MINISTER CONDEMNS HOUSING SCHEME

MINISTER CONDEMNS HOUSING SCHEME

(The New Citizen Tuesday 6th April 2004, Volume 8 No. 53)

By Sylvester T. Bangah

Agriculture and Food security Minister cum Sierra Leone Peoples Party Chairman, Kono District, Dr Sama Mondeh, has vehemently condemned the newly constructed houses in Manjama Area, Kono District.

The newly constructed houses are meant to relocate and house local residents affected by the blasting operations of Koidu Holdings.

Speaking to the New Citizens in Kono recently the Minister said, "I am here on a fact finding mission as we have received information in Freetown that the company has constructed sub-standard housing facilities for the people. The three bedroom houses are poorly constructed with only a single exit door. The building itself is too low and lacks adequate ventilation".

Dr. Mondeh further disclosed that the agreement between the company and government should be revisited as the poorly constructed structures we were not conducive for human habitation and therefore, unacceptable to the people.

"As SLPP Chairman for Kono District, I will not sit down complacently while Koidu Holdings is building substandard structures for our people. Koidu Holdings is generating a substantial sum of money which demands the company to construct better housing and offer other amenities for the people," the minister observed.

Aiah T. Pimbi, a Manjama Area resident, also lamented about the poorly constructed buildings adding that if a sudden fire accident should occur, it would be extremely difficult for in-habitants to evacuate the buildings. "Kono residents deserve more conducive buildings than the present ones offered by Koidu Holdings," he maintained.

"Everybody evacuates the area whenever blasting operations are to commence. But what bothers us most as parents is the disruption of school lessons as a result of the blasting operations of the mining company. Sometimes, classes are disrupted for as long as thirty minutes, which is a disincentive to psychological learning climate of the school children in the district. Koidu Holdings is only interested in exploiting the resources of the country and not helping the people," Tamba Sam, a local resident lamented.

In response to comments made by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, including other stakeholders, Koidu Holdings Safety Officer, Rex Bonafa said, "the newly constructed buildings are more durable than the former buildings inhabited by the people which should be accepted."

Campaigners launch annual diamond review

The Campaign for Just Mining, a coalition of civil society organisations working on and advocating around issues of mining, human rights and the environment, has launched the first Diamond Industry Annual Review at the China Friendship House, Brookfields in Freetown on Thursday 18 March 2004. The groundbreaking event attracted a broad spectrum of civil society and the media. Conspicuously absent though, were government officials and other state functionaries.

The Annual Review is "an attempt to describe the country's most important asset within the context of its history and its potential. It describes the diamond industry as it is today - warts and all - and it outlines what needs to be done to convert diamonds from a liability to a tool for development".

This does not however preclude the Review from being critical of the way diamonds are being exploited and managed. The Review takes a critical look at a variety of fronts in the diamond industry. The purpose is not to chase "potential buyers and investors away from Sierra Leone". But rather, it aims at creating an open, fair and clean industry where diamonds are advertised as being not just free of conflict, but as genuine purveyors of positive development.

Since they were first discovered in the Gbogbora stream in the Nimikoro chiefdom of Kono District, Eastern Sierra Leone in 1930, diamonds have contributed tremendously to Sierra Leone's development, at least in the ensuing three to four decades after the discovery. But the boom suffered a dramatic set back and took a rapid down slide in the 1970s when the then Administration put policies in place that paved the way for their cronies to take centre stage in the diamond industry.

The Ombudsman, Mr Francis Gabiddon, graphically and bluntly hammered this home in his brief statement before he launched the Review. He emphatically noted that from the 1930s to 1970s, diamonds were a big blessing to the people of Sierra Leone because of the huge benefits they brought them in terms of good roads, hospitals, schools, provision of scholarships and bursaries, balance of payment, employment, etc. But he lamented over the rapid decline of fortunes in the diamond industry beginning in the late 1970s; he blamed this on bad policies, corruption, smuggling and poor monitoring and supervision.

"We never had all these problems when DIMINCO was here and our export figures were always good. But they were asked to go; and whether or not this was done with good intentions, the outcome was a disaster. Kono is today described by many as the Wild West; it is a free for all place," he said.

Mr Gabiddon therefore challenged civil society to take advantage of their hard- won democracy to bring back sanity, probity and accountability to the diamond industry. "Government is doing its bit, but it should also be the responsibility of civil society to check the wrong things going on in the industry because the problem is with them," he stressed.

Earlier, the National Coordinator of NMJD, Mr. Abu A. Brima, gave an overview of the Annual Diamond Review Project. The project, he said, is an initiative of the NGOs participating in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. It is a three- year project beginning 2003. Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola are also carrying out reviews of their respective diamond industries.

In her opening remarks, chairperson for the occasion, Ms Helen Bash-Taqi, lauded the civil society for what she described as "venturing into an area that was once viewed as the exclusive domain of the government and its corporate partners". She however called on them to extend their activities to other sectors of the industry.

"I would also like to stress that our focus should not be limited to diamond mining. There is also the urgent need to direct our attention to Rutile mining with its devastating consequences not only on the environment but also on the livelihood of people," she said.

Key stakeholders in the diamond industry and civil society organisations made statements of support and solidarity.

The Review was produced by Partnership Africa Canada and NMJD