The silence of President Julius Maada Bio and government regarding Koidu Holdings abuse of the labour rights of its local workforce and ongoing intimidation of the country’s First Lady is now being interpreted as betrayal and abandonment of the Kono people. This perceived abandonment resonates deeply with the Kono people, whose support was crucial to the president’s 2018 election victory. With over 1,000 local workers dismissed by Koidu Holdings and tensions escalating, the government’s continued silence and inaction is viewed as a failure to protect both its citizens and the First Lady.
It is worrisome to note that the state could abandon its moral and constitutional obligation to protect its own people from corporate bastardization and allow Koidu Holdings to run a campaign of calumny and intimidation against the First Lady for daring to demand respect for the labour rights of over 1,000 dismissed indigenous workers.
The lack of public condemnation or protective response from State House has triggered widespread condemnation, particularly in Kono district. Let’s not forget. It was the people of Kono who tilted the electoral balance in favour of President Bio and the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), paving the way to power in a hotly contested race against the All People’s Congress (APC). The silence from the corridors of power today is being read by many not only as political cowardice but as a betrayal of the very people who made their victory possible.
As tensions mount in the district, where families are still reeling from the mass dismissals by Koidu Holdings, civil society observers warn that the administration’s failure to act risks eroding trust, not just in the presidency but in the SLPP’s entire narrative of “New Direction” governance.
To stand by silently while a foreign mining company bastardizes the citizens and the First Lady is, to critics, tantamount to surrendering the sovereignty and dignity of the nation itself.
The question on the minds of many is this: will President Bio break his silence and side with justice, or will political convenience eclipse the moral clarity the nation desperately needs?
