Whitey Ford
12-05-2018, 05:04 AM
They were promised a "peace diamond" dividend in the Sierra Leone village of Koryardu after the stone they handed over for auction fetched $6.5 million a year ago.
But they are still waiting to see the benefits.
"Absolutely nothing happened," said Pastor Emmanuel Momoh, who manages the team of diggers that found the 709-carat diamond in March 2017, in eastern Kono province.
The idea of handing the diamond over to the government to sell was that it would generate money to be ploughed back into developing the local community.
But at the village school, Peter Baimoi, who helps teach its about 190 pupils, said there was no sign of the promised government funding.
With no qualified teachers in the village, parents rely on their children being taught by some of the better-educated local people who can read and write, like Bamoi who finished high school.
They do it voluntarily, the pastor said.
The government had promised that 15% of the total sale price - nearly one million dollars - would go into a fund for Koryardu to develop water, electricity, health and education.
A year on, Koryardu still has no electricity and no clinic - and the nearest state school is in Koidu, about 14km away.
The hamlet lies 10km from the main highway - and the road into the village is still impassable for six months of the year, during the rainy season.
https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/sierra-leones-peace-diamond-dividend-slow-in-coming-20181204
But they are still waiting to see the benefits.
"Absolutely nothing happened," said Pastor Emmanuel Momoh, who manages the team of diggers that found the 709-carat diamond in March 2017, in eastern Kono province.
The idea of handing the diamond over to the government to sell was that it would generate money to be ploughed back into developing the local community.
But at the village school, Peter Baimoi, who helps teach its about 190 pupils, said there was no sign of the promised government funding.
With no qualified teachers in the village, parents rely on their children being taught by some of the better-educated local people who can read and write, like Bamoi who finished high school.
They do it voluntarily, the pastor said.
The government had promised that 15% of the total sale price - nearly one million dollars - would go into a fund for Koryardu to develop water, electricity, health and education.
A year on, Koryardu still has no electricity and no clinic - and the nearest state school is in Koidu, about 14km away.
The hamlet lies 10km from the main highway - and the road into the village is still impassable for six months of the year, during the rainy season.
https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/sierra-leones-peace-diamond-dividend-slow-in-coming-20181204