Bio Outlines New Direction Priorities on Toronto Visit

“Let us use the ties that bind us as Sierra Leoneans to work together to develop our country; Let us disabuse ourselves of and revoke the lies that blind us to our common destiny and our common fate as Sierra Leoneans: lies that breed hate and discrimination,” Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio opened up his friendly consultative meeting with a broad cross section of the Sierra Leonean community in Toronto. The audience included a very close associate of the UDM leader Mr. Arnold Bendu as well as the wife of the UDM leader , APC members, PMDC members, SLPP members, and Sierra Leoneans with no avowed political loyalties. The broad-based Sierra Leonean audience included Sierra Leonean corporate lawyers, pharmacologists, human rights professionals, international conflict resolution experts, engineers, accountants, healthcare professionals, and a respected Canadian civil servant and community leader in Toronto, Mr. Paul Duwai-Sowa.

The meeting with the SLPP Presidential contender followed a series of afternoon meetings with Canadian policy advisers and two major investors in the City of Toronto. According to one of the organizers, Mr. Paul Duwai-Sowa, this broad-based social meeting was organized between the Presidential contender and Sierra Leoneans resident in that city so that “Sierra Leoneans here in Canada can listen to the views of one of the Presidential contenders and hopefully add a voice to shaping the future of Sierra Leone. This is not about politics.” The meeting, he re-echoed, was at the SLPP Presidential contender’s request to meet with compatriots and talk about his vision for Sierra Leone.

The Imam of the Sierra Leone Muslim community in Toronto, as well as the Pastor-In-Charge of the Sierra Leonean Church (ReachOut Methodist Church) in Toronto prayed for the health and life of the SLPP Presidential candidate and also for the well-being of Sierra Leoneans in Toronto. In a relaxed mood, Brig. Bio had a frank but informal social conversation about what he called the key issues of agriculture, corruption and mismanagement, youth unemployment, the economy, education, healthcare, and political participation in the country. He also discussed issues of investment into the country’s energy resources and questions of law and order. The lively Q and A session ended with mingling and fraternization long into the night.

Brig. (Rtd.) Bio shared the broad policy objectives of his New Direction philosophy:

GOVERNANCE: On governance, he stated that his objective is to establish a safe and accountable democracy in which every Sierra Leonean, irrespective of gender, ability, region, and ethnicity is treated equally and fairly and participates fully in the governance process. He stressed that citizens are empowered when they believe that their voices matter and they have an opportunity to make valuable contributions to the governance of their own country. “Where there is justice and equal access to jobs, opportunities, services, facilities, and the resources of the country,” he pointed out, “there will be no talk of nepotism and tribalism.” Law and order will be maintained in the best general public interest so that every Sierra Leone enjoys this country equally and fairly.

MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY: He pointed out that inefficiency and mismanagement cost Sierra Leone about four times the size of the national budget and that the first order of a New Direction government is to cut down waste and inefficiencies by establishing a strong system of accountability in every sector of governance in the country. He shared, “if members of the general public know how much is allocated to a project and have access to progress reports and project accounts, it is less likely that project managers will misappropriate those funds.”  He also added that training and equipping civil servants and workers and ensuring that their selfless work for the country is properly compensated will be high on the agenda. In return, he stated, Sierra Leoneans will expect honest and exceptional performance and there will be definite performance standards and evaluations at every level of government in Sierra Leone. He added that he will toughen the prosecutorial and investigative powers of the ACC and increase its professionalism. “What Sierra Leone needs,” he added, “are well-trained, well-equipped, well-paid, well-respected, and highly-motivated workers. . . the family, friends, associates, Ministers, and a few beneficiaries of the President are not the only ones who should enjoy a good living. It is the inalienable right of every Sierra Leonean to live well in his own country.”

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT: “The way toward economic prosperity is not with a few people with access to power either colluding with external agents or by themselves stealing huge amounts of the country’s resources while 80% of Sierra Leoneans can hardly get by,” he stated. Economic development is possible if Sierra Leone took a new direction of a) investing heavily in training local manpower especially for the youth population which is suffering and has been most ignored and therefore most disadvantaged in the post-war years, b) encouraging fair and transparent foreign investment in the country’s natural resources,  c) supporting large-scale indigenous private entrepreneurship and private investment with access to startup loans, and generous repayment, preferential access, and tax incentives, and d) transforming dormant, slow or incompetent-performing, or moribund sectors of the economy like tourism,  marine resources, government parastatals, small-scale manufacturing for the local market, and agribusiness into viable and productive ones, and e) providing extensive support for cash crop production and ensuring that food security is not about distributing a few tractors and shouting political slogans but providing sustainable support for food production through financing and strong extension work.  Brigadier Bio also stressed that a developed economy broadens the revenue base for the country and he underlined his determination to improve not only the collection but also accountability for every cent that is due to Sierra Leone and Sierra Leoneans.

HEALTHCARE: On the health sector, he noted that excessive sloganeering about token support for just a small percentage of Sierra Leoneans who need healthcare is not helping reduce overall mortality in Sierra Leone. He outlined that his new direction is to ensure that donor funds for the current maternal healthcare program are not mismanaged as the current Ernest Koroma government is doing but to manage it effectively using best management practices of needs assessment, monitoring, evaluation, and review in order to maximize efficiencies. He said that in addition, his government will a) invest heavily in public sanitation because with basic public sanitation, 60% of illnesses that afflict Sierra Leoneans will be eliminated; b) invest heavily in training local healthcare staff with reduced tuition and other incentives; c) invest in primary healthcare so that trained healthcare staff intervene early ensure that access to those primary healthcare clinics will be free for all Sierra Leoneans and not just lactating mothers; d) invest in healthcare infrastructure and equipment. This, he emphasized will pay off with a healthy population and a healthy workforce that is economically productive.

INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT: Brigadier Bio also stated that planned and purposeful infrastructural developments are much more meaningful to the development of the economy and the country as a whole than a token 4 mile stretch of one street or putting bathroom tiles on a clock tower. “It is not just enough to complete some roads started by the previous SLPP government and shout that you are a “government of infrastructure” when Rogbere Bridge and other bridges are virtual death traps and with no plans in place to manage and maintain those roads. Maintenance and management are crucial for the sustainability of road networks,” he further stressed. His approach, he said, will be about sustainability and effective management of the road infrastructure and the construction of new ones. His government would explore relationships with and collaborate with Independent Energy Providers/private enterprise (with government oversight and regulation) in investing in reservoir expansion, new dam establishments, water treatment facilities used in other developing nations, water supply pipe network in addition to affordable metering and tariffs that are collected and reinvested in developing the water supply network. Investing in transmission and distribution, competent management of existing sources of electricity, and making a priority of investing in low-cost hydro-electric systems already identified in various studies will pay back in not only improved living conditions but also it will attract much-needed investment (foreign and local) to the country. He also called for the urgent need to invest in the telecommunications sector in which the current government has shown either indifference or erratic interest. “As the Singapore, South-East Asian Tigers, and the Mauritius in Africa experiences show, targeted infrastructural investments always yield large dividends in terms of productivity and investment, and improves the overall attractiveness of the country to foreign investors,” he pointed out. He noted that all the western investors with whom he has had conversations in his last 3 month tour of Western nations have affirmed his strong belief in pursuing this goal.

“There are other priority areas in our New Direction,” Brig. Bio concluded. “I will be in Sierra Leone next week, and we will start holding President Koroma fully accountable for his record over the last five years by saying enough of the slogans – “The Pa dae woke ? Why we hardup? Why yu Minista den dae tiff en live big wae we dae suffer? Why res na Le200,000? Five more year pan promise en slogan?”

Toronto, Ontario, Canada. June 16-18, 2012. Moses Batema and Dr. Patrick K. Muana

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