Chronicle Of Corporate Exploitation: The Sierra Rutile Experience

Chronicle of Corporate Exploitation: the Sierra Rutile Experience

Rutile mining activities, which started at Gbangbama in the Impere Chiefdom, Bonthe District, in 1954 has far reaching environmental and socio-economic impacts. Rutile is mined by dredging thereby creating large artificial lakes behind constructed laterite dams. Sierra Rutile Limited (the company that mines the Rutile) estimates put the area under water at 6,400 acres (5% of the company’s lease area) although visual estimates put the area directly affected by mining at 200, 000 acres.

by Leslie Mboka

The main impacts of dredge extraction in the mining areas have been the relocation of villages leading to reduced subsistence resource base and the disruption of traditional land use practices, land degradation, flooding and pollution with associated health risks. Water-related diseases are very common in the host mining communities as a result of artificial lakes left behind after dredging.

Rutile mining activities, instead of creating wealth for the host communities and landowners, have rather undermined the local economies and pauperized the affected communities. Originally, the inhabitants of the host communities largely depended on subsistence farming for their livelihood, but Rutile mining activities have spoiled the most productive lands for agricultural activities.

This ugly trend has created food insecurity for the host communities. Cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, oil palm, etc, have been completely destroyed without meaningful compensations to crop owners. The problem of land shortage has also led to social tension between the host mining communities and Sierra Rutile Limited. A case in point was an incident on February 5, 2003 when a group of farmers were held at gunpoint on the allegation that they were farming within the company’s lease area. They were arrested at gunpoint, tied, forced to look at the sun’s rays and subsequently caged in a container.

Sierra Rutile Limited is the only corporate entity that still maintains its own private armed reaction force even after the conclusion of disarmament in Sierra Leone in January 2002. This private corporate military force is fully dressed in military uniform and armed to the teeth and very hostile to the host communities who are still traumatized after a decade of armed conflict. The government of Sierra Leone is turning a blind eye to these corporate crimes and human rights abuses.

In the recent agreement which the government signed with Sierra Rutile Limited, there is provision for the company to import arms and ammunition into Sierra Leone and also to maintain its own private army and to use such arms and ammunition as they deem fit. SRL is also the only company in post-war Sierra Leone that still runs a mercenary outfit. This is a clear indication of state delegitimisation, the surrendering of state powers to powerful private actors.

As at the time of writing this piece, 11 villages have been demolished and relocated with an estimated population of 5,300 inhabitants. Consultants to Sierra Rutile Limited have confirmed that some villages were settled in places where basic community needs such portable water supply and farmlands were grossly inadequate and where general sanitation in the new settlements is critical. The damage done to the original ecosystem will be irreversible.

Even more serious is the fact that the Government of Sierra Leone, under the leadership of President Ahmed Tejan Kabba signed a mining agreement with Sierra Rutile Limited without the participation of the landowners who are adversely affected by the activities of the company. The Community Advocacy and Development Project (CADEP), an advocacy and development organisation views this move as undemocratic and inimical to the interest of the mining communities, and therefore calls on the SLPP government to review that agreement with the active participation of the landowners who are also a major stakeholder in the Rutile mining business.

In a democratic dispensation, the people’s participation in making decisions that profoundly affect their lives is pertinent to ensure transparency, accountability and good governance. The ship of state has not been moving in that direction though. The political class must understand that government policies that do not reflect the wishes and aspirations of the governed are bound to collapse as soon that particular regime departs the political theatre.

The issue of Rutile mining in Bonthe and Moyamba districts is a story of unmitigated exploitation. The legacy of decades of mining is abject poverty and diseases, coupled with unspeakable ecological disaster. Two communities, Mobelmo and Mosama were completely destroyed in a flooding incident. In August, 2003, serious flooding occurred in the mining areas as result of dam overflow. Dozens of farms were affected.

With relative stability now in Sierra Leone, plans are far advanced to recommence Rutile mining operations. The recommencement of Rutile mining will further deepen the negative impacts of mining on the lives of the people. However, CADEP, NMJD, CRS and other like-minded organisations are now working doggedly to address these corporate excesses laced with state complicity.