Begging For Bread
A pastor based in Freetown recently informed Sierra Express Media that spending time perpetually in the house of your neighbour, begging for bread is a habit that should be avoided.
Taking this statement within the context of the government of Sierra Leone’s cap in hand approach, there is a need for us to ensure that we have the know how and the interest and initiative in utilizing our own dough to make our own bread.
Recently, President Ernest Bai Koroma in no uncertain terms stated that there is no reason for the nation to go cap in hand begging other countries when we have the resources available to put our house in order. Sierra Leone is blessed with various resources making it the envy of numerous countries. It is a nation of few people with huge resources, and if these resources are properly utilized, there is no reason why our leaders should go around globe trotting with the intention of begging.
We have the natural resources in the form of diamonds, bauxite, rutile, zircon, gold and numerous treasures yet known. We have the rich marine resources which have meant a rich deposit too, and our land is fertile. What else do we need?
What Sierra Leone needs is the leadership and the human resources to manage what we have. We cannot live on bread alone. Neither can we see ourselves as beggars in a situation where other nations see us as rich, while we continue to cry out for help in an imagined poverty. If we are poor, our poverty is in the lack of intelligence and patriotic manifestation of our commitment to nation building.
If we are poor, that poverty is based on our fault in remaining down the bottomless pit of existence, and if we are poor, that poverty is caused by our indifference in terms of national issue and our ostrich approach in burying our heads in the sand when confronted with the challenges of the reality.
The recent shortage of water is a clear pointer to the fact that the nation is yet to fully utilize and realize our resources. Here is a situation in which a country, blessed with water has to live in perpetually hustling for the liquid. It is a national disgrace, and from the leaders down to the proverbial man on the streets, all citizens have to equally share the blame.
But in this blame game, it must be realized that there are a lot of negative ramifications involved. First, those with the knowledge and the training, responsible for the running of utility companies like Guma Valley Water Company have to explain their role in such a national disgrace.
The Guma Valley Water Company like most companies run by government has failed as a public utility company. The present management, headed by Mr. Ibrahim Wilson is one of the most ineffective in the history of the company. As usual, Wilson became head of GVWC not through his professional experience or his training or knowledge, but rather through political connections. Wilson who was in the United States all this while, suddenly appeared on the scene as the new General Manager of the company. On assuming office, Wilson started off by marginalizing the labour force; the mechanics and other workers who have carefully worked with the machines, treating them with care, knowing that the system is not up to standard anymore.
What Wilson failed to do is that there is no way he can understand the workings of the company as he has never had any experience in this type of work. Wilson is a typical case of a square peg in a round hole.
Will President Ernest Bai Koroma succeed in initiating his re-branding process and bring sanity into the country? Will there be a new beginning to change the old and not easily dead habits of the past under this type of corruption and mismanagement?
We wait to see what is new under the sun.
Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!
© 2009, https:. All rights reserved.
