Country Report: Sierra Leone - Oakland Institute

after seven years. It also raises questions about the
legal interpretations of the leases and whether they will
lead to disputes in the future, and should those arise,
who is better suited to win such disputes, given the
government’s emphasis on investor protection.
Without a regulatory framework at the ministry level
for governmental oversight and approval of land deals,
a great deal of power is vested in Paramount Chiefs.
The SLA director claims that five percent of its profits
(which he estimates could eventually amount to USD
10 to 40 million) will go directly into the Bureh Masseh
Chiefdom Fund. Yet, this raises further concern, as there
exists no structure for monitoring, public disclosure,
accountability or formal checks and balances at the
Chiefdom level. While the SLA director maintains
that this percentage of profits will compensate for the
extremely low land rental rate, there is no guarantee
that profits will be distributed equitably.
Landowners and local people in the area did not have
copies of the lease. They claim to have been assured that
five percent of profits from the plantation will be paid
to landowners, and that they had also been promised
schools, health centers, wells and scholarships for
schoolchildren. Yet, without an agreement with the
government, an ESHIA, or any government oversight,
there are no guarantees that the company will fulfill any
of its promises. SLA appears to be operating without
any government regulation.
4. Sepahan Afrique
OvERvIEw
Sepahan Afrique, an Iranian company, produces
food and non-food items as diverse as plasticwares,
construction materials, ice chests, safe boxes,
aluminum items, household appliances, and exports
minerals, ginger, pepper, iron scrap, cocoa, and
coffee. 236 In Sierra Leone, the company has sought land
for agricultural purposes. Having secured a significant
amount of land in the Marampa and Buya Romende
chiefdoms, the company allegedly plans to engage in
palm oil and rice production. There are also plans to
build a factory for the processing of palm oil and other
edible oils. Finally, it is alleged that the company will
be providing employment for the youth of the region. 237
However, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and
Food Security says that there have been some
“hiccups” with the Sepahan Afrique investment, in
that “the communities don’t seem to be satisfied.” 238
It appears that these “hiccups” only begin to represent
the confusion and discontent surrounding the Iranian
project.
COnFUSIOn AnD COnTEnTIOn
The agreement between Sepahan Afrique and
landowners in the Marampa and Buya Romende
chiefdoms of the Port Loko District was signed in
September 2007 under peculiar circumstances and in
the final days of the former SLPP government. Having
no prior knowledge of the company or land deal,
community members in Madina (where the Sepahan
nursery is located) were summoned to the capital for
an urgent meeting at the Iranian embassy in 2007.
A delegation of landowners, the Paramount Chief,
ceremonial chiefs, the MP, and local councilors arrived
at the Iranian embassy near midnight on the night of
the summons. They were “forced to sign the binding
agreement under duress” in the presence of the Deputy
Minister of Local Government, and they were informed
that they had to sign that night, as the Iranian investors
were leaving the country the next morning. Evidently,
community members were not given the opportunity to
read the MOU they were being asked to sign, but they
did so because they “could not violate the authorities.”
The Deputy Minister of Local Government read them a
few clauses of the agreement to convince them it was a
good arrangement. 239
Two months following the signing of the agreement,
a government mediator delivered to the people of
Madina a copy of the full MOU they had signed,
and he read it aloud to them. It was only then that
community members learned they had signed away
not just the surface rights to the land, but also rights
to any minerals that lay below the surface. The region
around Madina is rich in iron ore and bauxite, and the
community decided that Sepahan Afrique had come to
“fleece them.” 240
Suspicions and discontent grew when the company
sent a Tanzanian foreman to the lease area to set up a
The Oakland Institute understanding land investment deals in afriCa: sierra Leone | 36