{"id":2357,"date":"2022-05-31T15:03:01","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T15:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=2357"},"modified":"2023-04-14T09:15:24","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T09:15:24","slug":"cape-mount-villagers-face-hardship-after-river-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2022\/05\/31\/cape-mount-villagers-face-hardship-after-river-pollution\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Mount Villagers Face Hardship After River Pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: Varney Kamara (not related to this reporter) youth leader of Jikando points to the spot on the Varwor River, where he spotted dead fish. The DayLight\/Varney Kamara<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

By Varney Kamara  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JIKANDO, Grand Cape Mount County \u2013 During the early morning hours of Monday last week, Mustapha Pabai, the town chief of Jikando, received a call from a neighbor that rivers in the area may have been poisoned. Pabai learned that dead fishes were floating in the Varwor River, where he and other villagers fish and fetch water.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After going there himself, there were dead fish everywhere on the waterfront. There was also the corpse of a hunting dog that had eaten some of the dead fish. Stunned by what he had seen, Pabai called local journalists and told them the news. Within no time, pictures of the dead animals began making rounds on social media. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of the apparent pollution has since drawn the attention of people from all walks of life, with authorities warning the villagers not to use rivers in the region. But it also brought hardship to already poor villagers, who live on hand-to-mouth fishing and use the rivers for drinking, washing and cooking. (Jikando is a Vai phrase for \u201cup the river.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe cannot do anything with the river here. [The Environmental Protection Agency] has stopped us from touching and crossing the river. They even stopped us from drinking from the only handpump here,\u201d says Mustapha Pabai, town chief of Jikando. \u201cAs we speak, there is no fishing activity here. People are not cooking or washing with the river.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Locals blame the pollution on a Bea Mountain Mining Company<\/a> waste facility. The company has the facility right outside its New Liberty Gold Mine and has a connection to the Weaju River which forms a common boundary with the Varwor River in Jikando. It then empties into the Mafa River in Gormah, from where Pabai received that call about the pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI blame Bea Mountain for what happening because they are the only company close to us,\u201d says Jeema Pabai, the wife of the town chief and leader of the women of Jikando.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur whole life has been carried backward because of this thing,\u201d says James Kamara, an elder.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The controversial waste plant of the New Liberty Gold Mine is run by the Bea Mountain Mining Company (BMMC) outside Kinjor, Gola Konneh District, Grand Cape Mount County. The DayLight\/Varney Kamara<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bea Mountain denies any wrongdoing, saying in a statement a day after news of the pollution broke out, \u201cthat no abnormal conditions have taken place in its plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is also no discharge from the plant. All protocols in keeping with EPA guidelines and best practice are intact.\u201d The statement added that the company was investigating the incident.  The company has been distributing water in affected villages.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the suspicion of villagers proves true, it would be the second time Bea Mountain operations would have led to pollution in that region. In this same month in 2016, spillage from the company\u2019s waste facility polluted water sources<\/a> in the area. The company at the time claimed at the time the incident did not affect people but villagers said it caused them rashes.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, in February last year, over 10,000 villagers in that region, including Jikando, filed a complaint<\/a> against German and French banks DEG and Proparco, respectively, for their involvement in the New Liberty Gold Mine. The aggrieved villagers accuse the company of several things, including land-grab and water pollution. The outcome of this case is pending.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

EPA said in a statement<\/a> last week it was investigating the \u201cgravity of the pollution.\u201d  Pictures posted to the agency\u2019s Facebook page show its investigators inspecting the company\u2019s waste plant, collecting water samples and photographing dead fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bea Mountain risks a USD$50,000 fine or imprisonment of at most 20 years as required by the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pabai said he had to convince around a dozen villagers not to leave the town, asking them to wait for the findings of the EPA\u2019s investigation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funding for this story was provided by the Green Livelihood Alliance (GLA 2.0) through the Community Rights and Corporate Governance Program of the Sustainable Development Institute. The DayLight maintained complete editorial independence over the story\u2019s content.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top: Varney Kamara (not related to this reporter) youth leader of Jikando points to the spot on the Varwor River, where he spotted dead fish. The DayLight\/Varney Kamara By Varney Kamara   JIKANDO, Grand Cape Mount County \u2013 During the early morning hours of Monday last week, Mustapha Pabai, the town chief of Jikando, received […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,1,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","category-extractive","category-mining","category-pollution"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Cape Mount Villagers Face Hardship After River Pollution - The DayLight","description":"Top: Varney Kamara (not related to this reporter) youth leader of Jikando points to the spot on the Varwor River, where he spotted dead fish. 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