Disagreements over sharing of surface rent have resulted into a full-blown conflict among land owners in Maforki chiefdom, Port Loko District.
Port Loko located North of Sierra Leone host the 29km hull road between Lunsar and Thofayim as well as the 242km railway between Ferengbeya and Pepel used by the Iron Ore miners, Marampa Mines Limited (MML) and Leone Rock Company (LRC) respectively.
MML initially SL Mining, went into a 25-year mining agreement with the government of Sierra Leone to mine the ‘Marampa Blue,’ the popular name given to the Iron Ore in Lunsar town.
The two mining companies pay per annum surface rent running into million of Leones to four families: The Thonkara, Kanu, Bangura and Kamara families in Maforki Chiefdom.
The exact amount the land owners receive is yet to be established as it is a closely guarded secret.
Unofficial sources however say the Thonkara family receive annually about thirty-four thousand Leones (Le34, 000) as surface rent, an amount that is equivalent to approximately US$1, 500.
The Kamara family in Mathumu village is entitled to a significant portion of this amount, but these funds are allegedly siphoned by the receivers, an act that has caused frustration and anger among several members of the Kamara family.
A member of the Kamara family, Fatmata Kamara says members of the Thonkara family often inform them that the amount paid by the company is just three thousand Leones (Le3, 000), an amount equal to US$100.
With the said sum, it is difficult for everybody to benefit but they are often told to exercise patience and look forward to another payment, but such promises usually remain a mere hoax.
Investigation conducted by this press however show that only the Kanu and Thonkara families of Maforay and Rogbere villages share the rent among themselves to the exclusion of the Bangura and Kamara families of ‘Potocase’ Section and Mathumu village respectively.
Folklore holds that ‘Potocase’ as called by in Temne language means ‘Portoguese,’ one of the oldest sections in Maforki. It was one of the places first inhabited by the Portuguese when they entered Sierra Leone.
The indigenes of ‘Potocase’ take pride in a large portion of land stretching to the hull road and railway for which they expect benefit from the surface rent paid by the two Iron Ore miners, but they say they are deprived.
Like the Bangura Family, the Kamara family too owns significant portion of the hull road including a portion of land approximately three town lots leased to MML several years ago with the section chief, Pa Alimamy Thonkara at the helm.
This agreement is also another top secret as documents were kept only to themselves.
The leased portion is where MML currently places their machines used to extract water from the river for sprinkling on the hull road to suppress dust in the dries.
Surface rent is also paid annually for this portion of land owned by the Kamara family, but they get nothing from the payment. Effort to reach MML to know how much they pay for the land usually ends in futility.
At the centre of the alleged embezzlement of surface rent are two section chiefs, Pa Alimamy Thonkara and Pa Alimamy Kanu of Maforki Chiefdom who head the Kanu and Thonkara families.
The alleged deprivation runs for a period of 12 years for the Bangura family and 14 years for the Kamara Family, a period which the defunct Iron Ore miner, London Mining Company (LMC) started paying land owners. Following AML (African Minerals Limited) and LMC’s closure of mining operations in May, 2014 owing to the twin shocks of Ebola outbreak and fall of the Iron Ore price, other mining companies took over payment of surface rent.
Currently, MML and LRC pay surface rent to the land owners, but it does not appear to be trickling down to the right persons.
The matter is now before the Paramount Chief, Bai Forki Fenka for peaceful settlement.
An injunction has been slammed restraining parties from carrying work on the disputed land, and a two-year surface rent in safe custody, and expected to be shared among the land owners in weeks to ease tension.
Several reports of defiance and resistance to the restraining order however is reportedly being put up by the Kanu and Thonkara families of Maforay and Rogbere villages, the defendants in the matter.
A threat to forcefully enter the land by one of the defendants, Osman Kargbo was made in a video that has gone viral on social media platforms prompting local authorities to intervene. Kargbo usually represents Pa Alimamy Thonkara in the ongoing land dispute.
A discovery of coal burning was made during a visit to the disputed land in Maforay in the Kanu Section by local authorities.
Similar infractions were also detected at the other side of the disputed land occupied by the Thonkara family as Mango trees were allegedly harvested there by a relative who sources say is a relative of Osman Kargbo.
The matter before was taken to the Paramount Chief by one of the aggrieved land owners, Sheka Bangura who says he wants to see the end of corruption and suffering and that everyone must equally benefit from their land.
“My people, I mean the people of ‘Potocase’ section, have suffered for too long. Companies pay surface rent, but they get nothing. I believe the time for justice has come,” Bangura told this press.
Questioned further on the allegation, Bangura responded that they initially received their own share of the surface rent for only three years, that is, from 2009-2012 during LMC’s days.
The two section chiefs have been allegedly receiving that money without delivery to the land owners.
Bangura also went on to state that he had been receiving been death threats and smear campaigns from the inception of this matter, but had behaved within the confines of the law.
Members of the Kamara family have also joined Sheka Bangura in the litigations as they too want to get back their right over their land and benefit from the surface rent paid by the companies.
Owing to the uneasy calm emanating from the land dispute compounded by threats of disorder, the Paramount Chief, in collaboration with DISEC (District Security Committee), is handling the matter with a view to equally share the surface rent among the land owners while the investigation of the land dispute continues.
DISEC, chaired by the Senior District Officer (SDO), is a body that consists of security stakeholders: the police, the army, paramount chiefs, office of National Security.
It is charged with the responsibility of monitoring and preventing incidents that threaten security in the district and inform higher authorities.
The land dispute among the four families is one that threatens the security of the district, and the body has therefore come in to restore sanity.
Another meeting of a set of land owners is due to take place at the SDO’s office in PortLoko to end the lingering dispute.
Disputes over land and sharing of surface rent is not peculiar only to Maforki chiefdom.
Conflicts and sometimes intermittent waves of protest over sharing of surface rent and deprivation of several opportunities are not uncommon in mining communities in PortLoko district.
Lunsar town which hosts the Gafal hills of the Iron Ore recently became a flashpoint of protests and demonstration as protesters called from the resignation of the company’s legal retainer, Wara Serry Kamal.
She was accused of derailing community development projects with the completion of the Lunsar Clock Tower being the latest and most prominent.
It is yet unclear whether the issue has been amicably resolved.
In March, 2022, Paramount Chief Koblo Queen of Marampa Chiefdom also came under attack by irate youths in Lunsar town over allegation of conniving with government to shut down the Iron Ore mines, a situation that led to job losses, suffering and economic hardship.
The current dispute is therefore no difference with previous conflicts over access to opportunities brought by mining communities.
But, the deprived land owners hope to see a migration of darkness to light over the sharing of surface rent when the dispute is resolved on a win-win.