By Septimus Senessie in Kono.
A 55-year-old man working for OCTEA Mining Group operating in Koidu, Kono has been killed by the company’s conveyor machine belt while on maintenance duty.
Mohamed Mondeh, an eye witness told Politico that Sahr Foday Banya, a staff of OCTEA’s meteorology department was under the machine when one of the plant operators, a South African national, Chris Rid who was in the control room started the machine unannounced. Mondeh said the deceased was under the machine doing minor cleaning exercise when the conveyor belt trapped him into the plant which resulted in his death.
He said that after the accident he shouted for help but the security guards attached to the plant, comprising mainly white South Africans, closed the gate thereby preventing the rescue team from entering.
“Our colleague would not have died if we were not prevented by the security guards,” Mondeh alleged and described the company as a “jail yard” for the rank and file national staff.
A day after the incident, hundreds of aggrieved workers at the company threatened to storm the operation site company for “inhuman and reckless treatment” by the company. They alleged that the company even denied them vehicle to convey the corpse to the cemetery, which they said demoralized them. They had to carry the corpse on their shoulders to the cemetery, over a mile away, they said.
Another aggrieved worker, Tamba Martin Korgbende told Politico that the company had threatened to sack them if they abandoned their work at the mining site to bury their colleague. He said they would not mind sacrificing their jobs for the death of their colleague if the company failed to take proper care of the funeral ceremony of the decease and his family and threatened a strike action if the company did not provide them with risk and travel allowances, improved conditions of services, and medical insurance.
Korgbende said that this year alone the company had registered about four deaths, all involving national staff, while foreign staff were being provided with the appropriate safety kits. He blamed the situation on the government who “sold Sierra Leone to the company” and were therefore not protected by the country’s labour laws.
Describing the death of their brother as a loss to their family, Samuel Kpakima, a brother of the deceased condemned OCTEA Mining Group for allegedly abandoning his corpse at the hospital. He said the company only gave them Le 1,000,000 for the funeral arrangements.
Meanwhile, OCTEA mining group’s chief communications officer, Ibrahim Sorie Kamara said in a press briefing at his office that the death of Sahr Foday Banya was “a big loss” to the company. He confirmed that his death was caused by one of the plant’s conveyor belts which he said trapped him leading to fractures resulting in his death.
Sorie expressed dissatisfaction over the aggrieved workers of the company for projecting the death of their colleague with “an ulterior motive“ which he condemned. He denied allegations made by workers that the company did not care for them. He said they were all treated equally in the company.
Kamara noted that they had set both internal and external enquiries to establish the circumstances surrounding the death of Banya and would publish their report as soon as possible.
The crime official attached to the Tankoro Police Division, Abdul Kemokai said they were also investigating the matter.
(c) Politico 13/11/12
