DENI-SL Beware of the backlash: give credit where credit is due

Dear Mr. Kamara:  In reference to your article on DENI-SL dated February 8, 2010, I want to write on behalf of past and current members of the DENI Dream Team and thank you very much for your attempt to misinform and mislead beneficiaries and proponents of such an esteemed project.

Before I address some of the salient points inaccurately dispersed in your article about the DENI Program let me spend a minute to address your disparaging concluding paragraph. I am not sure if this has anything to do with politics, but I strongly believe as an ordinary Sierra Leonean or any other Sierra Leonean in the hinterlands of Sierra Leone would not feel comfortable with your statement addressing our elected president thus: “Should it pleases President Koroma to appoint——–.“  All things being equal you have marginalized and compromised his position as your boss or the head of state of a program his country sponsored. This is a very serious management flaw on your part as a PMR Coordinator of the DENI-SL. I urge you to apologize to the people of this forum and all Sierra Leoneans.

Now let us face the facts about DENI-SL. Again I do not know you, so forgive me for being candid and not sacrosanct with your vision about DENI in Sierra Leone. I am just not sure if you are qualified enough or I am positive you are not an expert in the areas of interest pertaining to DENI that the Dream Team culminated decades ago. I will leave the history of DENI as a Brain Child of US-Africa Business Council and a Mirror of the Paris Club Debt Categories to another conversation.

Let the truth be told. I am a registered and diehard APC member. You stated in your article and I quote “The DENI-SL Initiative did not begin during the SLPP Government of ex-President Alhaji Ahmed Tejan Kabbah—–“ In the interest of the completeness of your statement and biases, I will suggest you retract your statement and conduct a thorough research about the beginnings of DENI-SL. Here are a few hints: a) DENI-SL was the culmination and the subset of the Poverty Reduction Program through the World Bank in 2005/2006, b) DENI-SL was designed as a Pilot Program in conjunction with World Bank Staff, c) DENI-SL’s activities and dialogues regarding Ownership Cultures, Implementation and Benefits to Sierra Leone took place in 2005 and 2006. I guess by then SLPP and President Kabbah were still running the GOSL.

On the issue of the steering committee of DENI-SL’ s disappointment about false information disseminated throughout the Western world,  let the record show that there was an African Delegation, representative of each African country selected by World Bank as Pilot Program Countries.  That African Delegation spent hours and hours of their time not to mention money and opportunity cost would like to see some accountability and transparency via documentation, not just harplessly blaming critics of your conduct of business as usual.

The intricacies of the DENI-SL Debt Treatment and the increased menu of nuances of Debt Forgiveness and Debt Cancellation as Instruments of Economic Stimulation and Revitalization of the hinterlands must become your mantra to garner support from followers and supporters of the DENI-SL Program and not the highly disingenuous focus on USD 10,000 per month salary.

If your team is not guilty of improprieties as alleged or hiding any skeletons, you should embrace your critics’ feelings.  Your program’s success depends on objective third party evaluations, transparency and due diligences either from international intermediaries or your beneficiaries, ordinary Sierra Leoneans like myself and others who have the right to ask you questions of prudence.

In concluding let me assure you that your critics are heavyweight professionals, highly trained, qualified with expert knowledge, and extensive background in private sector programs dealing with the alleviation of poverty and DENI-SL Program, may be willing to render you assistance.

Thank you and I look forward to a different conversation about how we can make DENI-SL work for the Sierra Leonean Masses.

Senesie Madijan Kabba, Managing Partner/CEO/Founder, Pioneer Technology Management Solutions, Sierra Global Consulting and Engineering Group

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