Hotels - Freetown

Media Links

Mining

Shipping

Travel

Freetown Weather

March 2010
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Feb
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Vice President Sam-Sumana & Diamond Thugs

Author: Tatafway Tumoe - SEM

The recent threat from Councillor Tamba Henry Fomba of Yengema that he will kill me over a report of illicit mining of diamonds in Yengema town, if I do not provide my source, is a matter of serious concern.

I prudently and patiently investigated a report of town mining in Yengema and in other towns including Koidu City, where the practice is said to be going on with the tacit support of the authorities.

Investigations were carried out and residents of the various towns and in the city of Koidu where these practices are ongoing made their reports confirming that indeed illicit mining activities are going on here. As I am writing this piece, houses have been destroyed as a result of the mining in Yengema, including the house of the Late Mr. Mondeh, a great community leader and a Jehovah’s Witness who has served both in Sierra Leone as well as in the United States where he eventually passed away.

In the spirit of fair play and in ensuring that I get the report right, I contacted Councilor Fomba and asked about his links with the mining in Yengema. Rather than help to stop it, as any right thinking representative of the people should have done, he denied links with the illicit mining and said he is always in Koidu Town overseeing the No. II Tailings which was recently handed over to the Kono authorities.

Fomba did not deny the fact that illicit town mining is going on in Yengema, what he denied was that he has no hands in the mining operations. But Fomba is residing in Yengema and Yengema is under his watch and the mining is going on Yengema, one of the communities he is representing as councilor? The people will want to know.

Furthermore, the name of Vice president Sam-Sumana has always been used by a certain group of people in Kono who are engaged in the habit of coercing diamonds from miners, claiming they are representing the interest of the Vice President. As ugly as this is, it is the truth, Fomba and a group posing to be serving the interest of the VP on diamond matters have always damned the interest of the ordinary man in the district on the grounds that the elders deserve better.

In a democratic dispensation such as what is operating here in Sierra Leone, there is a need for the representatives of the people, from the level of the local government councilor to the Office of the President, to respect and listen to the concerns of the people. It was the people’s votes in the first place that placed in the position you are now occupying.

The people of Kono have repeatedly called on me, as a media man ad an activist, to bring out the nefarious activities of these individuals, including Councillor Fomba who has now made it a habit of harassing people seen as against the All People’s Congress party. Members of the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party are particularly living under a perpetual fear of Councilor Fomba in Yengema; restricting their involvement in the affairs of the land.

Whether the he is aware about that or not, it is no secret that the name of Vice President Sam-Sumana is being used as a means of terrorizing the people especially when it concerns diamond mining activities and in seizing diamonds from miners.

That Councilor Fomba should therefore make a call to me threatening that the next time I visit Kono, (which incidentally is also my home land), he will kill me, speaks volumes for a government which we all hailed as a change for the better.

Fomba went on further to state that he will ensure that Vice president Sam-Sumana is informed so that I will be put in my place.

I might have taken Fomba’s statement as the ranting of an angry politician caught in the act, but on second thought, I realise that the fact that Fomba can use the name of the Vice President as part of his cabal of threats against my life became a matter of concern to me.

I have also been informed about the torture of two boys who were nearly killed by Fomba because they were accused of possession of diamonds which they refused to surrender to him.

I believe we have passed through the worst, the times when people had their stomachs slit open for diamonds they have allegedly swallowed.

Short of cutting open the stomachs of the two poor miners, Fomba tortured them and forced all sort of medication into their stomach to force them to vomit the diamonds they were accused to have swallowed and refused to tender it for “submission” to the VP.

Is Councilor Fomba guided along democratic means, or is he and his cabal running a micro-dictatorship in the District?

Is Henry Fomba aware of the damage he is doing to the image of the government and the name of President Ernest Bai Koroma; Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana while engaged in violence against people who oppose his actions? Is Councillor Fomba guided by the principles of democracy or is he living under the misguided belief that the present APC government is not different from the past days of a single party dictatorship?

It is time President Ernest Bai Koroma and his Vice President start a serious re-examination of his followers, especially those given the responsibility of representing the people.

The granting of party symbols to individuals, especially those who have neither the public trust nor an interest in the community’s development is cause for concern.

The decision in also appointing politically immature individuals to high level political positions in the state hierarchy is cause for concern as these people are liable to miss the trees for the forest. These are the ones who consider the present government as their personal property and believe they can undertake any act with impunity, with no consequences as to their actions.

It is also time for Vice President Sahr Sam-Sumana to relate with the realities on the ground in his home ground instead of leaving important matters to his acclaimed errand boys who have no foresight in knowing the importance of governance.

The time for a free for all grabbing of the state’s resources and in undertaking frivolous and mischievous activities detrimental to the nation should not only stop, but must stop now.

President Koroma should realise that the days when government of the day are stagnant and unmovable like the rock of Gibraltar is over. It pays to listen to the people.

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!

Vice President Sam-Sumana & Diamond Thugs

People who looked at this item also looked at…

Related items