Sierra Leone News

Archive for the ‘Sierra Leone Development’ Category

Today, I went out to Godridge and low and behold! the “big guns” were out! I mean the heavy road equipment were out clearing the busy road from Juba all the way to Lumley Police station! I’m sooooooo excited! I mean Lumley will look brilliant once the road gets a new makeover. And if they tackle and widen that bridge to Juba that will be even better!

I can hear the cynics like many who’ve told me how the “government hasn’t got the guts to do it”, “Oh they will loose the elections etc etc”. Nonsense!!!!

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In case you haven’t heard, Mr Tejan cole has resigned his position today as the Head of the ACC (Anti Corruption Commision) :!:

This is a tragedy for Sierra Leone - a country riddled with bribery and all forms of corruption,

hearing of which will make your ears tingle! YES, it’s even official, Sierra Leone is more corrupt than Nigeria…if you don’t believe me click here to see what I’m saying.

Having said that, a lot is being done to reverse, this dreadful image of this beloved country. I can reliably inform you that, quite apart from the various government officials and individuals that are being hauled to court by the ACC, different arms of the government are implementing systems designed to stop the onslaught of corruption.

For instance, last week, we went to the port to collect our stuff and much to our surprise, a new system is in place now. (read about our previous experience here.)
All monies are now being collected directly by Ecobank directly into bank coffers so the port officials/employess no longer handle money. This is a step in the right direction and other departments like SierraTel, NPA etc are doing the same.

Sure I can’t list 10 other things they can do to make it better but this is not the place.

The fact is, while these new changes are good, the fight is far from over. When people are used to extorting money from other people as a way of living, when one avenue is stopped a new one emerges. And we saw that at the quay last week. (I’ll write about the new corruption tactics in a future post)

There may be a myriad of reasons why Mr Tejan Cole is resigning. So far no reason has been given, it could be personal, it could be moreon a matter of principle, who knows Fighting corruption is a hard and one cannot give favours to anyone. Here in a Sierra Leone, I can imagine, it takes its toll rather quickly.

Whatever it is, I wish him well, and hope we get someone just as passionate to fight corruption and bring a good name and to the country once again.

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On our way to Lakka beach 2 weeks ago, I noticed big improvement in the Penninsular Road. (I’ve got some picture to prove.) And that’s not the only one, a number of main roads are being fixed or have been fixed. For instance, I’m told the road to Bo is now pristine and the road to the Liberian boarder has also been graded with contract already awarded.
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That was the lament of a listener of one of the radio program (radio democracy 98.10 FM) about 4 days ago.

I believe this sums up the current mood of most people and the whole issue of high prices by vendors without recall to any authority was brought home to me when I was told that even “potato leaves” sellers have increased their prices due to the said GST!

I mean GST is supposed to be collected only by businesses with Le200 million turnover and even though many of these people don’t qualify, prices have still increased.
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With one year ending and another one soon beginning, I cannot but reflect on the past year as well as look ahead.

Thank God, we as a family have had a good year last year and the Bumbuna truly made our year! Also we have adjusted more to the environment and it gets better…

For Freetown and Sierra Leone as a whole here are some my wishes:

#1. Continuous 24/7 electricity
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A lot of things have been happening so I have to squeeze in time to tell you about them. First of all, we did our school bag distribution yesterday! In case you don’t know this, we operate along with Aminata Adam-Samura (founder) and other partners(including GlaxoSmithKline), a charitable organisation named Boundless Hope.
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As you may well know, the Bumbuna Dam is nearly 100% operational. Recently, we have been experiencing better light. In fact from Thursday last week till Saturday we had light with no interruptions and this is the first time this has happened since we came to Sierra Leone in January 2008.
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Yes Salone is up and coming…. Well I feel much better and literally brighter - yes with the Bumbuna NPA light. Since two weeks now we’ve had light almost every night - sometimes it comes in at around 6.00pm, sometimes after we’ve gone to bed but never during the day. This is a much better situation and we’re all looking for more.

I heard from the grapevine that NPA made an announcement that they’re testing Bumbuna but apparently it’s only up to 20MegaWatts instead of the 50MW which is currently being worked on…

Needless to say, having brings about a “feel-good” atmosphere that only those of us who’ve experienced the lack of it can understand. I look forward to powering my laptop during the day with NPA and listening to the radio and doing all the frivolous things I can think of… simple things like storing ice cream in the freezer an eating it when I want.…

I also look forward to civilised quietness when all generators in the area including ours are off:

Here are some of the stuff I’ll save on each month

(current $ rate is about $4,000, you do the math)

40-60 gallons of diesel a month / @Le14,800 per gallon = Le592,000 - Le888,000

6 packets of giant candles /month - @ Le10,000 each = Le 60,000

Gosh… I can’t wait….Will update when more changes happen