By Amin Kef Sesay
Information accessed by this medium on the 2nd February 2022 stated that there was a serious confusion and hullaballoo going on down the Kissy Terminal. As a very pro-active news outlet no time was wasted in dispatching one of our reporters to cover the scene and report accordingly.
The unfortunate incident that took place down at the Kissy Terminal emanated from a brewing dispute between Sierra Leonean workers and their Guinean counterparts who were contracted by the Management of the All Petroleum Products business entity to do some work on the facility that it is currently developing. Based on taunts thrown at the Sierra Leonean workers the misunderstanding turned into a full-fledged fight with both sides trying to outdo each other leading into a chaotic situation.
The situation degenerated into the aggrieved Guinean workers blocking the road leading to the Terminal and affected activities that were undertaken by other petroleum marketing companies. It was only after the intervention of the Police that decorum was restored.
However, an in-depth investigation revealed that the Guinean workers out of frustration for noticing that the quantum of work is not commensurate to what they are been paid, decided to make their voices heard by staging a protest which took the form of barricading the road leading to the Terminal.
Sounding the view of the Alphonso Manley, who happens to be the Acting Chairman of the Consortium of Civil Society Organizations on Petroleum and Industrial Relations, he said, it was disturbing for them last week to urgently receive a message that there was commotion down at the Kissy Terminal.
He continued that it was equally disturbing to later learn that the road leading to the Terminal was blocked by irate Guinean workers said to have been brought in by the Management of APP to do some work down there.
“We have to use motorbikes to gain entrance into the Terminal as the whole place was chaotic,” he lamented.
Manley said upon investigating they came to understand that the Guinean workers were protesting over poor working conditions in addition to our independent findings that the latter were bullying their Sierra Leonean counterparts who decided to retaliate on that day.
“Such is uncalled for as on that day their protest disturbed the activities of other companies which is not good and therefore we are categorically calling on the Management of APP to speedily attend to the plight of the Guinean workers so that lasting peace and decorum will be restored at the Terminal,” he urged.
He said as a matter of fact it is shameful for an entity like the APP that has boasted of wanting to invest millions of dollars into the country’s petroleum sector, not to be in a position to afford good working conditions for its workers stating that as a Consortium they have started having second thoughts.
Alphonso Manley also called on Government, particularly the Ministry of Trade, to work in the best interest of the State, promote the Local Content Policy to the letter and to give legitimacy to operate within the country to credible investors instead of to those whose activities will create confusion and unhealthiness within the petroleum landscape of the country.
