed those hopes.
“We thought that diamond mining will wipe the tears of the people of Kono…But all these companies haven’t brought any good upon the district. The people are more or less squatters in their own lands," said Lamina, now a Member of Parliament. Mining, he added, has been more of a curse than a blessing to the district.
Weak laws, lack of appropriate policies and failure to enforce regulations have all contributed to the situation. Grievances of Kono residents range from environmental destruction, to issues arising from involuntary resettlement schemes, to alleged human rights violations and unmet financial obligations.
Many Kono residents blame successive governments, especially the most recent one of Ernest Bai Koroma, under whose watch the current Minerals Act was passed.
However, an undisputable legacy of the Koroma administration is the network of some freshly paved roads that adorn the Koidu township, completed within Koroma’s last two years in office. Yet, beyond these shiny roads there remains pervasive poverty.
The Faya family at Hill Station, a suburb of Koidu, is one example of Kono residents struggling to make ends meet. Their only source of livelihood is the father’s illegal cannabis trade.
Komba Faya (not his real name) returned home about a year ago, after eight years in Freetown working as a driver. He couldn’t support his family back home, yet his presence in the capital aroused expectations.
The father of four inherited their home from his late father. The main building in the compound was completely destroyed during the war. His dream of rebuilding it has since died. He hopes one of his children will realize it – and his ‘business’ is his only means of funding their education.
“It is no longer about me. I want them to go to school. But there is no job here. So I rely on my Jamba [cannabis] business,” Mr. Faya explained, speaking outside his apartment, which comprises a single room and a parlor. It’s part of one of two buildings in the compound that survived the war.
Blood diamonds
Kono was the main reason for the prolongation of the war. The diamonds funded it.
Men like Mr. Faya were forced to mine the stones which were exchanged for weapons, occasioning the phenomenon now known as ‘conflict diamond’ or ‘blood diamond’.
The rebels had to destroy the buildings to force the people out and create room to mine, said Faya, as he narrated his experience as a rebel conscript.
“Almost all of the houses along this street were burnt down,” he said.
In spite of its cosmopolitan status, Kono is unique in that it’s the only Sierra Leonean district predominantly inhabited by one ethnic group. This influences politics greatly, as members of the ethnic group largely vote together to influence the outcome of elections, switching allegiance between the two dominant political parties – APC and SLPP. This was seen very much at play in the 2018 general elections.
Prior to those polls, Kono had been dominated by the APC for the previous 10 years, controlling six of the eight parliamentary seats in the district. This has changed with the establishment of a new party - the Coalition For Change (C4C).
C4C currently controls eight seats, with one going to APC (one new seat was created after a boundary delimitation exercise).
Kono was also a major decider of the outcome of the 2018 Presidential race, which the SLPP won.
C4C is the brainchild of former Vice President and Kono native, Samuel Sam-Sumana, who served from 2007 to 2015 when he was sacked, sparking a constitutional crisis.
That development and several other grievances led to the creation of C4C. Lamina is its leader in parliament, where he also chairs the Oversight Committee on Mines. He said at the heart of their concerns is the “obsolete” 2009 Mines and Minerals Act, which has allowed mining companies to exploit their land at the detriment of the masses.
The long absence of a mining policy (the first was only created about two years ago), he noted, has led to the near unchecked destruction of the environment in the last decade, mostly due to the unregulated artisanal mining sector, but also due to the activities of the multinationals.
The implications of this, Lamina said, include the haphazard nature of resettlement of communities. If a community is living off profits from growing economic trees (such as palm trees or mango trees), the law doesn’t outline any policy for compensation, he said, pointing out that while such trees can live for at least 100 years, the mining projects usually provide for a maximum of only five years compensation when resettling a family.
Many communities have lost important landmarks to both corporate and artisanal mining activities in the area, including sacred graveyards and ‘Bondo’ bushes, and even water access points. Mined-out pits have created artificial lakes which have also become death traps in communities.
According to the relevant laws, mining communities are entitled to about half a dozen forms of payments from companies and other license holders mining in the area, including surface rent, property tax, community development fund, and profit sharing.
But besides concerns about the impact of these payments, the locals say the miners – both corporate and small-scale – hardly adhere to them.
According to Lamina, certain aspects of mining agreements, like the surface rents, are supposed to be negotiable, but he said that license holders pay whatever they feel, whenever they feel to do so.
The Community Development Fund, a provision in the Minerals Act, has only been paid once (in 2016) since the law came into effect, according to the City Council. It was paid by Koidu Limited.
The agreement between the government and the company gives the latter a lot of tax exemptions. A notable example is the Property Tax, which is provided for in the 2004 Local Government Act.
When he served as Mayor between 2012 and 2015, Lamina instituted a suit against Koidu Limited at the High Court in Freetown over its backlog of unpaid property tax.
A spokesman for Koidu Limited declined to comment on this, citing its legal nature. Henry Vagg, Director of Community Affairs, referred Politico SL to a previous statement issued by its legal representatives following the court ruling on the matter in 2015. That statement reiterated the company’s longstanding argument that its agreement with the government, which was ratified by parliament, takes precedence over any other law.
Mr Vagg however stressed that Koidu Limited was meeting all its financial obligations to the government and host communities.
Another source of contention is the profit sharing agreement. Local authorities say companies neglect to publish their annual profits as per the laws. And they say because the communities are not strategically represented in the companies, they hardly know what they are entitled to.
Two months into office, Lamina’s successor, Mayor Komba Sam is unsure of what to do about the lack of compliance of mining companies. He said if they (companies) were paying the property tax, they must be doing so through the wrong authorities.
Mayor Sam is sure though that he doesn’t want to go to court, at least not yet. He plans to present his concerns through the ‘carrot’ approach.
“I know that my people are now thinking what the new Mayor is going to do. But the answer is simple. I want to have a different approach,” he said, explaining that he’d prefer to negotiate.
Mayor Sam also hopes that new President Julius Maada Bio’s Executive Order – suspending all tax exemptions for companies – will extend to those operating within Koidu.
Just days into office, President Bio issued a series of Executive Orders in April as part of his clampdown on wastage in the economy. Among others, it suspended tax and duty waivers to all companies, including those holding agreements ratified by parliament.
Mining or farming
In 2006, the Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD) commissioned a study in the form of a debate, on the topic: To mine or to farm. That question was borne out of long-held concerns relating to the overreliance on mining at the expense of farming, in a country endowed with vast arable land.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 74% of Sierra Leone’s land, equivalent to 5.36 million hectares, is suitable for farming. Yet the amount of cultivated land is less than 0.4 million hectares.
Kono comprises 14 districts. Of this only six are known to contain diamonds. The rest are rich in fertile soil suitable for agriculture. One of these chiefdoms, Sowa, for instance, is widely considered to produce some of the best plantain in the whole of Sierra Leone.
Endowed with a favorable climate and abundant rainfall, Kono is rich in soil for the cultivation of a variety of plants, but principally rice, cassava, cocoa and coffee.
Rice and cassava are the top two staple foods, according to the Agriculture ministry.
Kono is also well known for producing pepper. A large part of the rest of the country relies on the district for many of these commodities.
Joseph Ansumana, District head of NMJD, said the idea around the 2006 debate is now more relevant as mining becomes more capital intensive.
“Before now just few of us can organize ourselves and within an hour we get rich. Now it takes years. It is about luck,” he said, referring to mining.
Geological evidence shows that Kono is still rich with diamonds. In fact it shows that all the 14 chiefdoms may have deposits.
But after over 80 years of mining, every indication is that the alluvial deposits of the stones have been depleted. Whereas prior to the war diamonds were found in abundance on the surface, now they are deep below, mostly inside rocks, which requires state of the earth equipment to exploit.
The alternative, said Ansumana, is farming. He however noted that first there is the need to convince the people to accept agriculture as a rewarding career, in a country where many people see it as a sign of failure.
There are palpable reasons for this apathy, and much of it has to do with the level of governmental support to agriculture.
According to the African Development Bank (AfDB) and International Rice Research, the country’s agricultural sector grew by about 14% in 2007, led by crops, and 5% in 2008. Despite this growth the country is a net importer of food. For example, in 2004, 19,000 tons of rice was imported.
The government spends an estimated US$350 million to import agricultural products annually, according to the World Bank.
Rice accounts for an estimated US$200 million of that amount.
Prior to the 2018 elections, Sierra Leone was rated the third hungriest nation in the world in the Global Hunger Index of the International Food Policy Research Institute.
Nonetheless, the World Bank figures for 2017 show that the agriculture sector accounts for 50% of Sierra Leone’s GDP, and 70% of the population is involved either directly or indirectly.
Rice accounts for about three-quarters of the sector output while cash crops like cocoa, coffee and piassava and others contribute up to 14%, according to the Agriculture Sector Review by the Ministry.
Within this review, the ministry stated that in spite of the country’s potential in the extractives sector, agriculture will still continue to play a key role in its socio-economic development because it employs the majority of the population.
Yet farmers and campaigners say the government is not doing enough.
Sierra Leone is a signatory to the African Union’s Maputo Declaration which requires member countries to allocate a minimum of 10% of their annual budget to agriculture, and the country has never attained that level.
In the last five years, the annual allocation to the sector has been under 3% of the total national budget.
Consequently, farming in Sierra Leone has always been done on subsistence basis.
One man who doesn’t need any convincing to farm, in spite of all the odds, is Kono resident, Mohamed Dogbo. A former APC Councilor, Mr Dogbo decided to go into farming after many years in mining. He said he’d realized mining had become too expensive. He cultivates rice, palm oil and cocoa.
The uniqueness of Kono is that some chiefdoms are rich in both diamonds and fertile land. An example of this is Fiama Chiefdom, which falls under Dogbo’s constituency when he served at the Kono District Council.
The politician admitted though that several factors militate against agriculture in the district, including poor road networks, which hinders farmers’ access to markets. There is also concern over lack of farming tools and untimely delivery of seeds and fertilizers, as well as a lack of storage facilities which exposes produce to post-harvest losses.
Another major issue, Dogbo stressed, is access to finance.
Dogbo explained that the reason why many farmers fell short of repaying loans is because support from the government often comes late, at a point they are not useful to influence yield.
In other chiefdoms, where the land is rich in diamonds and fertile soil, farmers are struggling to deal with the impact of mined-out pits.
About half a dozen such used plots of lands can be counted along the route to Moigbedu, a village in the Gbense Chiefdom about six kilometers outside Koidu.
Moigbedu, with a population of between 1000 and 1500 people, according to the local authorities, is one of the oldest mining communities in Kono. In spite of this, the villagers struggle to make a living.
Their only modern source of water is a hand pump standing behind the chief’s house. Chief Tamba William explained that it was built eight years ago and had been out of service for the last three years, until two weeks ago when it was fixed. The villagers said it worked for only a day before another fault developed.
The freshly painted water facility only serves as a decoration for the village, as residents fetch water for both drinking and domestic use from a stream in the nearby bushes.
Villages like Moigbedu have no control over who mines in their areas, yet they have to suffer the consequences of unreclaimed mined-out pits.
These open pits make it difficult for farmers to practice Inland Valley Swamp (IVS) farming, which farmers say hold the magic answer for Sierra Leone’s food security concerns. Not only does IVS allow year round cultivation, it also produces high yield, said Dogbo.
But IVS needs an irrigation system that allows constant water supply for permanent cropping.
Like elsewhere in the country, Kono had many IVSs. Many of these, including those previously developed, were abandoned during the civil war. Most have been overtaken by weeds, making them difficult to clear with traditional tools.
Dogbo also said that because most farmers have become so accustomed to the more predominant upland farming, they find it hard to adopt IVS, calling for awareness-raising.
“There is need for the Ministry of Agriculture and whoever will come in to reclaim these lands,” he said.
Consequently, very few people see farming as a viable option in Kono.
And this feeling is strengthened by undeniable temptation from the possibility of instant riches associated with mining.
“People think if you have one carat diamond it will change your life instantly, unlike farming which you will remain on for your whole life and only barely feed yourself,” said Dogbo.
According to the 2015 Population and Housing Census, 4.5% of Kono households are agricultural-based, which is the 7th highest rate among the country’s districts.
Its eastern neighbor, Kailahun, with a lesser total number of households, has an agricultural household population of 5.9%. Kenema, also in the east, has the highest number of total households among the three, with 5.7% agricultural households.
Among the three neighbors, Kailahun is known to have no known minerals – leaving residents more likely to take up farming.
Kono also has the least amount of land being used for food crop production among the three districts, with 320,988 hectares, against 350,338 hectares in Kenema and 499,264 hectares in Kailahun.
This article was produced as part of a reporting fellowship funded by the Internews project in Sierra Leone.
© 2018 Politico Online
