Koidu Holdings and the Exploitation of Kono
By Kamalo
Kono District, once a symbol of hope and natural abundance, has become a bleeding wound on the conscience of this nation. For decades, the region has sat atop some of the world’s richest diamond deposits. But today, Kono stands as a haunting paradox: buried in wealth, yet drowning in poverty.
At the heart of this tragedy lies Koidu Holdings, later rebranded as OCTEA Mining, a foreign-owned company that has turned Kono into its private cash cow. With the complicity of successive governments, this company has raped the land, exploited the people, and pocketed billions — while offering next to nothing in return.
Let’s call it what it is: corporate colonization.
This is a company that was not only handed access to some of the richest diamond fields in the world, but was also given leeway to operate with minimal oversight, laughably low royalty rates, and practically no accountability. In return, it offered Sierra Leoneans — particularly the people of Kono — disease, displacement, and death.
In 2007, the company’s private security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters. Two people were killed. Many others were injured. Their crime? Demanding fair treatment, compensation, and better living conditions. These were not rioters or looters — they were sons and daughters of the soil, asking to benefit from the diamonds dug out of their own backyards. The response? Bullets. Silence. Business as usual.
And that was just the beginning.
Koidu Holdings has been repeatedly accused of undervaluing its diamond exports — a deliberate tactic used to cheat the country out of tax revenue. They declare low values at export and sell high on the international market. The gap, often worth millions, disappears into offshore accounts. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone’s hospitals remain underfunded. Our schools crumble. Our youth flee in search of hope.
In 2016, workers at Koidu Holdings protested again — this time over being paid in the rapidly depreciating Leone, at an exchange rate well below market value. They were essentially robbed of half their earnings. Legal experts, including the highly respected Basita Michael, called it “unconscionable,” “exploitative,” and “criminal.” And yet — the company continued its operations, untouched.
The same company has also been accused of failing to provide basic necessities to its workforce. Clean drinking water, a human right and bare minimum in any workplace, was reportedly unavailable to miners. Let that sink in — workers digging diamonds worth millions could not even quench their thirst with safe water.
But where was the government? Silent. Complicit. Weak.
These abuses could not have occurred without the blessing — or indifference — of those in power. Successive administrations signed contracts without scrutiny, accepted dubious royalty structures, and refused to enforce basic labour or environmental standards.
For Kono residents, these contracts were death warrants. They lost their land. They lost their health. They lost their voice.
So the question must now be asked: Why has Koidu Holdings been allowed to operate with impunity? Why has there been no public reckoning for the 2007 killings? Why have there been no prosecutions for tax evasion, labour abuse, and environmental crimes?
Because when corruption meets cowardice, justice dies.
But the people of Kono — and indeed, all Sierra Leoneans — must no longer wait for justice to arrive. We must demand it. We must organize. We must fight. Not just for compensation or fair wages — but for ownership. We must break the foreign stranglehold over our minerals. We must tear up exploitative contracts and write new ones, in our own name, on our own terms.
Let Koidu be the last. Let this betrayal never repeat itself.
Kono has suffered enough. Sierra Leone has bled enough. The mines must return to the people.
And those who have fed off our suffering must be held to account.