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President Koroma has done it again

Author: SEM Contributor

Having outlined his Agenda for Change to the nation and secured the support of international financial institutions and other governing bodies like the United Nations, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma has, on Thursday 19 November 2009, successfully presented his second Poverty Reduction or rather his Wealth Creation Strategy in a two-day conference in London.

The event was followed on Friday by an evening reception organised by the APC United Kingdom and Ireland Branch. In attendance were, His Excellency the Ambassador to the United Kingdom Hon Eddy Turay, his deputy Tamba Mansa Ngegba, The Minister of Agriculture, Dr Joe Sam Sesay and some high ranking personalities of the APC Government.

The President could not attend the occasion because he was too engaged in spreading the canopy of business for the Sierra Leone economy. However, members of his family were in attendance.Â The reception itself went on well despite the provocative occasion of the launching of “yesterday better pass tiday” album of Emmerson just few yards away.

The Conference

At the close of the conference, I sounded diverse opinions of delegates. It was clear to me that this visionary and determined President has done it again. He has succeeded in enticing investors into taking stakes in four key investment opportunities namely: provision of reliable power supply, raising productivity in agriculture and fisheries, constructing a national transportation network and providing good social services.

In doing so, he has effectively assured international investors that their well earned money will be put in a country awash with peace and stability. Sierra Leone, he paraphrased the United Nations, “has enjoyed the fastest improvement in political stability in the world over the last decade”. This off course is a clear manifestation of this President’s sincerity and honesty thus acknowledging the past government’s role in attaining the peace and stability the country now enjoys.Â He also accepted that his ascendancy to the throne was to some extent due to the resilient and democratic maturity of the nation. In my view, these words points to the role President Kabba played during the 2007 Presidential elections – much to the amusement of international observers.

By premising his call for international investors to join the bandwagon of business on peace, stability and democracy in Sierra Leone, President Koroma has succeeded in enticing foreign investors whose scepticisms have for decades been centred on the absence of these triangular beacons of hope for sustainable development.

Sierra Leoneans must now expect Western democracies and Trans-National Corporations (TNCs) to abandon their analogue mode policies of “aid to Sierra Leone” and adopt the digital mode approach of helping the country re-package its investment potentials for the perusal of world class business moguls.

Sierra Leone desperately needs serious capital and infrastructural investments. This conference has successfully articulated the case in the areas of energy, transport and agriculture. We are however waiting to see the sort of investment opportunities that will emerge from the two-day conference. Will they be pro-environment investment opportunities? Will the OIC, DFID and the Government of Sierra Leone ensure a social-ecological scrutiny of interested companies and will successful investment teams be forced (through legislations or statutory guidelines) to use Environmental and Social (E&S) analysis as a standard practice in their investment decisions?Â My take on these questions is that of optimism because doing the right business is ingrained in Dr Ernest Koroma’s genetic makeup.

Whatever the outcome, however, Sierra Leoneans expect conference participants and potential investors to be cognisance of the fact that environmental and social issues such as poverty and inequality, food security, labour standards, land rights, urban congestion, water scarcity, sanitation, rural electrification and energy security are challenges to be reckoned with.

In this regard, we need to do more beyond the conference hall to enhance our global competitiveness so as to ensure sustainable development. It will therefore be prudent if the organisers of the conference immediately set up a Strategic Implementation Unit (SIU) for the sole purpose of ensuring that investments opportunities emanating from the Conference are not only thoroughly fast tracked but prudently implemented for the benefit of the nation. The onus is on us to prove that we have arrived in the world stage this time not with begging bowl and knee caps.Â

by Pa Kaprr Yoni of Masingbi, London

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