By Mohamed Sankoh (One Drop)
An article in The National online newsmagazine, titled “Is China encountering or exploiting Africa?”, authored by Richard Poplak, sums up everything on how the People’s Republic of China is exploiting some African countries and leaving them under-developed.
According to Poplak, “Since the beginning of this century, the People’s Republic of China has pumped billions of dollars into governments and infrastructure across Africa, and reaped billions [of dollars] worth of commodities in exchange. Yet, peering through the official obfuscation, many in Africa are certain there is no quid pro quo….[Latin for “something for something”]”
And Sierra Leone is no exception to this status quo. All the so-called win-win mining activities, or road construction projects, undertaken by Chinese companies in Sierra Leone have always bordered on exploitation. Most of the time, Chinese companies have always left the Government and people of Sierra Leone on the losing side and impoverished in the end while the “loots” are repatriated to better the lot of Chinese citizens.
Though there are few studies, or surveys, undertaken in this area; one such study of note is a February 2021 Report prepared by the Institute for Governance Reform (IGR), with support from the International Republican Institute (IRI), titled: “China’s Emerging Influence In Sierra Leone: Voices & Views of Local Fishing and Road Construction Communities”. This Report explains the subtle exploitations of Chinese companies with the tacit connivance of successive governments since 1961 to date.
In that Report, it is argued that: “…China’s presence in Sierra Leone is rooted in its desire to secure vital resources and raw materials to feed its enormous domestic population. Despite China’s insistence that it promotes win-win trade relations with bilateral partners, local communities complain that at the losing end and poverty levels are rising….”
Furthermore, that Report “…reveals evidence of how overpriced road infrastructure contracts going to Chinese companies are contributing to the country’s growing debt burden; and how China’s dominance in the fishing sector undermines local revenue generation and exacerbates economic hardship in local fishing communities…”
One of the key findings of that IGR February 2021 Report is that, “Since Independence in 1961, no foreign country has ever infiltrated Sierra Leone to the degree that China has done in the post-war era (2002 to present). This is true not only in terms of the breath of investment activities, but also in terms of the extent to which Chinese nationals and corporations have penetrated deep into the fabric of the country….”
That is the premise for today’s One Dropian dropping. Have the mining activities and road construction projects, undertaken by Chinese companies in Sierra Leone, brought any real wealth to the people of Sierra Leone? Are they only undertaken for the cosmetic visuals than being beneficial to the general citizenry? Are these mining activities and road construction projects undertaken by Chinese companies mainly reaping billions of dollars to oxygenize their industries back home? Or are these Chinese mining activities and road construction projects only benefiting successive ruling elites in terms of kick-backs?
Just last Thursday, President Julius Maada Bio was over the moon in Ferengbeia Town, in Tonkolili District, northern Sierra Leone. That occasion (you can call it political circus if you like) itself reminded me of the Stockholm syndrome. Imagine, a Head of State showering praises on a Chinese company for merely giving his country pittance from the exploitation of his country’s iron ore from which the Chinese company is raking millions and millions of US dollars!
According to the press release from the State House Media and Communications Unit (Thursday 30 March 2023), “The President… received a cheque for SLE 20.3 billion (old Leones) on behalf of the community, one percent of the annual gross revenue of the company, formerly China Kingho Mining Company, to be deposited into the fund’s account as prescribed under the laws of Sierra Leone and in fulfillment of its community development agreement obligations”. And for this chickenfeed thrown at Sierra Leoneans like bones unto starving dogs; President Bio reportedly thanked “Leone Rock-Kingho for maintaining its commitment to pay 1% of revenue as an investment in local sustainable livelihood and community development projects…”
This is laughably laughable for the simple fact that it gives one the comic feeling of seeing victims of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves praising the thieves for their thieveries simply because they have returned just 1% of their loot to some of the victims! And the tragic-comic part of it all is that if one translates the SLE 20.3 billion (old Leones), which the residents of that mining community received as “royalty” from the Chinese company, into United States’ dollars or even the Chinese Yuan; then it becomes insultingly insulting that the people who own the land and the iron ore are only receiving just 1% of Leone Rock-Kingho’s “annual gross revenue”. It is like someone stealing your bakery, including the flourmill, and giving you just a loaf of bread weekly!
And President Bio unashamedly acknowledges that such insult is “…the clear outcomes of the many policy and governance reforms [his government] clearly laid out in [the Sierra Leone People’s Party’s] 2018 manifesto for transforming the mining sector…..” This shows that the Bio-led administration appears to be seriously unserious about righting some of the wrongs which the SLPP government allegedly “inherited” (It has been ages now that I have not heard this word from either President Bio or any of his toadies!) from the erstwhile All People’s Congress (APC) government. If the Bio-led administration says it wants to overhaul or transform the mining sector, it should not do so half-heartedly.
And since 29 July 1971, when Sierra Leone and the People’s Republic of China established diplomatic relations, China has pumped millions of dollars into mining activities and infrastructure projects across Sierra Leone. But ordinary Sierra Leoneans have only received little benefits from these Chinese investments or projects except for successive ruling elites who have been enjoying little crumbs from the loot.
It is on that note that I will end today’s One Dropian dropping with one of the recommendations in the IGR February 2021 Report which notes that, “…To address the effects of China on Sierra Leone’s democracy building efforts, civil society, [the] media and human rights activists should exert enough pressure on Government, Chinese corporations and private Chinese entrepreneurs to expose all transactions with the Government of Sierra Leone to public scrutiny….”
When that is done, sincerely, then I think we will be able to assess if Chinese companies are of benefit to Sierra Leone in particular and Sierra Leoneans generally.
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