By Amin Kef Sesay
Eighty Six (86) former employees of London Mining Company (LMC) who were later incorporated by Timis Mining Corporation (TMC) are passionately appealing to the SLPP Government, headed by President Julius Maada Bio through the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources to timely come to their rescue in order to facilitate the process to actualize the payment of their financial benefits due them after they were terminated from their jobs without following due process.
According to their representatives, Reginald Garrick and Mohamed Kallon SB, who were also former employees of the two companies, London Mining went into administration in October 2014 after halting share trading and output in December as funds dried up and iron ore prices fell to six-year low ,less than $60 per tonne.
They further maintained that the outbreak of the Ebola disease also affected the operations of London Mining and as a result the company had to sell its 100% owned Marampa Mines to Timis Mining Corporation through its administrator Price Water Coppers (PWC).
“London Mining was having 1,200 direct employment of local Sierra Leoneans in their operational areas,” they intimated this medium adding that after TMC came on board they were offered a “new contract” which “promised continuation of contracts and terms of service by TMC going forward from November 2014” in the defunct LMC employment contracts to all local staff.
They said the new situation was unsatisfactory and therefore they decided to write a letter to the then Ministers of Labour and Mines appealing for their intervention in order to secure their end of service benefits from their new employer Timis Mining Company (TMC) but lamentably the two Ministers failed to respond to their request.
“On the 8th April 2015 TMC terminated our employment contracts without any end of service benefits paid or any formal explanation with regards the reasons for the quick closure of the mines,” they bemoaned furthering how they saw such a move on the part of the company and the regulatory bodies at that material time as a complete recipe for incitement to violence, collapse of law and order but decided that as responsible citizens they decided to seek redress in the Court of Law.
They further narrated that while the matter was in the High Court, the erstwhile APC led Government clandestinely revoked TMC large scale mining license without any recourse to their pending litigation in the High Court of Sierra Leone a move which they saw as a means to pervert justice.
The aggrieved former employees said during that period they heard that the Government has transferred the license from TMC to Gerald Metals without liquidating or placing TMC on administration as the case should be.
“On the 19th May 2017 the High Court passed a judgement in favour of the Plaintiff (Former Senior Staff) stating that the Plaintiff recover damages of breach of contract, damages for workplace discrimination, terminal benefits, interest and cost,” they revealed.
According to them when Gerald Metals /SL Mining surfaced it was a big shock to them as they knew Gerald Metals to be a commodity trading company not having any experience in mining stating that some of their colleagues were party to the pre-finance loan agreement between Gerald Metal and TMC.
They then decried the decision by the past Government to give the Marampa concession to Gerald Metals/SL Mining which they said was done quickly during the eleventh hour of the last Parliament but painfully the judgement in their favour was never executed.
“To this day, many of our colleagues who were laid off have been without employment and are struggling to make ends meet as they continue to await on the High Court to enforce the court ruling of 19th May 2017,” they further lamented.
These former employees strongly pointed out that all those iron ore SLMC sold were mined by former employees of LMC/TMC but they were not paid questioning how long such an injustice will continue to exist in the country against Sierra Leoneans.
These former employees are now calling or appealing to President Julius Maada Bio, the Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources, Mr Foday Rado Yokie, and by extension the Government of Sierra Leone to facilitate the payment of the amounts owe them which is to be calculated, be recovered on their behalf.
“Imagine yourself or any of your relative with responsibilities in such an awkward position. It is really heart rendering and painful which is why we are making such a passionate appeal,” Reginald Garrick and Mohamed Kallon SB stated maintaining that it is very much important to respect our State institutions underscoring that the matter has been judicially concluded in their favour but they continue to suffer in silence.
