By Septimus Senessie in Kono
Paramount Chief Paul Gabba Saquee V of Tankoro Chiefdom has issued an unprecedentedly stern warning to OCTEA Diamond Group (Koidu Limited) against “heavy and regular stone-blasting” in his chiefdom.
The chief was speaking at a well-attended stakeholders’ meeting with the mining company and the company’s Affected Property Owners Association (APOA) at the chiefdom court Barray in Koidu.
The warning comes a month after members of APOA in Saquee Town and Yormandu in Tankoro Chiefdom filed in two letters of complaint containing over a dozen concerns against OCTEA to district authorities. They demand that their grievances be immediately addressed for “peace sakes”.
Some of the concerns as contained in the letters include the “unnecessary delay” in relocating affected residents and blasting which they say causes cracks to their houses. They also allege health hazards posed by explosives used in blasting, unprofessional acts of armed police against them during blasting exercise, destruction of their property by flying rocks, forceful eviction from their homes in the rains for blasting purposes, backfilling of swamps, pregnant women, disabled people and the aged not being properly cared for during blasting and the inadequate crops compensation by the company among others.
PC Saquee confirmed that in the previous months, the company was blasting more “randomly and heavily” than the approved twice weekly. He said the additional blasting was “unacceptable and unrewarding,” adding that it was a violation of the rights of the affected people.
“I… warn you to minimize the weight of the blasting” he said.
He also expressed dissatisfaction over the long holdup in the construction of the affected seven hundred houses which fall within the company’s concession area. He encouraged the affected people to remain calm.
The government mines engineer in charge of Kono district, Alhassan Sahid Sabab Fullah also condemned the management of OCTEA for carrying out “regular and heavy blasting,” which he called “a recipe for chaos and disorder” between the company and affected communities. He urged the company to minimise the frequency. He maintained that before the meeting he had engaged and cautioned the company to at least observe the rights of the affected communities thereby reducing the volume and frequency of the blasting exercises.
The Civil Affairs coordinator of UNIPSIL, Dr. Robert Moikoa also cautioned the company to always be professional with the issue of the affected property owners and communities. “Land issues are crucial issues and if not properly managed, it can lead to civil war in a society,” he cautioned.
He further told OCTEA that they should take into cognizance the wellbeing of the affected people whiles resettling them. “In resettling people to a new community, there must be better and improved conditions” he explained. He however praised the company for the strategies they have put in place for affected communities, but added that more needed to be done to change the “squatter and shambles lives”.
He lauded the dialogue option adopted by the aggrieved parties as opposed to violent means of redress.
The head of the company’s Community Development Department, Henry Vard promised to relay all the various concerns of the affected people to the management of the company.
He vowed to stick to the twice weekly blasting – Tuesdays and Fridays – for the sake of “peace and safety.” He said that he was also unhappy with the “regular removal of their mining affected people especially during the rains for our blasting exercise.” He assured the APOA that effective August, they would start the construction of the remaining 700 houses starting with those in “danger zone of the blasting.”
© Politico 30/07/13
