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By Stephen V. Lansana
Kumba Manchendeh, and Sahr Mbayo (not their real names) are all transported to mining communities by their foster parents. They took them to the communities with the hope of giving them a better life, but later both minors ended working at the mining sites as laborers.
Kumba is 17, an orphan who works as labourer at the Waka Fast mining site at Catanga community, Peyima Village, Kamara Chiefdom in Kono District, 15 miles from Koidu city, the major town in the District.
She was brought by her aunty to the mining site to mine diamonds and gold after her parents died years ago. She was in Junior Secondary School Three (JSS3) when her parents died, and started mining about six months ago.
She works as a laborer on a daily basis to transport gravel from the mining pit to the plant and is paid Le 50 (equivalent to $2.2) for every eight hours of work, and after work she sleeps at the site with the other children in the open area whilst the adults sleep inside the thatch houses.
She works at least four days in a week, for a total of 16 days a month earning about Le 800 (equivalent to $ 35.1) monthly, slightly below the minimum of Le 1,000. Kumba hopes to save enough money to start her own business and has joined an ‘Osusu’, a group where members contribute Le 50 daily, and the total amount is given to one member in rotation.
Sahr Mbayo [Not his real name], 13, was taken from Motema village to Banana Garden, Kumoruh village, Njiama Nimikoro chiefdom in Kono district about 10 miles away from Koidu City by his grandmother after taking his National Primary School Examination. He is a ’panner’, but also transports gold gravel for her grandmother, who sells food [cookery] at the mining site. He washes the gravel and collects the gold particles thereafter.
He is not paid and doesn’t even know the value of what he mines. He explains that after panning for gold, his grandmother comes and collects it.
According to the Child Rights Act of 2007, the minimum age for a person to engage in hazardous work like mining is 18.
Sierra Leonean law prohibit children from mining and sets a punishment of a fine not exceeding Le 10, 000 (New Leones) equivalent to USD$ 445 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both such fine and imprisonment for any person who contravenes it.
The Director of Prevention and Public Education – Anti-Trafficking in Persons (ATIP) Task Force Secretariat, Albert George Sheriff stated that the Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Act, 2022, protects children from such, and that tells you the child suffers the most.
The World Hope International Boss in Kono, Ibrahim Sorie Turay described the activities of children in a mining sites as illegal, noting that the monies earned from their labour only benefits their fostered parents and mining dealers.
Director Sheriff said that it has been a challenge to get a data on child labor and internal child trafficking, noting that the figures they have on internal child trafficking do not reflect the reality on the ground. “In 2023 our administrative data shows that we intercepted and rehabilitated fifty one (51) presumed victims of human trafficking of which forty one (41) were children (fifteen boys, twenty girls). Also forty four (44) of this fifty one were internal trafficking cases,” he said.
EXPLOITATION DISGUISED
A study conducted in Sierra Leone by the African Programming & Research Initiative to End Slavery (APRIES) and partners in 2019-2020 estimated that 46 % of children aged 5 to 17 in Sierra Leone’s Eastern Province have experienced Child Trafficking, and 36 % have experienced Child Labor.
The Director of Prevention and Public Education – Anti-Trafficking in Persons (ATIP) Task Force Secretariat, Albert George Sheriff said that Menpikin is the mask worn on the face of child traffickers to beautify its look.
The Director cannot give a concrete answer on the payment child miners receive in Kono, and who benefits more, but assured that the issue would be investigated.
However, he said “No justification can be made in exploiting a child.”
Many internal Child Trafficking victims are not paid monetary compensation because they stay with relatives other than their biological parents.
Based on our estimates, a child [like Kumba] in Peyima village who works for a daily wage of Le 50, earns Le 800 per month if he works for 16 days, and Le 9, 600 a year.
According to the Mining Site Manager, an adult receives Le 60 per day, and for the same amount of days will get Le 17, 280 a year.
The wage disparity between a child and an adult miner is Le 7,680.
Bondu Lebbie is the grandmother of Sahr Mbayo who relocated him from Motema village to Banana Garden two miles after Kumoruh village.
She doesn’t give a monetary compensation to his grandson, Sahr, who transports and washes gravel for her. She claims that she provides basic amenities for Sahr including his schooling that is why he does not require monetary compensation.
This medium visited the two major mining communities in Kono district [Kumoruh and Peyima village] to access economic information on the profits made by those who operate the mines, but to no avail.
The Site Manager of Waka Fast Mining Site Catanga in Peyima village, Bockarie Koroma is not aware of the quantity of diamonds and gold extracted from the site.
He is a young man in his early 30s with three children; two of whom attend school.
He hires workers daily and pays Le 50 to children and some adults for eight hours of work, while other adults who work on the plant machine are paid Le 60. He confirmed that most of the miners sleep at the site.
He said they wake up by 4:00 a. m. daily and work starts around 6:00 a. m. or 7:00 a. m.; and at the end of the eight hours, he pays them their wages and if their services are needed further, he hires them again for another eight hours for the late shift which is between 1:00 pm to 9:00pm.
He disclosed that the Company opened a bank account for him where his monthly wages are paid. “I am paid Le 60 per day which is calculated by the number of days I worked in a month and the sum total is deposited into my Bank Account as my salary,” he said.
He added that Ali San [the Dealer] provides him with Le 40 for lunch every day, Le 60 as dinner per day for himself and wife, and Le 100-rent allowance per month, adding that he is the only worker who is provided with these facilities.
He disclosed that he is building a three bedroom house in Levuma village in Kenema district; with mud bricks interlocked with cement.
Koroma has spent two years on this building project, but the construction is at wall height with no roof yet, but the child miners only work for their daily survival.
“I have saved about Le 40, 000 (equivalent to $1,782) in my bank account,” he said.
But, Ibrahim Sorie Turay, the Focal Person for World Hope International in Kono said that the Le 50 payment is not enough for the labor rendered by the children. He said that most Site Managers hire children because they are not able to hire adults for Le 50 per day.
Sierra Leone’s minimum wage is Le 800 per month for workers in the formal sector, but there is no legislatively mandated minimum wage for workers in the informal sector.
Sahr Musa, a Vice Machine Chairman, at the Banana Garden Gold Mining Site situated between two hills in Kumaruh village, Njiama Nimikoro chiefdom in Kono district describes his operation as supervising the Plant Machine which washes the gold gravel for Le 50 per bag. He said they do not support a person or group to mine for them.
He said that children are mostly asked to transport the gravel to the Plant Machine after adults would have brought it from hill tops, noting that the miners will get four to five carats of gold from every five bags of gravel the plant machine washes.
Gold, a highly valued precious metal, is weighed using troy weight and grams. When combined with other metals in an alloy, the gold purity is indicated by the term carat or karat. Pure gold is denoted by 24 carats, while lower ratings signify a reduced gold content in proportion to the alloy.
Four to five carats of gold per ounce is worth between Le 1,080 (equivalent to $48) and Le 1, 350 (equivalent to $60) in the local markets, and $389 for four carats of gold per ounce and $ 484 for five carats of gold per ounce in international markets [https://www.livepriceofgold.com/4k-gold-price.html].
According to Musa, children at the site are not paid because they are brought by parents or caregivers.
CONTRIBUTION OF ARTISANAL MINING TO SIERRA LEONE ECONOMY
Sierra Leone is endowed with minerals. In 2021, mining contributed 0.6 percent to Sierra Leone’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The mining sector accounted for 67% of Sierra Leone’s export earnings in 2021. Mining contributed 4.1% to total government revenues in 2021. The artisanal mining sector accounts for almost 38% of diamond exports in Sierra Leone.
There is no record to show what percentage of child miners contribute to the GDP in spite of how common child miners are in artisanal mining areas.
Jacob Kaindoh, an Economic and Financial Consultant said that the artisanal mining sector accounts for almost 38% of diamond exports in Sierra Leone. “It is estimated that over 80% of Sierra Leone’s diamonds are extracted by artisanal miners”.
Kaindoh explained that while exact numbers of artisanal mininers are difficult to determine, it’s estimated that the informal artisanal mining sector in Sierra Leone involves around 300,000 miners which involves women and children between the ages of 10 and 17.
The children who form part of the labor force at the mining sites receive little or no monetary compensation for their labor. Whilst some children who work for a daily wage receives about $2.2, others do not receive any payment in return.
WHO BENEFIT FROM ARTISANAL CHILD MINING
Fanta Jawara, a widow with three children who sells food at the Waka Fast mining site in Peyima, Kamara Chiefdom is Kumba’s aunt who brought her from Koidu City.
While in fear of being incriminated, and with her voice trembling when this medium visited the site, she disclosed that she does not have any hands in the money that Kumba gets from the mines.
Mr. Turay of World Hope International explained that diamond dealers benefit more when they employ cheap labor to get huge returns.
Diamond is one of the most expensive minerals mined in Kono district. According to StoneAlgo, the average price of a 1 carat diamond is currently $4,399. A one carat diamond can cost anywhere from $1,340 – $10,516 depending on the diamond’s shape, color, clarity, and other factors [https://www.stonealgo.com/diamond-prices/1-carat-diamond-prices/].
Sahr Musa, a Vice Machine Chairman, at the Banana Garden Gold Mining Site situated between two hills in Kumaruh village, Njiama Nimikoro chiefdom in Kono district said that the price of gold is Le 270 (equivalent to US$12) per carat, noting that the miners are assured of getting it daily no matter how little it would be, but the foster children (‘menpikin’ / Child Miners) do not directly benefit from the money.
The Chairman of the Child Welfare Committee in Ngaiya community, Mr. Sahr Dominic Tenga said that children often miss school to engage in activities like trading and mining, with little benefit to themselves, noting that many of those children have poor living conditions and do not receive the full benefit of the money they earn in exchange for their exertions.
He disclosed that foster parents benefit more from the monies earned by child laborers.
Mr. Aiah Komba, a financier/supporter of a group of miners in Kono disclosed that he started mining in the 1980s, at age 9 in the town of Tombodu, in Kamara Chiefdom.
He said that in artisanal mining the financier [Supporter] hires at least five miners [diggers], and when a diamond is found the supporter gets 70 % from its sale, the miners 20 % and the bush owner 10 %.
But the mining Kumba does is known as “Cosobo”, where the dealer hires workers and pays them Le 50 per day for children and Le 60 per day for adults, but the workers have no business with the mineral that is mined.
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Explaining the expenditure incurred by the dealer, he said that the dealer buys: a Washing Plant Machine called Kubota, oil, fan-belt and diesel with other smaller machines that support the plant; like a bailing machine called Ey20 Robin Engine Bail Machine.
He observed the Plant Machine at the Waka Fast Mining Site and said that it’s a two “Shaker Plant Machine”.
He pointed out that the machines used at the mining sites are expensive.
But, Mr. Komba added that in spite of the expenditure incurred by the dealers, they still make huge profits. “Even if the dealer finds more than 5 carats, the miners won’t get anything from it because they would have been paid,” he said.
The Site Manager of Waka Fast Mining Site is unaware of the quantity of diamond and gold extracted from the site he manages, but claimed that diamond is extracted every week, and gold is extracted every day. “If the dealer/Sponsor, Ali San, is not making profit, he would have relocated to another site,” he said.
He said that after they finish work for the day, Ali San, the sponsor of the site, has someone he trusts who supervises the extraction of diamonds and panning of gold.
“I do not know how many carats of diamond and gold are extracted from this site because none of us [myself and those I hire per day] is allowed to go where the final washing takes place,” he said.
But Koroma believed that the dealer makes huge profits.