Surrounding the Kailahun Visit
Much continues to be written about President Koroma’s just concluded visit to Kailahun district; I shall come back to that in a moment, Our critics often insult us, verbally abuse us, describe us as senile, refer to us dinosaurs etc. but all this is usually to conceal their inability to respond satisfactorily to the points we raise; in short, they are usually confounded by the truth of our position.
The opposition SLPP is accused by the pro government press as not appreciating the APC government’s much touted achievement of giving clean and uninterrupted electricity to the city of Freetown and its environs. The city had been in continuous peach darkness for decades and the SLPP did nothing about it until Ernest Bai Koroma came to our rescue. When we have pointed out that the electricity supply is neither universal nor consistent, we are accused of showing a lack of appreciation. Here is an excerpt from the editorial comment in the Wednesday February 10, edition of the Standard Times newspaper.†Not withstanding the current over-play of electricity supply to the city of Freetown, which has yet to be sustainable; and the newly commissioned Bumbuna Hydro Power Station, where only intermittent supply seems to flow, the industry has still not reeled itself out of crisis that seems almost perpetually to engulf the whollly owned and managed government parastatal….†Readers may read the rest in the said newspaper. Very soon, the Peep newspaper will also join in the chorus of grouses about our irregular electricity supply. The Standard Times goes as far as pointing out how much electricity is supplied to Makeni and the north, compared with what is available in Freetown.
An examination question from which I never shied was “Compare and Contrast…†In addition to his insults IBM Kamara challenges me and of course the last SLPP administration with another one of his now familiar very ridiculous statements. In the same edition of the standard times newspaper he alleges that all the current problems of governance were inherited from the last (SLPP?) administration. Political intolerance, thuggery and violence, political marginalization and divisiveness, naked tribalism, winner-takes-all, were inherited from the last administration. So that the poor man does not go through the ceiling again, I will not describe the statement as either trash or hypocrisy, but will simply leave that to the judgment of his readers. May I again educate him as managing editor that I was not a member of the NPRC regime like my young friend Paul Kamara, ok?
Everyone describes Kailahun district as the most under developed; what yardstick has been used? Lack of educational facilities, health facilities, non-existent of government presence, no rehabilitation or reconstruction? Has such a harsh judgment been pronounced solely based on the very bad trunk road running across the length and breadth of the district? Maybe the people saying this are unaware of the fact that up to the outbreak of the rebel war, the district provided the highest returns to the Customs department as the NRA was known in those days. The SLPP government had a broad approach to rehabilitation and reconstruction and development generally. There was the resurfacing programme of the Masiaka to Makeni road, the resurfacing of the Bo to Masiaka Road, the construction of the Rogbere to Palmelap Road through Port Loko and Kambia. Funding had been secured for the hillside road but the hassle over compensation continues to this day. In the midst of all this and other developments, that government, which our detractors accuse of doing nothing for the people Kailahun, was able to obtain funding for the feasibility study of the Kenema to Koindu road. In addition and of much importance, it held a donor conference here in Freetown at which the first 63 million United States dollars was pledged for the first phase of the work, for which the APC is now taking credit. In addition, they want us to keep silent about it! No way. The Holy Book admonishes that we should not light our lamp and hide it under a bushel; its gonna be right on the peak.
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