Meeting successful despite KONSU ‘walkout’
Moments after our public disclosure meeting on Tuesday, 15 March, 2011, at the Miata Conference Centre in Freetown, Mr. Theophilus Gbenda of the Association of Journalists on Mining and Extractives (AJME), an off spring of the Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD), hurriedly published an article on the Sierra Express Media’s online news portal on the meeting and its aftermath. Whilst we are not contesting everything contained in the said publication, there are however a few facts that we feel the need to set straight in the interest of providing the public factual and objective information.
Indeed, the otherwise successful public consultation meeting was marred by an act unfortunately stirred by some members of the Kono Students’ Union (KONSU). The students, who clearly went to the meeting with intent to disrupt the proceedings, walked out of the meeting after their President, Emmanuel Jimissa had delivered a speech that discredited factual information on the Koidu Holdings website. The KONSU President also pointed an accusatory finger at Paramount Chief Paul Ngaba Saquee V of Tankoro Chiefdom.
Despite several attempts by the students to disrupt the meeting, the disclosure progressed well. However, it was not until after the meeting that the unfortunate spectacle unfolded. Contrary to Mr. Gbenda’s account, it was the side glass of the Chief’s car and not the back windscreen that was damaged. Whether or not it was an act carried out by the students, is a matter for the court to determine. Our only regret is that that brief spell of hostility seems to have taken the gloss away from the meeting and over-shadowed what was a very productive consultative session. Yes our Chief Communications Officer, Mr. Ibrahim Sorie Kamara, condemned the violence but at no point in the whole session did he say the government has already sanctioned the expansion, as also claimed by Mr. Gbenda’s article. If so, why would Koidu Holdings be holding these open public consultations?
The KONSU President’s statement, it has to be said, clearly manifested the extent of their detachment from happenings in their home town. Sadly, we could not respond to their allegations adequately at the meeting because they walked out immediately after their presentation. We would of course welcome a conversation and chance to respond to their issues, but with this kind of ‘walk out approach’, we are unable to develop a relationship and understand their concerns. Koidu Holdings would also like to state here that the written content on our website is neither incorrect nor misleading. The Company operates with responsibility, transparency and credibility. False claims online are not part of this approach.
What was completely absent from Mr. Gbenda’s article was the fact that the people who will be directly affected by the proposed expansion welcome it with open arms, and yet a group of students who are almost always in Freetown, and the NMJD who seems to have developed a liking over the years for both criticising and publishing negative press releases on Koidu Holdings, are rejecting it out right without substantiation. And let us not make the mistake of saying it is because they know something that the affected people of Koidu don’t, because a good number of them are equally if not more aware of what is happening now and what is going to happen. This then begs the question; whose interest are the students, the NMJD and Mr. Gbenda representing? Certainly not the affected people of Tankoro Chiefdom
At a time when the whole nation is yearning for a new beginning after a 50-year of existence that was blighted by a decade of violence, now is certainly not the time for violence to be seen as a preferred alternative to constructive engagement, not by students and certainly not by anyone else.
Ibrahim Sorie Kamara, Koidu Holdings
Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!
© 2011, https:. All rights reserved.
