A research conducted by year one students of the Faculty of Law Fourah Bay College reveals that Kono is a district endowed with riches but it peoples remain poor. The research topic was ‘A critical evaluation of the positive development and potential; including the prevalence of human rights challenges in Kono district’.
The research was done as a fulfillment of an assignment given by Lecturer Rashid Dumbuya as part of the continuous assessment marks for all year one students of the Faculty of Law on their Introduction to Law module. The above research was done by group four (4), one of the sixteen (16) groups formed through a raffle by the lecturer.
Presentation of the research and its findings was done on Saturday 29th July at the Multi-Purpose Hall at Fourah Bay College Freetown.
The research findings outlined that Kono is a land of powerful mixture with rich cultural setting. It also indicated that the district is endowed with abundance of natural resources including diamond, gold, rice, coffee and cocoa which are of great national importance but the people of Kono are yet living in abject poverty.
Dignitaries hailing from the district were invited to grace the occasion and get empirical information about the research.
Among such were Parliamentarians from Kono including Hon. Saa Emerson Lamina, Leader of the Coalition 4 Change Party, Hon Saa Francis Bhendu, Hon Abdul Sulaiman Marray-Conteh of Western Area and Reuters and BBC correspondent Umaru Fofana who also hailed from Kono.
Lawyer Rashid Dumbuya, Lecturer in charge of the module: Introduction to Law, said as Law students the assignment was to make them familiar with practical realities on the ground rather than just learning theories. He said the students would be graded over 25 for the research work, noting that the remaining 5 marks would be awarded based on attendance.
Dumbuya maintained that the invitation of Parliamentarians of the district was very deliberate because it would help provide them with empirical research that will help them influence informed policy reforms when making law in parliament. He disclosed that the dignitaries would suggest the marks the group would score but he may or may not agree with them.
Group leader group 4, Princess I. Sesay informed this medium that they were lucky to have chosen Kono (on raffle) for the research work. She affirmed that a data collection method (Primary and Secondary) including quantitative, qualitative and random selection techniques were used with a sample size of 50 respondents (male and female) to conduct the research.
Giving a synopsis of the research, Mohamed B. Kallon who emerges as the best presenter noted that the research findings on the positive development and the prevalence of Human Rights Challenges in Kono district captured the Education, Health, Mining and Law Enforcement sectors among others.
He reiterated that the outcome of the research shows that Kono district has experienced remarkable growth over the years, but yet it has not translated into significantly improved livelihoods for the district and its people in general. He noted that the prevalence of human rights challenges remain a fabric-threat in the district.
Emerson Lamina, Leader of the Coalition 4 Change (C4C) Party commended the students for such marvelous job. “I would like to describe these set of researchers as living encyclopedia and research witches and wizards. Their research is detailed, touchy and the content can be presented for international journal,” he recommended.
Other dignitaries’ present also lavished praises on the group for their apt research work and their eloquent presentation, thereby canvasing the Lecturer in charge (Rashid Dumbuya Esq) to award the group nothing less than 24 over 25% marks.
