In a radio discussion in Bo I was bold to tell the people
that Sierra Leone does not need all the handouts we have been receiving from the international community.
I told them if I had my way my goal is to lobby the international community not to send a dime to Sierra Leone.
The counter argument was that without aid the country will perish and there will be chaos in the country.
I told them the only people that will perish will be the administrators of the aid who have over the years fattened thier pockets with such aid at the expense of the poor.
I challenged them to stop accepting aid and lets see if the
common man will even know about it. As far as the common man/woman is concerned with all the aid that had been pouring in the country, life has not changed for him/her.
Self-employment and not government employment is the key to our development.
However such self-employment will not take us anywhere if the communication system in the country is as deplorable as it is today.
I do belive that Koinadugu and Kailahun districts with their fertile lands can feed the whole of Sierra Leone and have a lot left over for export.
Today there are hardly any motorable roads to these areas. How are they going to move their wares to the market?
Nigeria has started a program where government,in partnership with the private sectors have been loaning money to recent university graduates to be entrepreuneurs.
The program is new but it is something worth looking into.
We have been hearing of APC/SLPP brouhaha in the country and very recently in Bo. Unfortunately our Journalists or better "Joindalists" have sensationalized these incidents as a political war. Instead of suggesting solutions they are
fanning flames of tribalism, regionalism etc. Unfortunately the very political parties have not done a good job at adressing the root cause of these problems. Instead they are trying to score political points.
More disturbing to me personally is the silence of my own party the PMDC which is supposed to be the power broker in the country. I am very disappointed in the leadership of my party.
Some might be reading my criticism of my party leadership
to draw something else from it. The only thing I want you to draw from it is that I am still PMDC but I am Sierra Leonean first.
Let me be on record as saying that all these political brouhahas that have been reported have nothing to do with politics, but have everything to do with survival.
The havenots trying to get from the haves what they believe is theirs.
There are many hungry and angry youths roaming the big cities of Sierra leone.
They can do anything to survive and one such thing is to stir trouble in the name of politics.
What our political parties must do now is to stop this politicking and call a political party conference in collaboration with the diaspora organizations to address the youth unemployment in the country.
With nearly 2.6 million youths unemployed in a nation of less than five million, the situation calls for dialogue and action.
This is very urgent!
Cillaty Daboh, USA.
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