The Consortium of Civil Society Organizations on Social and Economic Justice has called on the Government of Sierra Leone to amicably resolve the matter between itself and Chinese Gouji Development and Investment Company.
The Chinese-owned Company was brought into Sierra Leone by Late President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in 2003, and in 2004 the Government of Sierra Leone, through the Ministry of Trade, signed an investment contract with the Company. The then Minister of Trade, Dr Kadie Sesay, signed on behalf of GoSL.
The agreement was designed to foster Sierra-Sino friendship, to develop trade and foster bilateral relationship between the People’s Republic of China and Sierra Leone by supporting and strengthening local markets.
Marketing Manager of Gouji Company, Fefegula Moore Foday, in a media conference held on Thursday January 28, 2021, said that the Company commenced operation in 2004, and the agreement had been renewed and extended for fifty years with a 20 % dividend which was supposed to be paid to the Government of Sierra Leone in 2011.
He further said that sometime in January of 2021, a delegation led by the current Minister of Trade, Dr. Hinga Sandy, and his deputy visited the premises of the Company informing them that they had flouted major terms of the contract. He further said that they had been cautioned by the Minister that because of that breach they should vacate the said property they are occupying.
He furthered that when Gouji enquired from the Minister and team to identify the particular term of their agreement they had breached, the Ministry and its delegates were unable to give appropriate answers.
The Chairman of the Consortium, Mohamed Kamara, to resolve the matter, called on the office of the President to intervene, considering the president’s efforts to attract investors to Sierra Leone. He suggested that the Attorney General put on hold a decision to evict the Company on January 31st 2021.
“The intervention of the Justice Ministry would save Sierra Leone from another court arbitration and embarrassment,” Kamara said.
He added that the Inspector General of Police and the Army Chief of Staff should inspect the activities of armed military and police personnel deployed at the zone of Guoji Investment Company in order to create a peaceful business environment.
Kamara explained that during their outdoor visit at the precinct of the company they found that makeshift structures had been erected in the property and staffs of the Company reported human rights abuses by the said military and police personnel.
By George M.O. Williams
29/01/2021. ISSUE NO: 7991