October 31, 2019
Forever Faith Mining Company has given two hundred and forty Seven Million Leones as surface rent to four land owning families in Shenge, Kargboro Chiefdom, and Moyamba District.
The Surface rent was paid in accordance with the Mining Laws of Sierra Leone.
According to the Mines and Minerals Act, every mining company operating in any area should pay surface rent to land owning families.
The Court Barry was full with members of the four land owning families waiting for the signing and handing over of the money to family members who signed the agreement to sign for and collect their rents.
Before the commencement of the meeting for the distribution of the surface rent, some family members who thought they were left out by some land owning families threatened to disrupt the distribution process.
However, nobody disrupted the process since there were police presence and every speaker urged aggrieved parties to go to court.
The chairman of the occasion, Samuel Caulker said, the company worked with the paramount chiefs and other authorities to identify land owning families; verify them and sign the lease agreement with them. He said the company had paid the first rent without any problem and urged everybody to work within the law.
Representatives of National Minerals Agency (NMA)Lawrence Gbondo said he was instructed to ensure those who signed the lease agreement sign for their money and that copies of the documents they sign should be given to the land owning families, District Office and NMA.
Representative of the land owning families at Tissana Hon. Harry Williams accused the company of underpaying them, stating that, they should receive Seven Thousand Dollars for each acre of the Land, describing what they are receiving as pitance. He refused to sign for the money on behalf of his family if the money is not increased to the said Seven Thousand Dollars per acre.
The Operations Manager, Forever Faith Mining Company, Joseph Nanah said, the company did not identify the land owners. He said, the Paramount Chief and other authorities in the chiefdom identified the land owners and that they signed the contract in the presence of all the chiefdom authorities.
Joseph Nanah said Forever Faith Mining Company is the only company that pays five hundred thousand Leones per acre for sand Minerals like Zircon in the country. He challenged them that the company would double the current money they are paying per acre if they come with any evidence of a company that is paying equal to or above what they are paying for any sand mineral like zircon. .
Currently, the chiefdom and the Moyamba District Council do not benefit from the surface rent the company pays to the land owners.
Joseph Nanah said, the License they are operating with does not say they should pay part of the money to the council and chiefdom authorities since they only hold a small scale mining license. He said, as part of the company’s corporate social responsibilities, the company gives twenty thousand dollars every year to the chiefdom development committee to undertake development.
We visited Two Primary schools where new toilets were constructed to save the children from going into bushes to defecate and a rehabilitation work was on going. We also visited the police station and the secondary school that the committee has rehabilitated. A computer lab has been furnished for the Hayward Memorial Secondary School.