Hon. Alpha Kanu attends Congressional Black Caucus Dinner
Hon. Alhaji Alpha Kanu, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Political Affairs and Mineral Resources who is en route to Freetown via London, UK never disappoints when it comes to projecting his country’s image. His eloquence and passion to project Sierra Leone’s image was in display at a dinner held on Saturday, September 26, at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC in honour of the Congressional Black Caucus. In attendance also was President Barack Obama and wife, Michelle Obama.
The well attended dinner which was the culmination of the four day Annual Legislative Conference, brings together African-American members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate, business and industry leaders and a host of other personalities.
Seen as a networking event, it is the aim of the conference to bring together diverse groups of individuals and organizations with the hope that common issues are not only discussed but a way forward is sought that will bring tangible solutions.
Highlighting President Koroma’s agenda for change and the progress the country has seen in two years since the APC came to power, Minister Kanu reminded his audience about Sierra Leone’s history from the 15th century to the present. Of particular importance to him was to inform all potential investors that” The government of Sierra Leone is determined to continue to create an investor-friendly environment so that you can use Sierra Leone as the alternative investment destination.”
As Sierra Leone prepares to celebrate her 50th anniversary as an independent nation, Minister  Koroma noted to all in attendance that the celebration will not be complete without our brothers and sisters who have traced their roots to Sierra Leone. As we celebrate our golden jubilee, we hope to bring in “our kindred folk from the Diaspora, in the Americas and the West Indies and who would have positively participated in the investment for development programme of President Ernest Bai Koroma’s ‘Agenda for Change’,” he said.
Informing all that Sierra Leone is just seven hours across the Atlantic, Minister Koroma invited all to meet in Freetown, the Province of Freedom, later this year. Sierra Leone is a country “that was yours, that can be yours and that must be yours once again” he stressed.
Below is the speech delivered by the Honourable Minister:
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SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE GALA DINNER OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCAUS AT THE RENAISSANCE HOTEL INÂ Â WASHINGTON on Saturday, 26th September, 2009
By Hon. Alhaji Alpha KANU, Minister of Political Affairs and Minister of Mineral Resources
of the Republic of Sierra Leone
Mr., Chairman, distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
All Protocols having been observed,
Let me thank the organisers of this event and especially the California Caucus Chapter that have made it possible for me to attend and to be given the honour of addressing this August gathering.
Mr. Ken Johnson, I thank you and all of the members of your delegation.
Mr. Chairman, please permit me to tell you and everyone else here a short but interesting story of our country, Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone is a relatively small country in West Africa. It is bordered by the Republic of Guinea in the north, by Liberia in the southeast, and by the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest. It is on the 13th parallel north of the Equator, has an area of 71,740 km (27,699 sq miles) and a population of 5 million by the 2004 national census.
In the 15th century, this area of West Africa attracted European Merchant ships looking for a passage to India. Its strategic location with one of the best natural harbours in the world and abundant supply of fresh water quickly turned it into a convenient watering hole. Indeed the first of such port calls was led by the Portuguese explorer, Pedro da Cintra who gave the country the name Sierra Leone, meaning the “Lion Mountain”. Â
When an English captain named Sir John Hawkins called into port in 1585, he took away the first human cargo of 500 slaves whom he had perceived to be physical stronger than the Native Americans first caught for labor.
However, it was to Sierra Leone that freed slaves were returned from England after the Lord Chief Justice Mansfield made his declaration that any slave setting foot in England was free, in 1792. Thanks to the efforts of the Honourable William Wilberforce and Sir Granville Sharpe, the leaders of the Abolitionist movement in England.
Thus this was how slavery started and ended in Sierra Leone. In 2011, it will be 50 years since independence from Britain in 1961. This will be a time when we hope to celebrate that golden jubilee by bringing in our kindred folk from the Diaspora, in the Americas and the West Indies and who would have positively participated in the investment for development programme of President Ernest Bai Koroma’s ‘Agenda for Change’. The count down starts now.
Sierra Leone has great business opportunities. Having emerged from a decade long civil war in 2002, the country continues to make steady progress in democratic good governance, respect for  the rule of law, political tolerance and economic development.
President Ernest Koroma placed energy and agriculture at the top of his list of priorities when he assumed office on 17th September, 2007. In just two years, energy supply has increased from a mere 7MW countrywide to 70MW of which 50MW is green energy provided by the newly completed Bumbunna hydroelectric dam. This dam had been abandoned by the previous government after 35 yrs in construction. It took the political will and commitment of President Koroma to complete and commission it in exactly 2 yrs to the day after assuming the reins of power.
Agricultural output has increased after the recent world food crisis jolted President Koroma’s Government to the stark reality of the susceptibility of our fragile economies to external shocks. He increased expenditure in agriculture and declared an agricultural emergency for food self sufficiency.
1. Sierra Leone has four main sectors for development and economic growth that provide attractive opportunities for Foreign Direct Investment. These are:
i. Agriculture – Sierra Leone is blessed with abundant rain fall and excellent climatic conditions suitable for the growth of various cash crops such as Cocoa, Coffee and rice, to name a few. Value added agro-based industries hold a tremendous promise for the foreign investor wanting to explore this untapped potential. The country imports 200,000mt of rice annually to complement the 300,00mt produced for local consumption. The ecologies for rice cultivation are similar to those in Vietnam, Thailand and India with vast acreages of arable land. Rice production for food self sufficiency will find a ready local market for the commodity. Indeed, this is possible in an area originally known as the rice coast where men and women were forcibly transported from to cultivate the rice fields in the Carolinas, whose legacy survives today in the famous Uncle Ben’s rice.
ii. Fisheries – Sierra Leone has 485km of coastline rich in marine life with an assortment of fish, lobsters and shrimps providing a vast scope for fishing and related industries. There is great industrial potential in the sector with a need for well-organized deep-sea fishing. A well-organized fishing fleet will provide a high rate of Return on Investment. The potential yield of the fisheries resources is estimated at over
iii. 200,000 metric tonnes annually against a current production of only 70,000 metric tones, most of it by poachers. Indeed we are now grateful to the US Government of President Barak Obama, which is now helping to police our coastline under the AFRICOM protocol. Recently, 3 unlicensed Korean vessels were arrested off shore and heavily fined through this joint operation, sending a signal that it is no longer business as usual off the coast of Sierra Leone.
iv. Tourism – Sierra Leone boasts miles and miles of unspoilt beaches along its Atlantic coast, and holds the promise of becoming a center for tourism in West Africa. Investment opportunities exist in the construction of hotels, restaurants, beach resorts along the coast and other related tourist attractions. Sierra Leone also has several small islands with unique eco-systems which when developed can become an eco- tourism paradise. These include Bunce Island with which many here are familiar. It was the staging post, complete with fortress, for slave ships leaving West Africa for the Americas that predates Goree Island in Senegal and Elmina Castle in Ghana by almost a century.
v. Mining – As a professional Mining Engineer and businessman, I used to wonder when my colleagues describe Sierra Leone as a geological scandal. Now, as Minister responsible for the Minerals sector, I can confirm the veracity of that accolade. The story in the sub-region is that the Angel God gave the basket of worldly treasures to distribute tripped and dropped the basket in the small geographic space now called Sierra Leone. We can boast of every known mineral on earth and very recently, just a month ago, a US company called Anadarko announced that they have struck oil off shore Sierra Leone. Let me say that Sierra Leone is endowed with many natural resources. The most abundant include: diamonds, iron ore, bauxite, rutile, gold, platinum and now Col-Tan. In fact new proven discoveries of iron ore by African Minerals in the central mountain ranges exceed 5billion tonnes and are projected to reach 10billion by the end of 2010, making Sierra Leone the repository of the largest iron ore deposit, yet discovered, on the face of the planet. Our policy objective for mining development is to encourage the exploration for minerals, encourage both foreign and local investment in mine development, and ensure security of tenure for those who participate in the sector
vi. The government would like to encourage local secondary processing of its minerals such as the establishment of diamond cutting and polishing factories, iron ore smelters and alumina refineries so that Sierra Leone can improve on revenue generation and Sierra Leoneans can learn useful lifelong skills.
2. In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Sierra Leone is open for business with many reforms already undertaken to make setting up a business and obtaining the necessary licenses to operate easier than ever before. The country ranks 6th in West Africa and top in the Mano River Union, ahead of Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire for ease of doing business, according to the International Finance Corporation, IFC. The government of Sierra Leone is determined to continue to create an investor-friendly environment so that you can use Sierra Leone as the alternative investment destination.
Mr., Chairman, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, all this is happening in a country less than 7hrs flight across the Atlantic. A country that was yours, that can be yours and that must be yours once again. Please take up the challenge and let us all meet this year, in the Province of Freedom, Freetown.
I thank you
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