By Mohamed T. Massaquoi
The launch of a new Chinese mining company in Moyamba was marred last week after a protest by angry youths in the area. It has now been deferred indefinitely.
Representatives of Afro Asia Mining Company, which is looking to mine for bauxite after acquiring a government license, were scheduled to meet with landowners and local authorities on Thursday, 3 October, when the aggrieved youths blocked a major route leading to the meeting venue.
The protesters converged at the Mosenesie Junction, a major intersection linking Moyamba and neighbouring Bonthe to the rest of the country. The meeting was scheduled to take place in a village called Largor in the Lower Banta Chiefdom.
Moyamba District Council Chairman, Joseph Benedict Mbogba, told Politico that the action of the youths undermined the council's development projects.
"The council's largest source of revenue is from the proceeds of these mining companies and I believe it is the same for the central government. But the actions of these youths will drive away investors," Mbogba said in a telephone interview.
Mbogba was among the first local authorities to arrive at the scene of the protest. He said he was insulted and pelted with stones by some of the protesters. He said that after pleading with them for about two hours, they finally agreed to dismantle the blockage but it was too late for the meeting to proceed.
Moyamba, located in the south of the country, is home to some huge mineral reserves notably titanium and bauxite. Alongside neighbouring Bonthe, Moyamba is host to one of the top mining companies in the country, Iluka Sierra Rutile, one of the world’s leading producers of the titanium mineral, rutile. Due to the activities of these companies, there are a lot of grievances among the local communities. But Mbogba blamed the latest impasse on a protracted crisis that led to the suspension of the Paramount Chief, John Gibao Rusell Nyaama II.
PC Nyaama was reportedly suspended by the Resident Minister in the South following a flurry of allegations thrown at him by the chiefdom people, among them misappropriation of chiefdom funds and unlawful sacking of section chiefs.
A nine-man committee set up to run the chiefdom has itself been mired in allegations of corruption, further heightening the grievances of the people. And this was said to be one of the causes of Thursday’s protests.
Mbogba said repeated calls for the local government authorities to settle the matter fell on deaf ears.
These concerns are shared by the district’s civil society activists, who have questioned the legality of the appointment of the committee and condemned the government’s handling of the crisis.
PC Nyaama has been suspended since October 2018.
"There is no provision in the Chieftaincy Act that gives the government that kind of mandate that in the absence of the Paramount Chief or the Chiefdom Speaker there should be a committee,” said Gerald Anthony Foday, spokesman for the district Civil Society Coalition.
Like the Council chairman, Foday believes the committee members were behind Thursday’s protest, since they were left out of the botched meeting with the investors.
PC Nyaama disputed suggestions that he was suspended. He said he was advised by the government, through the office of the Chief Minister, to avoid the chiefdom amidst the wrangling with his subjects.
"I was never suspended. It was last year in October that I received a call from the Chief Minister to meet him in Freetown. When I arrived, he told me to avoid the chiefdom for my own safety and security, because there were so many problems in the chiefdom at that time,” the chief said, noting that he had been performing his functions from outside, as the “democratically-elected Paramount Chief."
PC Nyaama accused the Resident Minister and the “illegal” nine man committee of masterminding Thursday’s protest. He said he was supposed to be part of the launch of the new company because the proposed mine is located on his family land in Largor. He said the Resident Minister ordered the meeting to be shifted to another village and for him to be prevented from attending.
According to PC Nyaama, all what’s happening in the chiefdom is part of a power play influenced by a combination of ill feelings both within the SLPP-led administration and within rival ruling families in the chiefdom.
While denying allegations of misappropriation of chiefdom funds, the PC challenged anyone seeking to prove him wrong to check with the District Office, noting that there was no way he could have accessed any chiefdom funds without going through the District Office.
The District Officer, Haroun Ken, declined to comment on phone when contacted by Politico.
Resident Minister Mohamed E. K. Allie confirmed suspending the PC and setting-up the committee, noting that it was a move necessary to provide security and safety for the community and the investors.
“Crisis management is not about legality,” he said on the phone.
(c) 2019 Politico Online
