Commentary
“Sierra Leone is undergoing a major political and economic turnaround.” That, in a nutshell, was the message delivered to Sierra Leoneans and friends of Sierra Leone who gathered at the Conference Center of the Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive, New York, on Saturday, September 25, 2010 for the Open Government Initiative (OGI) Town Hall Meeting.
The brainchild of His Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma(top), President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, the Open Government Initiative (non-partisan and working closely with Civil Society) is geared toward bringing the government to the people to enhance greater participation, ensure transparency and accountability.
During the course of his campaign in 2007 to the over five million Sierra Leoneans, Ernest Bai Koroma promised to chart a new direction for the country. He made a pledge to change the way people relate to one another, and he promised to make sure that all public and elected officials are accountable to the people. That pledge to make Sierra Leone a more open society gave birth to the OGI.
Since he took over the affairs of Sierra Leone, His Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma has been travelling throughout the country, addressing the people and interacting with them at Town Hall meetings through a question and answer session.
To make such interaction more meaningful and effective, the president addresses the people in Sierra Leone’s common medium of communication – Krio. By so doing, he makes it easy for the majority of the people to express their views on issues affecting them.
Aside from the president, government officials representing the three arms of Government (Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary) have been travelling to all the districts, talking with the people and listening to their concerns. Government officials will address the people on issues relating to governance, and the people will ask questions at the end.
Not only are the people brought up to date on what their elected officials are doing; their level of political awareness is significantly increased. And this has serious political implications - politicians can no longer take the people for granted; no more empty promises!
Having successfully launched the OGI in Sierra Leone, President Koroma decided to bring the OGI to the City of New York so that Sierra Leoneans in the Diaspora can hear from him directly the transformation that is taking place in Sierra Leone under the All People’s Congress.
Prior to the president’s arrival at the Riverside Church, there was a solo performance by Lady Felicia, Sierra Leone’s leading female artist. Lady Filicia sang the song ‘Sweet Salone,’ in which she appealed to all Sierra Leoneans to work together to develop Sierra Leone. Her riveting solo rendition was followed by a documentary - on a big movie screen - showing the transformation Sierra Leone is undergoing.
The documentary shows how the country was like under SLPP rule - the unrepaired roads, the broken bridges and the totally abandoned projects. That sad situation is juxtaposed with the current transformation in the country - the repairing of roads, the construction of new roads and the building of bridges.
Thus President Koroma came to the Riverside Church in New York not only to be heard but to get Sierra Leoneans to see for themselves what is happening in their homeland. He came with evidence in the form of a book and a video, showcasing the infrastructural development and the economic revitalization of Sierra Leone.
At the Historic Riverside Church, famous for hosting world leaders visiting New York, where Sierra Leoneans from all across the US converged for the OGI Town Hall Meeting, President Koroma gave an account of his three-year stewardship; an account of the achievements made so far; the meaningful and significant strides taken to make Sierra Leone a better place for all Sierra Leoneans.
A confident and exuberant President Koroma reported in detail Sierra Leone’s turnaround from a war-ravaged country to a country undergoing economic and infrastructural development. The rapid transformation, president Koroma revealed, is anchored on his “Agenda for Change,” a social contract he signed with the people of Sierra Leone, promising to effect a change for the better if elected president.
Speaking to Sierra Leoneans in Krio, His Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma said two issues were looked at when he assumed office in 2007. Firstly, the promises made to the people; and secondly, the aspirations of the people of Sierra Leone. The urgent need to address the two issues culminated in the Agenda for Change.
The task at hand was quite monumental and the issues many and varied. “Because of the country’s limited resources, we had to prioritize,” President Koroma explained. The focus was on four areas: Energy as number one priority, followed by Agriculture, Infrastructure and Social Services.
Considering the fact that Freetown has been dubbed the Darkest Capital City, and taking full cognizance of the fact that no meaningful development will take place without electricity, Energy was given top priority in the Agenda for Change. In less than a hundred days in office, electricity was restored to Freetown.
The electricity situation was improved in Freetown from the inconsistent and unreliable 5 mega watts to the more reliable and consistent 20 mega watts. Despite the marked improvement, 20 mega watts is not sufficient for the entire Freetown in view of the population demand,” the president admitted. “We therefore embarked on the completion of the Bumbuna Hydro Electric dam.”
According to President Koroma, $45 million was needed for the completion of Bumbuna. “To show how serious we are in completing Bumbuna, my Government came up with the sum of $5 million, while the donor community responded with 40 million,” the president revealed.
Bumbuna has now been completed and commissioned, according to his Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma. “With Bumbuna providing an additional 50 mega watts, we now have a total of 70 mega watts to provide electricity in Freetown and its environs.”
Plans are now under way to provide electricity to all the district headquarters. “We are now in phase two of Bumbuna, which upon completion will increase energy to 350 mega watts. Within the next five years we should be able to have 1000 mega watts, which will go a long way in solving our energy needs,” President Koroma assured.
Infrastructure came in as the second priority.”Because the ability to move people, goods and machinery is integral to economic development we have embarked on the most ambitious road building program in our history connecting Sierra Leone’s major cities to each other, as well as to neighboring countries,” President Koroma stated. Roads are being constructed and rehabilitated in every region and district of Sierra Leone.
President Koroma reported that the 164km Masiaka-Bo highway was completed in March 2010, funded by the EU and the Sierra Loene Government. The 35km Matotoka highway commenced in March 2008 and was completed in October 2009. The 65km Bo-Kenema highway was started in March 2008 and completed in February 2010.
Construction of the 21.2 km Tokeh-Lumley road is ongoing. The first 9Km stretch of the road from Lumley will now be four lanes. The 86km Freetown-Conakry road is ongoing. The highway will be completed by the end of 2011.Constrution has also commenced on the 87km Kenema-Pendembu section of the Kenema –Kailahun highway, which is slated to be completed in 2013.
Final arrangements for the construction of the Port Loko Lungi road and the Bandajuma Mano River Bridge highway have been completed. To ease the traffic congestion in Freetown, the construction of the Hillside Pademba Road/Blackhall Road has commenced, to be completed by 2011. The widening of the 5km Wilkinson Road to a four lane will soon commence. There is an ongoing rehabilitation of roads in Freetown.
Aside from the construction of all the roads in Freetown and the Provincial towns, there is an ongoing effort to standardize all the feeder roads. The construction of 555km feeder roads in Bombali, Tonkolili, Kailahun and Kailahun have been completed, and work on feeder roads in Kambia, Port Loko, Kenema and Pujehun is over 70 percent complete.
President Koroma pointed out that most of these projects were initiated by his government, and that Government funds have been used for most of the road construction in the country. Fully aware that the former SLPP government may want to take credit as having initiated the ongoing infrastructural development, President Koroma made it clear that most of the projects were totally abandoned by the SLPP government.
Agriculture is third on the president’s agenda. Accounting for 45 percent of Sierra Leone’s GDP, 25 percent of Sierra Leone’s export and 60 percent of jobs, Agriculture is very important to Sierra Leone’s economic growth. To show the high premium placed on Agriculture, President Koroma revealed that budgetary allocation was increased from 1.7 percent to 10 percent, which is in keeping with the Maputo Declaration of 2007.
“Our goal is to move away from subsistence to commercial agriculture, agro-processing, adding value to our agricultural products and realizing maximum benefit from the richness of our soil,” says President Koroma.
The government’s vision is to make Agriculture “the engine for socio-economic growth.” An elaborate Agricultural program has now been embarked upon not only for domestic consumption but for export. To ensure this the government has provided support in the form of farming implements, seedlings and other extension services.
There is now a 150-acre Agricultural Business Center in the country to enhance productivity. The creation of this center has impacted 2 million farmers, thereby meeting not only food sufficiency in the country, but also the export market. A process of Irrigation is now in place so that rice could be harvested three times a year instead of once. Aside from providing more jobs, this will generate more foreign exchange.
The fourth and final item on the Agenda for Change is Social Services, which include Education and Health Care. President Koroma admitted that education has suffered a serious setback in recent times. “Instead of looking for whose doorstep to lay the blame, we confronted the problem by reviewing the 6334 educational system.”
President Koroma disclosed that the Gbamanga Commission was set up to thoroughly review the failing 6334 with a view to overhaul the entire system and replace it with one that will reflect the development requirement of the country. In an effort to improve the quality of education the Commission came out with the 6344.
“Government has now issued a White Paper on the Gbamanja report, accepting most of the recommendations, and is establishing a Committee for their full implementation.” Because education provides a solid human resource base, steps have been taken to make the system more efficient and effective. His Excellency reported that 3 to 4,000 teachers have been recruited.
On Health care, the president acknowledged that Sierra Leone is ranked low in the United Nations Human Development Index because of the high infant and maternal mortality rate. “Realizing that the problem is further compounded by the high cost of service, my government decided to introduce free healthcare for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children within the age of one to five.”
President Koroma informed a very receptive and enthusiastic audience that efforts are being made to improve health care facilities and to make sure that drugs are being provided. “We took this challenge despite the underlying problem of corruption,” President Koroma indicated.
After reporting on the four areas on the Agenda for Change, President Koroma zeroed in on the efforts made to ensure good governance and to fight corruption. He proudly reported that Sierra Leone’s human rights record is quite good. “My government has never arrested nor detained a journalist; there is freedom of the press. Today, there are over 45 newspapers and forty radio stations operating freely in the country.”
President Koroma reported that the SLBS has now become the SLBC, making Sierra Leone the second country in Africa to make this move from a public/national broadcaster to a corporation in which all the people have access. “My government is open and transparent,” President Koroma reiterated.”
On the Public sector, he said there is an ongoing effort to review conditions of service for civil servants, considering the important role they play in governance. The president disclosed that 100 acres of land have been acquired to develop a Public Service Academy. Taking pride in the leading role played by Sierra Leone in providing administrators for other African countries in the past, President Koroma promised to restore Sierra Leone to its past glory as ‘the Athens of Africa.” He said he would do all that is necessary to ensure the existence of a professional and committed civil service.
In his effort to rebrand Sierra Leone, emphasis has been placed on creating an efficient and effective private sector. “My government is creating the enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.” He said Sierra Leone is on the move, and as president, he is not going to be deterred by his detractors. He appealed to all Sierra Leoneans to come on board.
“With good roads and electricity in the country, all Sierra Leoneans will benefit. The issues that hold us together are greater than the issues that divide us. Let us set aside personal agendas; let us focus on Sierra Leone. Let us all commit ourselves to the Open Government Initiative,” President Koroma concluded.
After presenting his report on his three years stewardship, His Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma was assailed with a plethora of questions. This important part of the OGI meeting was moderated by Mrs. Harriet Turay, past president of the 50/50 Group. After setting the ground rules, she opened the floor for questions. The questions touched on various aspects of government.
President Koroma took his time to digest each question and answered all the questions to the satisfaction of all those present at the Town Hall meeting. At the conclusion of the question and answer session, the president was given a long and sustained round of applause.
In giving the vote thanks, secretary to the president Mr. E.B. Osho Coker described His Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma as a leader who exudes vision, enlightened leadership, dedication, commitment, boundless energy, tolerance, transparency, confidence, democratic ideals and honesty.
If what Serra Leoneans saw and heard at the Open Government Initiative Town Hall Meeting in New York is anything to go by, the SLPP will be clobbered again in 2012. Confident and optimistic because of his good work, President Koroma assured all those gathered at the Riverside Church, “I am not a one term president.”
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