Kasafoni land dispute: Landowners petition rights violation

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Paramount Chief Hon. Alhaji Musa Bamba Foray Kuloi Jalloh III of Sambaia Chiefdom, Lead Petitioner.

By Lawrence Williams

Paramount chiefs, traditional authorities, landowning families and residents of Dansogoia, Sambaia, and Diang chiefdoms in Tonkolili and Koinadugu districts have formally challenged the Sierra Leone Mines and Minerals Development and Management Corporation (SLMMDMC)’s exclusive claim to the Kasafoni iron ore deposit, citing constitutional violations and other breaches of both the Customary Land Rights Act and the Mines and Minerals Development Act. 

In a petition addressed to the Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Segepoh Solomon Thomas, the petitioners strongly rejected the SLMMDC’s exclusive ownership and lease authority over the Kasafoni mine. They argue that Statutory Instrument No.11 of 2024, which grants exclusive legal authority over the Kasafoni iron ore deposit to the SLMMDMC, undermines customary land tenure and violates communal rights over ancestral lands.

The Corporation had earlier reiterated this position in a public statement issued on June 5, which was further backed by another press release from the Ministry of Information and Civic Education. Both institutions have indicated that the government position so far does not recognise as lawful the land lease agreement between the Gento Group of Companies and the people of Kasafoni.

However, the people have rejected this stance, accusing the government of unlawfully disregarding their rights to land ownership and communal decision-making. The petitioners insist that both customary and statutory laws afford them the right to determine the uses of their land and to freely consent to any lease or development agreement concerning their ancestral property.

Read also: Tonkolili chiefs back Gento Group as sole leaseholder of Kasafoni ore deposit

“This provision grossly violates our rights under both customary and statutory law and undermines the spirit of community consent enshrined in the Customary Land Rights Act, 2022, Section 33(3)(a) of the Mines and Minerals Development Act, 2022, and the Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991,” wrote the lead petitioner, Paramount Chief Hon. Alhaji Musa Bamba Foray Kuloi Jalloh III of Sambaia Chiefdom.

He further noted that the government’s position disregards the internationally recognized principle of free, prior, and informed consent, which protects native communities’ rights to determine the future of their ancestral lands without coercion or external imposition.

The petitioners are calling on parliament to recognise and uphold the legitimacy of their existing land lease agreement with the Gento Group of Companies, and to revoke the SLMMDMC’s exclusive statutory claims over the Kasafoni deposit. They argue that the statutory instrument in question is inconsistent with the Constitution of Sierra Leone and undermines the legal rights and customary practices of the affected communities.