By Septimus Senessie in Kono
According to residents in Mafindor chiefdom one of the border chiefdoms in the diamond-rich eastern district of Kono, over the past ten years they have been using the Guinea Franc as the legal tender, which is the only currency in circulation in the chiefdom.
In an interview with Politico in Kamiyandor, chiefdom headquarters of Mafindor, the chiefdom Treasury Clerk, Brima Sahr Musa said that the influx of the Guinean currency in the chiefdom had largely affected their business activities given that “tax, school fees, market dues and medical bills are all paid in Franc.”
He said that when they wanted to travel to Koidu they had to go to Guinea first and change the Francs to Leones which he said sometimes made them run into heavy losses as the exchange rate fluctuated which he said was sometimes Fr. 7,500 to Le 5,000. The Clerk blamed the situation on the bad road network leading to the chiefdom which he said was preventing Sierra Leonean businesspeople from accessing the chiefdom.
“When our people travel to Guinea to do business the Guineans will not accept the Leone while in our country we do the opposite,” he lamented. He urged government to enforce the local finance policies and rehabilitate the road leading to the border chiefdom to help the country recover from the huge loss incurred over the years. Kumba Fallah, a petty trader at Densenbadu, a village hosting a tradefare on Thursdays told Politico that the only time they could see the Leone in the chiefdom was during the cocoa harvest season when agents force their way to the chiefdom to buy cocoa. She said that over 60% of the people do not now the Leone. “In all of this I do not know whether we are part of Sierra Leone as all our economic activity is done in Guinea” she said.
The Paramount Chief of the chiefdom, Abu Mbawa Kongorba II said that it was “an irony for you to live in your country and you cannot access your own country’s currency” which he said was akin to being “a slave” in ones country. The chief said that the chiefdom had an a population of nearly 6,000 people whom he described as poor subsistence farmers, and was largely affected by an influx of the Guinean currency which he said was affecting them especially when they wanted to send their children to school in the district headquarter town of Koidu.
“My people feel that they are strangers in Sierra Leone,” the Paramund Chief said, urging government to improve the road to the chiefdom to prevent his people from doing business with Guineans which he said was the main reason for the disappearence of the Leone in his chiefdom.
Sources say the same situation was prevalent in Toli chiefdom which borders Guinea to the south-eastern part of Kono district.
