By HRCSL Communications Team
On Friday, 21st March 2025, a team from the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, led by the Vice Chairperson, Victor Idrissa Lansana Esq., conducted a fact-finding mission in Tongo, Kenema District, regarding a stalemate between the management of Sierra Diamonds Mining Company and employees on one hand, and the community members on the other, following a strike action by the mine workers, which had gone viral on social media. The objective of the mission was to provide a redress mechanism and prevent any potential violence or destruction of property.
Upon arrival in Tongo, the team first engaged with traditional leaders, landowners, civil society members, and ordinary community people in the town’s “court barray,” creating an opportunity for all attendees to provide a background to the issue and express their concerns and grievances.
The chiefs informed the Commission that Sierra Diamonds started mining operations in their community in 2018, and since then, six (6) communities have been affected by their operations, namely: Kpandubu, Bumpeh, Nguakoma, Mavehun, Sandeyeima, and Torkpombu. They narrated that the people in these communities have had to desert their homes due to frequent blasting by the company, which has caused serious damage to their homes. In addition, the deprivation of their right to use their land for farming and other agricultural purposes has occurred. They emphasized that there has never been any compensation for the deprivation of land use and their homes, except for a payment of SLLe80 (equivalent to about US$4) per household each time the company conducts blasting.
Speaking on behalf of civil society, Umu Ndanema Sesay, working for Women in Mining and Extractives (WOME), informed the fact-finding team that the mining activities of Sierra Diamonds have led to the contamination of their water source, which they no longer have access to. The only source of drinking water now is from a stream running between the cemetery. She disclosed that the company usually digs pits in the communities during their mining operations and leaves them open even when not working on them, thereby creating death traps, particularly for children. She mentioned that two (2) children, including the child of one of the mine workers, had fallen into these pits and died. These deaths, she added, have gone without any form of accountability or compensation. She further stated that diseases that were not encountered by the community before the commencement of Sierra Diamonds’ mining operations have now surfaced, specifically elephantiasis and river blindness. She concluded that they have had several engagements with the Paramount Chief and the management of the company in an attempt to address these issues, but nothing has come out of those engagements. She also noted that the Member of Parliament (MP) does not visit them, and there has been no contact with their MP.
The team then proceeded to the premises of the company, where it engaged over sixty (60) employees who narrated their concerns and disappointments with their employer, Sierra Diamonds.
They disclosed that they have gone without salary for ten (10) months and that management has abandoned them, with some relocating to Freetown while others have left the country. The employees raised several human rights concerns, including deplorable working conditions, unsafe environments, poor sanitation, lack of clean drinking water, and significant pay disparities between local employees and foreign counterparts, even when their job descriptions or terms of reference may be the same. They also highlighted non-payment of NASSIT contributions, poor medical insurance, and other grievances.
One of the staff narrated the death of his child in one of the company’s pits without compensation, while another brought forward his sick child, aged about six (6) years, who had undergone major surgery and was in urgent need of medical care. However, the father could not afford the medical costs due to the lack of his salary and feared he might lose his child.
In his response, the Vice Chairperson, among other things, expressed admiration for the staff’s resilience and law-abiding nature, despite the difficult circumstances they face. He admonished them to continue exercising restraint as the Commission works to resolve the concerns raised by engaging the company and relevant government institutions for a holistic solution to the problem.
A tour of the facility was conducted by the Commission as a climax to the engagement.
