The First Lady of Sierra Leone, Dr. Fatima Jabbie Bio, in response to the recent allegations raised against her by the Koidu Holding Limited, vented her heartfelt plight in her Part One (1) social media video explaining how she got involved into the protest, and also revealed the mischievous management of the company.

The First Lady’s immediate reaction was triggered by the an allegation made by the Koidu Mining Company through an official letter addressed to the Minister of Employment, Labor and Social Security, Hon. Mohamed R. Swaray. In the letter, Koidu Limited boldly stated that, by indication from the employees, the First Lady, Fatima Maada Bio, has used social media to advise workers to stay off the job until their concerns are addressed, which the company argues undermines the resolutions proposed by both the Ministry of Employment and the company itself.

To her surprise, the First Lady expressed that the Koidu Holdings has not only bridged their agreement, but has also started using the social media to frame her as the “bad person” who wants to destroys the affair of their company.

In shedding light on how she got involved in the project, Lady Fatima publicly revealed a list of Koidu Limited’s employees who were affected by the growing concern on poor working conditions. On the list, she said there were Nine Hundred and Twenty One. The First Lady asserted that the employees have been seeking redress since last year due to the imposed poor working conditions in the company.

Related News

Speaking to the public, she affirmed that the President, Dr. Julius Maada Bio, had requested for a mediator between them and the company. She continued that the employees met with the Vice President, Dr. Juldeh Jalloh, whom she said his involvement did not yield any positive result due to the “adamant” behavior of the Koidu Limited. Again, she asserted that the matter was transferred to the Chief Minister, Dr. Moinina Sengeh, wherein the employees had an engagement with him, some Paramount Chiefs, and Stakeholders, unfortunately, she revealed that the outcome proves futile.

She admitted that it was at that point she decided to take up the matter after her involvement was sincerely called upon by the affected laborers. “I seek consultation, and now went back to the President, told him that my people are suffering, and explained the whole story in detail, and it was at that moment the He said I should mediate between the people and the Koidu Holdings,” she affirmed strongly, adding that if Koidu Holding is describing the protest as illegal, she said it seems like they do not understand what an “illegal protest” is.

If it was an illegal protest, she argued that they management should not have honored her invitation. “When I invited them, their entire management came here at my office, and had an engagement for over Six good hours. We addressed the issues relating to the accusations systematically, and the Koidu Holdings were proven guilty of 60% of the accusations, for which the management pleaded with me to give them a chance to fix the problem,” she explained.

In outlining the issues that were on the employee’s letter, the First Lady stated that one of them was poor toilet facilities. She said, “the Koidu Holdings failed to provide toilet for the workers,” questioning that where would the management want the workers to toilet during their 8 to 12 hours service at the company? During the meeting, she said the facilitator asked her that if they provide a toilet for the workers, who would clean it? In her response, she said she replied him with a question, asking, “who cleans your toilet?” Arguing that the same way he is paying someone to clean his toilet, it is in the same way he should pay people to clean the toilet for the workers.

In her assertion, continued that, in the meeting, she asked why is it that the management are drinking clean bottle water, and prompting the workers to drink a well water that contains waste chemicals from the factory. In the very meeting, she said the management promised to solve that problem. In relations to the issue raised regarding the provision of rice for the workers, the First Lady confirmed that, in the past two months, the management had been providing rice for the workers.

“Koidu Holdings agreed to all the issues that I placed infront of them, except for the increments of the workers’ salary, which they promised to have a discussion on at a management level, asking me to give them time that they will revert after their engagement,” she explained confidently.

The First Lady said she admonished the workers to maintain calmness and resume work, stating that, at that point, the workers had determined to cause serious problems at the Koidu Holdings if the management fails to respond to their concerns. “During the second time of the workers’ protest, I want the world to know that the Koidu Holdings’ security shot and killed two of our civilians. The incident happened in 2013, and nothing serious was done about the case; the Koidu Holdings did not even sympathize with the family of the deceased civilians, nor did they offer a penny for the burial preparation of the deceased,” she revealed.

In her concluding statements, she said her decision to serve as a mediator in the issue was because she does not want any problem to spark in Kono, adding that she always admonished them not to go out in the streets, rather, they should wait on the response of the management. “This is just the beginning of the narrative because I want to explain exactly the first phase of how I got into the Koidu Holdings and the Kono People’s issue,” she concluded, strongly.

Watch Out for Part Two!