Diamonds were first discovered in Sierra Leone in 1930, and by 1940, alluvial diamond mining had started. By the 60s, there was already a diamond mania in the country; every one wanted to have his/her share of the diamond loot. Since then, the precipitation to get rich quick through diamonds has been rapidly increasing, to an extent that the effects of the illicit activities in the diamond industry plunged the nation into awful predicaments at different periods in the country’s chequered history.

Unlike other countries where individual mining is frowned on, Sierra Leone, over the years, has encouraged individual mining, to an extent that an opportunity was created for unscrupulous people in the country to not only smuggle diamonds, but used the free-for-all mining spree to get gems that were sold to acquire arms. It helped provided a source of income to fuel one of the most horrible wars in the Earth planet.

The scenario was so alarming that the international community, after the war in Sierra Leone, imposed the use of a certification system. This was to prevent the thriving of a trade in what has become known as “Blood diamonds”. The system is working and has helped restore some amount of sanity in the diamond industry, but there are still prevalent anomalies that need to be immediately addressed.

The borders close to Sierra Leone’s diamoneferous districts are still porous, giving scope to many diamond dealers to smuggle the country’s gems. What most smugglers from neighbouring countries have discovered is that, small-scale miners who do not have licenses to export are always in need of cash, so they pay higher than most diamond buyers in town and then travel by road to neighbouring Guinea, from where they travel to Europe, America or Israel. In such a situation, if any group of people want to acquire wealth to start any subversive activity, it is easy to enter diamond areas through neighbouring countries as was happening during the war years when Ibrahim Bah, the logistic officer of the Revolutionary United Front rebel movement, was trading with Al-Qaida operatives in Liberia.

To avoid a replication of such a scenario and to ensure that all diamonds mined benefit both the people and government, the following steps should be taken: - Set up a branch for the Government Gold and Diamond Office in Kenema, Bo, Kono and Koinadugu. This would help to efficiently monitor the diamond dealers, because this offices would have experts who knows about diamond dealings, unlike the mines monitoring officers who can only effectively monitor mining sites.

- Empower the GGDO and its branches to buy and export diamonds. The question that would be asked is; where will the millions of dollars come from to buy the diamonds?
- Invite investors to participate in the diamond and gold buying scheme that would be set up by GGDO - Mandate GGDO and its branches to buy in foreign currency - Sensitise the public on the advantages of selling to these offices.

- Set up a robust intelligence network comprising customs and mines monitoring officers to monitor movement of people in the borders and diamond and gold transactions taking place in mining areas There is a likelihood that so-called diamond buyers/dealers will protest on the grounds that it will be unfair for GGDO to compete with them in buying gold and diamonds. In that case, they should be compelled to buy diamonds in hard currency. What has been discovered is that because individual mining is encouraged, many of the small-scale miners who are fortunate to find diamonds sell them at give-away prices. The diamonds bought by dealers are then sold abroad ten or more times the purchase price. For instance, during the NPRC era, an Afro-Lebanese man John Karim also known as “Bongo Man” bought a large piece of diamond for Le65 million. When the NPRC heard that such a large piece of diamond has been bought for such a meagre sum, they pounced on John Karim, retrieved the diamond from him and refunded his money.

The diamond was put on a bid at the Bank of Sierra Leone. It attracted an international bidder who bought it for Le200 million! Most of the small miners are not aware of world market price and so diamond buyers take advantage of that. There have been stories of buyers offering miners a car and one or two million Leones for a large piece of diamond. Because they are a poor and ignorant, they are trigger happy to accept such “generosity” from diamond buyers. Imagine a man who has never dreamt of owning a motorcycle being offered a second-hand Mercedes Benz and two million Leones. He would be trigger happy to accept such an offer, not knowing that he has been fleeced. It is now a known fact that Sierra Leone’s diamond areas are free for all, so foreigners from neighbouring countries flock into them and offer prices higher than those of local diamond buyers. By so doing, they attract many miners and end up smuggling them through the borders.

Gambia does not have diamonds, but diamonds are exported from that country. How come? In Guinea, those who own mining companies in Bandakoro aid smugglers from Sierra Leone. Because of the demand for certificates for diamonds exported, many of the smugglers from Sierra Leone team up with owners of mining companies in Guinea to export their gems. At the end of the day, Sierra Leone loses billions because of the clandestine trade of diamonds.

The establishment of the GGDO branches that would be set up to purchase diamonds and monitor the trade, would help minimise smuggling. It would also help miners to benefit from their diamonds. In Kono and many mining areas, it is common to see a poor man who would bluff that “I was a miner”.

Even in Freetown, people still wonder how come people who were miners are poor and some are still in displaced persons camps. Some are beggars in the streets.
This is because they have been giving away their diamonds to dealers for pittances. Diamonds that should have made them rich for the rest of their lives are given away for one or two million Leones. As is commonly said in Sierra Leone, they are millionaires who end up as painters. The time has now come for diamonds to be a blessing for Sierra Leoneans rather than a curse as has been happening all these years.