Koidu Town (or Sefadu; officially known as Koidu City) is the capital and largest city of the

Kono District Kono District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Koidu Town. Motema is the second most populous city in the district. The other major towns in the district include Yengema, Tombodu, Jaiama ...

in the Eastern Province of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

. Its population is 128,030 based on the 2015 census. It is the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone by population, after

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

Kenema Based on the 2021 national mid-term census, Kenema has a population of 255,110. making it the second most populous city in Sierra Leone after Freetown, and the largest city in the country's Eastern Province, Sierra Leone, Eastern Province. Kenema ...

, Bo and

Makeni Makeni is the largest city in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The city is the capital of Bombali District, and is the economic center of the Northern Province. Makeni is the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone by population. The city of ...

. It lies approximately 280 miles east of Freetown, and about 60 miles north of Kenema. Koidu Town is a major

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

and

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

center. Two of the world's ten largest and most famous rough diamonds were found in the Woyie River that flows through Koidu Town. The mayor of Koidu City and members of the Koidu-New Sembehun city council are directly elected every four years. The current mayor of Koidu Town is Komba Sam of the

Sierra Leone People's Party The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, along with its main political rival the All People's Congress (APC). It has been the ruling party in Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. The SLPP d ...

political party. Koidu is not a stronghold of any political party; the city is home to large support of both the

and the

All People's Congress The All People's Congress (APC) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, the other being its main political rival the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). The APC has been the main opposition party in Sierra Leone since 4 Ap ...

. Koidu is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse cities in Sierra Leone. The city is inhabited by many ethnic groups, with no ethnic group forming a majority. The

Krio language The Sierra Leonean Creole or Krio is an English-based creole language that is the lingua franca and de facto national language spoken throughout the West African nation of Sierra Leone. Krio is spoken by 96 percent of the country's population, ...

is by far the most widely spoken language in Koidu Town and is the primary language of communication in the city. Sierra Leone's vice president

Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh (born 1970) is a Sierra Leonean politician and the current vice president of Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. Jalloh is a political scientist, businessman and a former United Nations official. Jalloh is a senior member o ...

, Sierra Leone's First Lady

Fatima Bio Fatima Maada Bio (née Jabbe; born 27 November 1980), known simply as Fatima Bio, is a Sierra Leonean former actress, screenwriter and film producer who has served in the role of first lady of Sierra Leone, as the wife of President Julius Maa ...

and Sierra Leone's former vice president

Samuel Sam-Sumana Alhaji Samuel Sidique Sam-Sumana (born April 7, 1962) is a Sierra Leonean politician who was the Vice President of Sierra Leone from September 17, 2007, to March 17, 2015. Sam-Sumana stood as the vice-presidential candidate of the All People's ...

were born and raised in the city.

History

In 1995 the government of Sierra Leone signed an agreement with the South African company Branch Energy Limited, a subsidiary of

Executive Outcomes Executive Outcomes is a private military company (PMC) founded in South Africa in 1989 by Eeben Barlow, a former lieutenant-colonel of the South African Defence Force. It later became part of the South African-based holding company Strategic ...

(EO), a business that supplied mercenaries to governments across Africa. The agreement, negotiated under the Mines and Minerals Act of 1994, was scheduled to last 25 years. Under it Sierra Leone's military government gave the concession to operate the Koidu diamond mine to the firm in payment for helping to suppress the

Revolutionary United Front The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surv ...

rebels in the area during the country's civil war. They had been using the diamonds to buy weapons and ammunition from Guinea, Liberia, and the Sierra Leone army. The government of Sierra Leone retained a 60% ownership stake in the Koidu mine. The

Panama Papers The Panama Papers () are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) published beginning April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These document ...

, leaked from the Panamanian law firm

Mossack Fonseca Mossack Fonseca & Co. () was a Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider.Koidu Holdings Koidu Limited a subsidiary of OCTÉA Limited, is a locally registered Company in the Republic of Sierra Leone. History Formation After a JV was formed on 1 June 2002 Koidu Limited acquired the remainder of the 20 -year mining lease agreemen ...

, a company owned by Octea of the BSGR Resources group, for $28 million. In 2015, the city filed suit against Octea, claiming that the company owed $684,000 in unpaid property taxes. In April 2016, Justice Bintu Alhadi of the High Court of Sierra Leone ruled that Octea and Koidu Limited were separate entities and that Octea technically did not own the mine, so had no duty to pay its property tax. In 2012,

Saa Emerson Lamina Saa Emerson Lamina is a Sierra Leonean politician and the Mayor of Koidu Town. Lamina is the youngest mayor in Sierra Leone's history, and at the time of his inauguration was the youngest mayor in West Africa. Early life and education Saa Eme ...

of the ruling

All Peoples Congress The All People's Congress (APC) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, the other being its main political rival the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). The APC has been the main opposition party in Sierra Leone since 4 Ap ...

party was elected mayor of Koidu. He was suspended by the national government in 2016, following the release of the Panama Papers and the publication of an article quoting him complaining about the diamond mine's operation and failure to pay taxes. The City Council then elected Aiah Bartholomew Baima Komba acting mayor of Koidu. Lamina said the suspension was intended to silence him and that he continued to act as mayor because the national government has no authority to remove him from office A 32-page Ministry of Finance and Economic Development audit blamed the finance and procurement officers of the council for the relatively minor issues.

2007 and 2012 protests

The 2007 Koidutown-Sefadu protest was an action by 400 protesters in Koidu-Sefadu which was aimed at the local diamond mine which the residents claimed had lowered local living conditions and environmental conditions in the area. The result of the protest was a clampdown by Sierra Leonean police, who shot two protesters. Two more protesters were shot in 2012, one of them a 12-year-old boy.

Government

Koidu Town is one of Sierra Leone's six

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

and is governed by a directly elected

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

, headed by a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

, in whom

executive authority The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

is vested. The mayor is responsible for the general management of the city. The mayor is elected directly by the residents every four years in a

municipal elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct var ...

. Komba Sam was elected mayor of Koidu in the 2018 Koidu Mayoral election, defeating the

with 49.5% of the votes.

Ethnicity

Koidu town is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Sierra Leone. Even though the city is home of the

Kono people The Kono people (pronounced ''koh noh'') are a major Mande-speaking ethnic group in Sierra Leone at 5.2% of the country's total population. Their homeland is the diamond-rich Kono District in eastern Sierra Leone. The Kono are primarily diamond ...

, members of all the country's other ethnic groups and most of the foreign diamond workers in the Kono District reside in the city.

Health

Koidu Government Hospital Sierra Leone 2020 02

Baby unit of Koidu Government Hospital Sierra Leone 02

American aid workers helped rebuild the Koidu Government Hospital, which has improved the previously alarming health situation in the town. Various other aid organizations, including the UN Refugee Agency,

UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...

and its partners, have helped drill wells, re-build clinics and schools and regenerate livelihoods in the area, as part of a programme to support the reintegration of Sierra Leoneans who returned after living for several years as refugees in neighbouring countries.

Culture

Media

The local radio station in Koidu Town is the Eastern Radio 96.5. The

Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) is the national radio and television broadcaster in Sierra Leone. It is owned by the government of Sierra Leone and is a branch of the Sierra Leone Ministry of Information and Communications. It ...

(SLBC) TV, and radio are on the air in the city. The

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

CNN International Cable News Network International or CNN International (CNNi, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel and website, owned by CNN Worldwide. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates ...

, and several other international stations are also on the air in the city on

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

Sport

Like the rest of Sierra Leone,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

is the most popular sport in Koidu Town. A professional

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

, Diamond Stars F.C., is based in Koidu Town and represents the Kono District in the

Sierra Leone National Premier League Sierra Leone National Premier League is a professional football league in Sierra Leone. It was founded in 1967. The league is sponsored by Leone Rock Metal Group. East End Lions and Mighty Blackpool are the two biggest and most successful clubs ...

. The Diamond Stars Football Club is overwhelmingly popular in Kono District and is one of the biggest football clubs in Sierra Leone. The Diamond Stars were the champions of the 2012 Sierra Leone National Premier League season, and the first club outside

to ever won the Premier League.Sierra Leone: Diamond Stars Win Salone Premier League Title
/ref>

Education

Secondary Schools in Koidu Town

* Koidu Secondary School - Founded: 1938 * Kono Model Academy - Founded: 1950 * Koidu Girls Secondary School - Founded: 1952 *Ansarul Islamic Boys Secondary School - Founded: 1974 * Ansarul Islamic Girls Secondary School - Founded: 1974 * Islamic Secondary School Koidu - Founded: 1979 * Ak-hom Secondary School - Founded: 2001

Notable people from Koidu town

, current Vice President of Sierra Leone *

, First Lady of Sierra Leone *

, former

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Koidu City *

, Former Vice President of Sierra Leone *

Kaifala Marah Kaifala Marah (born in Koidu Town, Sierra Leone) is a Sierra Leonean politician, accountant, Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone (2016–2017), and Minister of Finance (2013–2016). On 7 March 2017, Dr. Marah resigned as governor to seek ...

, former

Finance Minister A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

of Sierra Leone *

Sam Bockarie Samuel Sam Bockarie (2 October 1964 – 5 May 2003), widely known as Mosquito, was a Sierra Leonean politician and army commander who served as a leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Bockarie was infamous during the Sierra Leone Civ ...

, former RUF rebel leader * Mary Musa, First Female Mayor of Koidu City * Francis Koroma,

Footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

* K-Man, Sierra Leonean Musician *

Karamoh Kabba Karamoh Kabba (born 1965 in Koidu Town, Kono District, Sierra Leone) is a Sierra Leonean author, writer, novelist and journalist. He has written several accounts about the Sierra Leone civil war, such as ''A Mother’s Saga: An Account of the Reb ...

Politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Komba Yomba Komba Tawa Yomba (born 24 August 1976) is a Sierra Leonean former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He captained the Diamond Stars in the Sierra Leone National Premier League and was the first-choice goalkeeper for Sierra Leone during quali ...

, Footballer * Sidique Mansaray, Footballer * Alimamy Jalloh, Footballer * Ibrahim Bah, Footballer * Mohamed Saccoh, Rapper * Yayah Jalloh, footballer

References

{{reflist Populated places in Sierra Leone Eastern Province, Sierra Leone