"ALL DEM MARAKA MUST GO” (ALL THE MARAKAS MUST DEPART) – SAYS GEORGE BERESFORD STOOKES, Governor of Sierra Leone in 1952. in KONO - THE TROUBLE SPOT IN SIERRA LOENE!
(Excerpts from Hon. Ezieliel Alfred Coker, MR,JP BEM. (1926 -2018 - Aged 92 years), Former Assistant Commissioner of Police (& Acting Commissioner), Member of Parlaiment & Cabinet Minister – Oct 1978 – Jan 1980).
During Britain’s rule of Sierra Leone, the colonial government had given the Sierra Leone Selection Trust (SLST), a British-owned mining company, a sole lease of 100 years and rights to mine diamonds in Kono since 1933. Knowing that almost the whole of Kono was blessed with diamonds, the British colonial government had enacted laws giving the SLST legal authority to mine diamonds even inside the compounds of citizens, whereas the owners of such land had no legal right to mine diamonds even inside their own property.
The people in Sierra Leone were never consulted before such iniquitous laws were
enacted. The colonial government acted unilaterally and arbitrarily. This was brazen
exploitation. The SLST had, therefore, been exploiting the country by mining and exporting
thousands of carats of diamonds since 1933, whilst paying a pittance of revenue to the
Sierra Leone government. Even the district from which the diamonds were being mined
had been left in a dilapidated condition, and the SLST had made no effort to develop it.
Roads were most deplorable. They were simply the paths that bulldozers and other
machinery had cleared and made into crude passageways simply to gain access to
diamond mining sites. There was no public water system and no electricity, except when
the Sierra Leone government constructed electricity-generating station in the seventies.
There were very few schools, and these lacked basic items, such as furniture and books.
The only area in Kono District that might be considered “developed” was in Sefadu, where
the headquarters of the SLST were located, along with most of the bungalows of the
expatriate staff of the company. There was a first-class hospital, equipped with modern
equipment and staffed by doctors and professional nurses from Britain.
There was also a shop stocked with various consumer goods for the expatriate staff. SLST generated its own electricity using private generators and supplied electricity to all of the company’ buildings and the staff bungalows. Sometime later, a few Sierra Leoneans were appointed to senior positions in the company as engineers, doctors, female nurses, and so on.
The company even had two passenger planes to ferry its employees between Freetown and
Kono. It also had two or three helicopters that were used to carry out aerial patrols of
diamond mining sites and to prevent illicit diamond mining. These helicopters functioned
as aerial observation posts to detect illicit diamond mining and also served as escorts to
vehicles transporting diamonds. I mentioned the foregoing to show that there was some
justification for the people in Kono to carry out what was considered to be illicit diamond
mining. After all, the diamonds were their natural wealth, which was being “stolen“ by the SLST for the benefit of Britain.
Some old people in Kono told humorous stories about the days prior to the colonial
government leasing SLST the sole right to mine diamonds in the district. Whenever the
locals, mostly illiterate and highly superstitious, found diamonds along the footpaths after
heavy rains, they did not know what they were. They only considered diamonds shining
stones. According to the stories, when this was brought to the attention of the British
district commissioner or other British colonial officials in Kono, these officials would
exploit the locals’ superstitions, telling them the shining stones were the eyes of devils and
that they (the Europeans) alone knew how to close the eyes of the devil. They would then
rush up to the site where the shining stones had been found and perform some mock
cabalistic ceremonies while the locals watched.
During this “ceremony”, the shining stones
would eventually be placed inside envelopes or other containers. And that would be the
last the people would see of what they had no way of knowing were valuable minerals.
By the fifties, both Sierra Leoneans as well as foreigners had become aware of the large
quantities of diamonds in Kono and of the immense value of the “shining stones”. They
were also aware of the relative ease with which the diamonds could be mined. Therefore,
large numbers of people from other parts of the country, as well as many foreigners,
started flocking into Kono by the droves to illicitly mine and smuggle this valuable
resource.
Consequently, the then Colonial Governor in Sierra Leone, Sir Beresford Stookes,
ordered the first expulsion of foreigners from Kono. The address over the radio to
the nation included an order stating that all Marakas (in other words, citizens from
Mali and other countries in neighbouring countries) who had flocked into Kono
must depart from the country. The governor ended the address to the nation over
the radio by saying in not too perfect Creole, “All di Marakas must go.” This became
a popular ditty in Creole in the fifties throughout the country - “All den Marakas
must go.
But the influx of people could not be prevented, as many roads from surrounding areas led
into Kono District. The British colonial government got the Sierra Leone Police Force to establish a large presence in Kono to help prevent both the migration into the area and the illicit mining and smuggling. But still the influx of people into Kono could not be stopped
entirely.
Furthermore, some of the bona fide residents of Kono were secretly aiding and
abetting the illicit diamond miners. Some of them used various types of subterfuge to
deceive the police and auxiliary security force of the SLST. A common subterfuge was to
declare certain areas where illicit diamond mining would take place as Poro (pronounced
Poror) “sacred bush” – in other words, an area designated for the performance of the rites
of the secret indigenous Poro society. Formerly, the Poro society was held in awe, and nonmembers dared not enter the genuine Poro bush. Non-members who dared violate the
sacred bush of the Poro society would face dire retributions. But some of the residents in
Kono had no qualms about using fake Poro societies as a subterfuge to mine diamonds
illicitly.
Previous chief police officers (CPOs) in Kono (especially former British police officers) had
been confronted with this problem. And at first, they’d had total respect for the Poro
society and had hesitated to send police detachments into the areas that had been
declared Poro bush. But later the deception was discovered – many of the sites were
labelled as Poro bush to deter police officers from going into the areas and arresting the
illicit diamond miners. Detachments of police would then be sent to the “Poro bush” to
make the arrests. Serious confrontations between the police and the illicit diamond miners inside the so-called Poro bush erupted.
The police officers were compelled to use force to disperse the illicit miners. Whilst I was
chief police officer in Kono, I was confronted with the same problem. It is most
unfortunate that some people would desecrate one of Sierra Leone’s traditional societies
in order to engage in illicit diamond mining. The other unfortunate aspect of this whole affair was that foreigners would derive most of the benefit from this illicit diamond mining.
The Sierra Leoneans, apart from being tricked by foreigners into selling the diamonds at
very low prices, received very little. And the money they did receive was not put to fruitful
purpose. Some took delight in purchasing expensive Mercedes Benzes, which broke down
in no time. The main cause for the very short span of life of the vehicles was the
deplorable condition of the roads in Kono.
Excerpts from this book by Hon. Ezieliel Alfred Coker, MR,JP BEM. (1926 -2018 - Aged 92
years), Former Assistant Commissioner of Police (& Acting Commissioner)
Member of Parlaiment & Cabinet Minister – Oct 1978 – Jan 1980).
