Hardship Rocks Kono

Kono is an eastern war ravaged district of Sierra Leone believed to be endowed with diamonds, gold and other precious minerals. During the hay days of Kono, it was referred to as the bread basket of Sierra Leone. But today, that past glory of it being one of the highest revenue generation districts of this country has been eroded by the massive exploitation carried out by foreign companies and other private owned companies. Attempting to visit Kono today by road you would ever regret traveling in your life. The road network is terrible to say the least.   

Unabated mining activities ranging from alluvial mining to industrial have besieged Kono district. Indiscriminate mining with lethargic environmental precautions have desecrated the topmost layer of the soil thereby leading to unyielding agricultural productivity. Previously, the mainstay of the people of this district had been diamond mining with little attention given to subsistence agricultural activity. Now, after a long term exploitative activities by large mining companies like formally, the National Diamond Mining Company (NDMC) which was later transformed into Koidu Holdings South Africa, KARIBA and others, the district when visited during the day appears to be a ghost- town, and by night its nightmarish darkness dotted with household lamps when seen from a distance looks like fire flies.  

However, such a deserted nature of the district cannot go unconnected with the long term mining lease and irrational concessions given to them (Mining Companies) to mine for a period over three generations. It is sad to note that such lofty mining agreements signed with these companies was not in the interest of the people and the benefits accrued therein continue to be siphoned into individual pockets. The chiefs in particular are heartless to the suffering of their people. The majority of the indigene of Kono where these large scale mining activities are carried out are still wallowing in abject poverty and live a wretched life.

Today, in view of all these mishaps that are taking place in Kono, news from an impeccable source has been filtering in the Sierra Express office that residents of Kono district are experiencing an indescribable hardship that has even led some to flee to neighboring villages out of the township to do subsistence agriculture in order to sustain their life. Speaking to one of these resident members, Mr. Mohamed Wuladeh in Kono on a mobile phone from Freetown, he explained to this Sierra Express reporter in a sobbing voice that the hardship in Kono is getting from worse to bad on a daily basis. Mr. Wuladeh further explained that there is nothing absolutely to engage the minds of idle youths, and that the once back-breaking diamond business which used to engage them has suddenly collapsed and eventually came to a halt, he confirmed to SEM.

According to other residents interviewed by SEM reporter, education in the district is lagging behind with no serious attention being paid to school going pupils. “When the morning comes, you see children hurrying to school, but by mid-day you see them roaming the streets in numbers. I think the school authorities should be blamed for not controlling these children”, explains Pa. Sahr Komba Safia, a resident of Yardu Road. In an effort to make this story a balanced one, this reporter caught up with one of the teachers of the Koidu Girls Secondary School (KGSS), who later identified himself as Mr. Sesay. Mr. Sesay has told SEM that, “despite the relentless efforts some parents make to send their children to school, they play truancy and sneak into pit holes and work for pittance for greedy diamond- seekers.

Kono district in terms of infrastructural developments, can boast of nothing, except for the few mosques and churches established by missionaries and other private individuals. The centre of the district and its immediate environs are characterized by pot holes; no pure drinking water; not mention electricity as that has been in non-existence since the days of Moses; no laboratories in schools, let alone talk of labor, an operation theater where cases of emergency can be done in the main Government hospital. Kono is lacking in every basic necessity expected of a city. In actual fact referring to the district as Koidu New Sembehun City is not only an irony but a complete mockery to the people of Kono.

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