Most of the residents of Lower Bambara and Dodo chiefdoms in the Kenema district have expressed dissatisfaction over the operations of the Panguma sawmills.
Some of those interviewed spoke of how they had been exploited for years, as the sawmill has not been of any benefit to them over the years. A 50 year-old man pointing to a wooden bridge between Forest District Office (DFO) quarters and Koyama village junction, on the highway to Kono district, explained that for years, the Panguma Sawmills was logging in all the forests in the two chiefdoms and all the areas they were operating were motorable to ease their transportation. He explained that all the bridges within the two chiefdoms were constructed by Panguma sawmills with timber but had no time frame or guarantee.
He alleged that some of the chiefdom authorities at that time, were getting some financial benefit for their personal use, forgetting about future generations.
The war, he said, came and passed away, leaving the two chiefdoms vandalized.
All the wooden bridges constructed by the Panguma Sawmills are now worn out and only commercial motor bikes can make their way through at a high cost, which most people cannot afford and prefer to walk on foots.
At present, a ten-tyre truck is now lying at the bottom of the bridge . The truck was allegedly loaded with over four hundred pieces of timber, when the bridge broke, killing four people on the spot.
The road from the chiefdom headquarter town of Panguma into the interior is a death trap, and people walk for fifteen to twenty miles to Panguma to get some basic commodities.
The compound of the Panguma Sawmills itself on the Panguma Kono highway is now the home for all sorts of reptiles and other creatures as well as the abandoned machines.
Speaking to a man I met at the gate of the Sawmills, who identified himself as Alusine Kosia, a security in the place, he disclosed that those who have taken over the Sawmills are currently in Freetown and that he has no idea as to when work will resume.
The reporter recalls that during the late 70s and early 80s, hundreds of residents within the two chiefdoms used to assembled at the Sawmill gate on pay day.
A youth, Mohamed Bockarie called on the authorities of the two chiefdoms to involve the youths and women leaders in any future arrangement concerning the operations of Panguma Sawmills in the two chiefdoms, adding that the corporate social responsibility of Panguma Sawmills was not as expected.
By Saffa Moriba
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