Feature Article
By: Mohamed Sahr
Though fondly called the ‘Land of Diamonds’, Sierra Leone is renowned not just for its rich mass of kimberlite, but also for its collection of various mineral resources to boot. However, amid this flourish of mineral wealth, the jury has long been out on whether this glut has been a blessing or a bane to the Sierra Leonean masses.
For instance, the discovery of diamonds which can be traced back to the 1930s was welcomed with much fanfare and high hopes of a prosperous future, but fast-forward to almost a century since that miraculous find, and major social amenities in most parts of the country remain either inadequate or non-existent altogether. This and the persisting unemployment rates have contributed to consigning the majority of the nation’s populace to the doldrums of excruciating poverty.
One of the points that emphasize mineral prosperity as a curse is that it had mostly served as a recipe for corruption and conflict in nations blessed with mineral resources. In the mining sector, state capture has been assumed to be a prevailing norm among multinational companies operating in the extractive industry.
For instance, the mining agreement between the defunct African Minerals Limited and the Government of Sierra Leone continues to attract intense criticisms from the wider public with many Sierra Leoneans aligned with the notion that the numerous concessions granted to the company in the form of duty waivers and tax holidays were illogical, and thus criminal.
The impasse that reigned quite recently between Sierra Leone Mining Limited and the Government of Sierra Leone provides clear evidence of probable state capture. This is because, in the agreement, only 3% of the mineral value traded by the company annually was underwritten to be paid as royalty. This value by every reasonable account is insignificant, making the whole agreement look suspect.
Despite being the backbone of social and infrastructure in developing countries, it has contributed to indiscriminate social and infrastructural growth. These absorbing opportunities such as the provision of social amenities like sustainable health facilities, standardized roads, educational facilities, pipe born water among others have not been forthcoming. The Legatum Prosperity Index 2021 ranked Sierra Leone 144th out of 167th in terms of social, capital, infrastructure and market access ranking.
Notwithstanding, Women are denied to access the financial benefit, which has potentially increased their economic reliance on men. Owing to this, compensation and benefits are mostly paid to men at the expense of women. Oxfam 2021 examined that the impacts of mining are not gender-neutral. That is to say, women often experience the negative impacts of mining more than men, and rarely receive the benefit that men do. 30 per cent of women are denied compensation that they rather paid to men.
Although mining creates a cash-based economy, a transitory male workforce brings a rise in alcohol intake, sex workers and violence into a community which is capable of affecting the safety the status of women in society. Industrial Global Union 2018 reported that female mine workers often face discrimination and poor working conditions.
