By Fasalie S.Kamara
The National Director of Health Network Sierra Leone has called on government to suspend the mining activities of London Mining Company in the Marampa chiefdom.
Robert Kondema Kargbo told journalists at a news conference in Freetown: “our findings are that London Mining is operating with the misleading notion that the land owners and their communities are not important as long as the company is in pecuniary conspiracy with ministry of mines and the Environmental Protection Agency”. He referred to the minister of mines, Minkailu Mansaray as “dormant”.
Kargbo said that the company’s contract should be renegotiated using international best practice, adding that the company’s activities were not good for the community and the nation.
He said that some of the issues they wanted to see in the new agreement included giving employment priority to locals at all levels, transportation of the ore to be handled by local transporters and government to investigate how Bollore African Logistics led by Keith Muller transformed its business operations from port to include transport.
Kargbo called on the Human Rights Commission to visit Marampa Chiefdom “in helping to expose the egregious manner of mining in the area”.
Speaking to Politico, the chairman of land owners in Marampa, Mohamed ‘Dollar’ Kamara said “there is no clean drinking water, no good roads and the activities of London Mining Company has left nine villages flooded”, noting that out of the nine villages, children could no longer go to five of the villages as a result of flooding. The villages he named are Maforkie, Manokah, Gbom Limba, Gbom Sabano and Magbanhta.
Kamara said that they had tried to meet with London Mining but the company had ignored them.
The Publicity Secretary of the Indigenous Local Transport Owners’ Association, Paul Tucker said Bollore was paying six dollars per metric tonne while London Mining was paying Bollore 12 dollar for same. ”This is another 50 years of economic colonisation” he added.
(C) Politico 30/10/13
