END THE ECONOMIC RAPE NOW!
…Review all Mining Agreements
By Kamalo
When Sierra Leone raised its flag of independence in 1961, the promise was clear: we would be masters of our destiny, owners of our land, and custodians of our vast natural wealth. But over sixty years later, that dream lies buried beneath the same soil that has made others rich. Our diamonds, gold, bauxite, rutile, and iron ore have been mined not for the benefit of Sierra Leoneans, but for the enrichment of foreign corporations — leaving us with nothing but the dust of broken promises.
From the early days of the Sierra Leone Selection Trust (SLST) to the more recent Koidu Holdings and China Kingho, the script has remained the same: foreign companies arrive, sign lopsided deals, dig into our land, export the riches — and leave us with environmental destruction, poverty, and despair.
Sierra Leone is rich — obscenely rich. Our land groans with diamonds. Our hills are laced with iron ore. Our waters teem with fish. But the average Sierra Leonean has seen nothing of this wealth. We are ranked near the bottom of the Human Development Index. Our children still die from preventable diseases. Our youth wander jobless. Our infrastructure crumbles. Meanwhile, CEOs in London, Tel Aviv, Beijing, and elsewhere get fat on the profits sucked from our soil.
What do we get in return? Poorly paid jobs. Destroyed farmlands. Rivers poisoned by chemical runoff. Our roads turned to rubble by overloaded trucks ferrying riches to the ports. The very companies that operate here — some even using “Sierra Leone” in their names — are nothing but foreign-owned profit machines. They do not build hospitals. They do not provide scholarships. They do not care if Sierra Leoneans live or die, so long as the minerals keep flowing.
Even our national infrastructure has been sold off. Imagine a country so desperate, so compromised, that it allows a foreign company to own and operate the railway system used to export national resources. This is not development. It’s neocolonialism dressed up as investment.
We were told mining would bring jobs and growth. But what we got was dependency, corruption, and economic sabotage. A few connected elites sign secret contracts while the rest of us bear the burden of lost land, lost dignity, and lost futures. This is not a partnership — it is plunder.
And the worst part? We’ve normalized it. We’ve allowed it. Year after year, government after government, we’ve watched our wealth leave without lifting a finger. But it’s time that changed.
This series is a call to wake up. To speak out. To demand better. The era of quiet suffering must end. Sierra Leoneans must reclaim what is theirs. Because if we don’t, the plunder will continue — and our children will inherit nothing but empty pits and bitter regret.