By Mabinty Kamara
Shaka Sama, the recently freed land rights activist fighting injustice against a multinational corporation in Sierra Leone, has warned that until his people are treated fairly their clamor for justice will continue.
Sama, the head of the Malen Land Owners Association (MALOA), a group of land rights activists challenging the French agribusiness firm Socfin for alleged land grabbing in that part of the country, said the company was oppressing the people in connivance with the Sierra Leone government. He said the police were doing all the dirty work in the crusade to deprive the Malen people of their agricultural land.
Sahn Malen is a chiefdom in Pujehun District, south of the country. Socfin, which specializes in growing palm oil plantation to manufacture renewable energy for export, has acquired some 12,500 hectares of land in the district. The company acquired the land through an agreement it signed with the government in 2011. The agreement entails a 50-year lease which landowners say is unfair. They said they were not involved in the deal and had criticized the amount of money the company paid for their land.
Other contentious issues about the deal include an MOU between Socfin and the government guaranteeing the company a 100% exemption of corporate tax until 2023.
Some landowners have alleged that they were coerced into accepting the deal which provides for an “insufficient” $5 per acre ($12.50/ha) per year royalty.MALOA was born out of these grievances.
In October 2011, 40 landowners were arrested as they protested against the agreement. Last year January some 11 people were arrested over the shooting of one Belgian, and one Zimbabwean worker at a palm oil plantation.
Sama and his co-accused were arrested in 2013 and charged with destroying some 40 palm oil trees during another protest. They were also accused of inciting the local population to protest over land rights.
They received sentences ranging from five to six months in prison, plus fines, at the end of a three year trial by the Bo Magistrate Court.
Sama himself was fined Le 60million and his co-convicts Le 30million, each.
Sama said the authorities were using “subtle coercion,” ‘brute force”, among other strategies, as the main methods of oppressing the people through the police to discourage them from their stance.
“Police, local authorities and even government have been conspiring with the company at the expense of the people who are brutalised by police officers whenever an allegation is made against them by the company,” the activist said at a press conference last week, held at the offices of the 50/50 Group in Freetown. It was his first press conference since he was released from jail after his bail condition was met late last month.
The MALOA SIX, as Sama and his co-convicts have been tagged, were accused of destroying 40 palm trees which the company valued at Le200 million.
But Sama said Socfin had bought a land containing sixty palm trees from land owners at Le1million. This indicated that the company paid less than the amount of land they acquired from the community, he noted, adding that this was the cause of the sour relationship between the company and the community.
“The police responds quickly on complaints made by Socfin against the community in the hope of getting fuel and financial gains, but would not respond quickly when the community people complain the company,” he said.
Sama served as Member of Parliament representing Constituency 88 in the Malen Chiefdom between 2007 and 2012 under the opposition Peoples Movement for Democratic Change. He has been involved in activism since he left parliament.
In spite of his conviction, Sama still maintains his innocence along with his co-convicts. He said Socfin’s action in accusing them was a ploy to take them out of the picture so that the company could continue to exploit the people unchallenged.
“So long as this situation continues in Pujehun, things will not be ok in Malen chiefdom,” he said.
Sama is contemplating an appeal against the conviction. He said he was consulting with his solicitors.
Meanwhile, his five co-convicts still remain behind bars, and MALOA is calling for support both locally and internationally to help raise their bail money which totals Le 150million.
Rights groups and land rights campaigners worldwide condemned the verdict against the activists. Sierra Leone, like many African countries, has seen agitation over land ownership, especially with big multinational corporations, increase recently with sometimes violent eruptions.
Socfin is also known to own palm oil and rubber plantations in Ivory
Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo,
amounting to some 51,000 hectares.
Bollore, which currently runs Sierra Leone’s container terminal port,
controls a 38.7 percent stake in Socfin.
Socfin was the subject of a report last month by the campaign group Green Peace which revealed that the company is involved in similar clashes with community people in countries its operate in Africa and Asia because of its policies.
(C) Politico 15/03/16
