Sierra Leone Government Media Outreach Report: Internet Portal for Interactive Transparency and Ideas Generation

President Koroma Launches Internet Portal for Interactive Transparency and Ideas Generation

At State House today, January 24, 2012,  H.E. the President,  Ernest Bai Koroma, officially launched the TRANSPARENCY-INTERNATIONAL  (T-SL) portal, which has been designed to capture all government projects in prose and still/video photographs; including an interactive internet forum through which the citizenry can ask the president and his cabinet questions, and the President can respond through a blog.

President Koroma said that he “sanctioned the creation of Transparency Sierra Leone portal” because it would be a forum where “government will make accessible to the general public information of all the ‘Agenda for Change’ development projects; creating an unprecedented level of openness in government”.

The T-SL manifest “innovative solutions borne of open collaboration and dialogue”, according to President Koroma.   President Koroma said that  T-SL presents “an opportunity for innovative ideas  to be shared that would otherwise be lost and buried in the graveyards of genuine Sierra Leonean minds”

A representative from the London-based Commonwealth Office stressed that T-SL will make government more responsive to the needs of the people they govern, facilitating “constructive criticism”.  She however warned that  government should “not be deceived”, for the new initiative would put “a lot of pressure on government”, and government officials should be compelled “to work harder”.

One of the technical developers  of the project  in Sierra Leone demonstrated what the T-SL portal would look like – this would include a  “panoply of government projects” in every sector.    There would be  an “authoritative content” section; as well as a “user content” section where users can make suggestions or  criticize government.  Government officials have been trained to regularly monitor such feedbacks from the public.    There would be a blog for the president, and other cabinet ministers – where they would regularly interact with the public through cyberspace.

The Chief of Staff in the President’s Office, Dr. Kelfala Marrah,  said the T-SL portal would not be for “political debate..”,  but  would try to focus on  “national issues” .   Dr. Marrah drew a parallel on a benefit of the  T-SL  portal:  He said that recently when the Congo Cross roundabout was being constructed, knowledgeable citizens made public their comments on what they felt was wrong.  The relevant government authorities listened to them.  And, this led to the redesign and the re-construction of the Congo Cross roundabout – making it much better.

The soft-spoken erudite Dr. Marrah, with barely a hint of drama, lifted up for the audience to see a well-bounded book which he said has all the many projects of President Koroma’s Agenda for Change, and he asked rhetorically: “How many cabinet ministers would have read this book?  I am sure very few of them.  And, still, fewer senior government officials…How many people are aware that there are 191 agriculture business centers constructed by this administration in every district and chiefdom in the country?  How many people know of jetties that have been constructed from Makaleh in the North to Gbangbatoke in the South?   How many people are aware of community banks all over the country…”

The Chief of Staff bemoaned the “information deficit” in government currently; a factor which is inimical to governance, for, “when citizens see what their taxes are being used for”, they would pay taxes without hassle.   It is such lack which the T-SL portal would provide for, because, according to Dr. Marrah, “the village square is now the internet”.     He said that the internet era of today’s world, and the one being embarked  on by T-SL, could be likened to the dramatically radical shift in societal organization and economic productivity that took place during the era of the Industrial Revolution in Europe some three hundred years ago.   One of the ‘mantras’ which Dr. Marrah unveiled at the ceremony was this one: “Impose attacks, and you will be rewarded for imposing attacks”.

Another “cutting edge technology” that is using Sierra Leone as the first country in West Africa to experiment with would lead to the  uploading  of all the developmental projects on GOOGLE’s satellite system which can be accessed by people using the GPS – who can zoom in and out on specific projects anywhere in the country.  This would help citizens to help government to monitor what is going on around the country.

Organizations praised for giving impetus to the project include the National Telecommunications Company (NATCOM), the monitoring unit in the finance ministry, DACO, the Sierra Leone Roads Authority, the National Power Authority, the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation, and “journalists” who belong to the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ).

Written by Oswald Hanciles

Special Assistant to the President (Media Outreach)

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Tags:  Ernest Koroma, Internet, Sierra Leone, Transparency

By Daily Mail