President Takes Steps to Improve The Quality Of Life Of The People Of Sierra Leone

Not too often do you see an African leader makes his pri­or­ity, the qual­ity of the stan­dard of liv­ing of his peo­ple. And some­times even when lead­ers are elected on their manifesto’s pledge to bring change, these promises are usu­ally bro­ken. Africans have become some­what weary of polit­i­cal promises that never trans­late into real­ity. This has affected voter turnouts in most parts of the con­ti­nent and has left diasporan’s unwill­ing to return and con­tribute to the devel­op­ment of their coun­try.  Sierra Leone, has indeed has its own share of this.

The country’s min­eral wealth has never been directed to the infra­struc­tural devel­op­ment of the coun­try. Pre­vi­ous admin­is­tra­tions have neglected the increas­ing needs for urgent atten­tion to the country’s fail­ing insti­tu­tions. Med­ical ser­vices have been poor. The road net­work was in sham­bles. The cost of liv­ing was ris­ing in per­cent­ages unseen in recent times. Par­ents could not  send their chil­dren to school because they just could not afford to. Salaries of civil ser­vants and pub­lic sec­tor work­ers were not paid on time or at all. But life con­tin­ued,  as the peo­ple prayed for the Almighty God to res­cue them from the cor­rupt prac­tices of those that gov­ern them hop­ing one day they will be blessed with a leader with true con­cern for his peo­ples welfare.

This is the typ­i­cal sit­u­a­tion in most African coun­tries. Finan­cial assis­tance often pro­vided in the form of aid or grants by for­eign donors is often mis­ap­pro­pri­ated. Some­times diverted to for­eign accounts oper­ated by gov­ern­ment offi­cials. These expe­ri­ences by for­eign donors have often ham­pered much needed for­eign assis­tance as west­ern coun­tries become more and more reluc­tant to bring their out cheque books as demand for African gov­ern­ment to be more account­able becomes ever more increas­ing. The U.S Sec­re­tary of State, Hillary Clin­ton recently told investor in a meet­ing in Kenya, that only good gov­er­nance and polit­i­cal sta­bil­ity can bring about eco­nomic pros­per­ity to the African Con­ti­nent.  No African leader can be said to be a hun­dred per­cent perfect.

But the Pres­i­dent of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma has indeed made a dif­fer­ence to improve the qual­ity of life of his peo­ple. There are indeed short­com­ings and areas to improve, but the stride towards eco­nomic devel­op­ment and stamp­ing out cor­rup­tion by cre­at­ing an Anti-Corruption com­mis­sion which recently recov­ered close to a Bil­lion Leones is clear evi­dence of the President’s deter­mi­na­tion to root out mal­prac­tices.  The President’s recent ini­tia­tive to revive the stalled Bum­buna hydro-electric plant has indeed paid off as Sierra Leoneans all around the coun­try will soon be able to enjoy afford­ably power sup­plies as a result of this venture.

I was impressed when I learnt that a recent gift of tonnes of rice by the Libyan gov­ern­ment was made directly avail­able and dis­trib­uted to the peo­ple of Sierra Leone by the Pres­i­dent him­self. He per­son­ally ensured that the peo­ple, who the gifts were meant for received them.  Some­thing like this would have been unthink­able in the past as pre­vi­ous regimes would first ensure that their own fam­ily mem­bers, close asso­ciates and friends ben­e­fit from such ges­tures before any con­sid­er­a­tion is given to the peo­ple. Some­times the rem­nants of such gifts are even sold at exor­bi­tant and unaf­ford­able prices to the very peo­ple it was meant for.

It is with much relief that I observe the dra­matic change the coun­try is under­go­ing. I must applaud Pres­i­dent Koroma for the good work he is doing. Even though he has his crit­ics and those that think he is not doing enough, but after 2 years in gov­ern­ment, the coun­try has tasted the true mean­ing of good lead­er­ship that can­not be ignored but instead nur­tured and encour­aged to do even bet­ter. I am call­ing on the inter­na­tional com­mu­nity to con­tinue to sup­port the gov­ern­ment and peo­ple of Sierra Leone as the coun­try moves into a new polit­i­cal era.

The coun­try has suf­fered a bru­tal civil war that claimed the lives of thou­sands of its peo­ple and inflicted per­ma­nent phys­i­cal and emo­tional scars that is evi­dent when you meet the vic­tims and sur­vivors of this bru­tal con­flict. With these past and his­tory, Sierra Leone needs true lead­er­ship that would under­stand the need for not only national but human recon­struc­tion. A leader that will be com­pas­sion­ate to its people’s needs.  A gov­ern­ment that will put its peo­ple first and work towards national cohe­sion and bridge build­ing. One that will fos­ter national devel­op­ment. A gov­ern­ment that will ensure aid that is meant for its peo­ple is evenly dis­trib­uted to its right recip­i­ents. And I must say a gov­ern­ment that is headed by Ernest Bai Koroma.

© 2009, Daily Mail. All rights reserved. Discuss this article on the Salone Forum Salone Forum

By Daily Mail