THE ENVIRONMENT
An Assessment of the Ban on Timber Production in Sierra Leone
By
Dec 9, 2007, 14:46

In the pursuit of economic livelihood and survival, Sierra Leoneans and other nationals had been deeply involved in the processing and production of timer.  This has been a lively industry that has been ongoing for a very long period of time.  The production processes which have mostly been done in the provincial areas of Sierra Leone have included the utilization of both mechanized and manual resources and the industry had been quite successful.

Quite recently, it was made public by the newly elected government of President Ernest Bai Koroma that, certain logging companies must discontinue their operations of timber production in the country.  This sudden pronouncement from a democratically elected government was received with mix reactions and there is every need for us, being an enlightened institution to put all the cards on the table so that our seemingly gullible society would be in a convenient position to explain better the plus and minus of the president’s decision.

We must hasten to mention that, when the press release that forbade the production of timber was first published and aired, we had felt it was to cut across the board but it was only upon a reasonable consolation that we were informed that it was only a segment of the logging companies that were affected.  But even with that, Sierra Leoneans would surely be positively or negatively affected to some extent.

Candidly, deforestation is a serious problem that affects our environment and every effort must be made to either discontinue it or find an alternative arrangement, which is to replace the trees that are utilized for timber processing.  There has been a very serious international and domestic campaign about the hazards of the deforestation, especially when the occurrences of soil erosion and other environmental hazards are seriously undermining the socio-economic conditions of the inhabitants of the respective environments.  Thus, we might be tempted to holistically support the action of the newly elected President Ernest Bai Koroma in banning the continued operation of certain companies and logging in particular.

 Further, most of the companies that have been involved in the timer production processes have not been fulfilling their corporate social responsibilities.  Despite the huge sums of money, they have been generating over the years, they have not been considerate about their responsibilities to the inhabitants of those areas, who during the outbreak of all the hazards are affected the most.  This is a serious issue for which companies must be taken to task.

Importantly, the action of the government of Sierra Leone to prevent companies from their continued production of timber could also be linked to their obvious maltreatment of their workers that are actively involved in the production process.  We are aware that the proprietors of most of these companies that were stopped from timber operations were not meeting the minimum international labour rules and as such, most of their employees were living in a complete unhealthy condition. 

Being that the central government has the responsibility of protecting lives and property, the action of President Koroma’s government should be considered justifiable.

In as much as the newly elected government has a mission to perform specific tasks that would promote the well being of Sierra Leoneans, their omissions would also likely result in unleashing inconveniences on the same citizens it is poised to cater for.  This has been noted against the background that, in preventing companies from operating in this country, with all other variables constant, the government has unconsciously succeeded in making several Sierra Leoneans jobless.  This in turn would seriously undermine their economic activities and their sources of survival.  Already, the issue of massive unemployment is a very serious problem in this country and everyday, Sierra Leoneans are found in almost every private and publicly owned institution seeking jobs. This does not however mean that the ban should be immediately lifted.  Additionally, the ban on the timber production has resulted in the laying off of lots of workers from the private sector.  Now that majority of them are very idle and equally penniless, it is very likely that some of them might be tempted to be involved in unpatriotic activities, in a bid to meet with the socio-economic challenges of life.  Of course, we all know what role the idle Sierra Leoneans, especially the young people, played in our just concluded brutal war.  Thus, being that it is widely believed that the idle mind could be the devil’s workshop and can be easily convinced into wrong doing, the government of President Ernest Bai Koroma must be conscious about this national issue.

 It is very true that the production of timber has in many ways been the source of revenue for our central government.  No matter what has been said, the central government definitely relies on this source for its revenue generation.  A ban of this industry would automatically mean a reduction in the limited sources of our central government revenue.  It is evident that Sierra Leone is still in a rehabilitation process, after our long years of senseless war.  In effect we really need an effective and efficient production of timber if we are to succeed in this drive.  We could still recall that several houses were destroyed, including government institutions, religious centers and more.  All of those places need to be rehabilitated and this could only be made easy when we have enough timber that could be bought at cheaper prices.  Certainly, the high cost of rent and other wooden furniture could be linked to the increase in the prices of timber, which could be linked to the reduction in the number of production and companies that are involved in the timber business.  Generally, the action of the newly elected government to ban certain companies in the production of timbers in this country must be reconsidered for the purpose of our economic development.