Sierra Leone’s first EITI report
Keynote address delivered by His Excellency the President, Dr. Ernest Bair Koroma at the launching ceremony of Sierra Leone’s first EITI report, Miatta Conference Center on Thursday 25 March, 2010
Mr. Chairman, Cabinet Ministers, Honourable Members of Parliament, Members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps, Honourable Paramount Chiefs, Donor Partners, Representatives from Mining Companies, Representatives from Diamond Exporters / Dealers, Representatives from Civil Society Organizations, Representatives from the Media, Distinguished Ladies & Gentlemen,  Â
Let me use this opportunity to thank all of you for your diverse contributions towards the successful implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Sierra Leone. Since Sierra Leone became a member of the EITI family in 2006, it has not been an easy feat to get the initiative on course owing to several factors; but with the resolve of tSierra Leoneans through their elected Government, Sierra Leone strode on and attained the EITI candidate status in February 2008.
Mr. Chairman. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the discourse about “resource curse†is that despite billions of revenues derived from the extractive industries, citizens of more than fifty resource-rich countries around the world are steeped in poverty, slow economic growth, corruption and civil conflict.
The institutions that manage the resources are often weak and unaccountable to Parliament and the citizens. Revenues are often not disclosed by Governments or the companies involved and in some cases, it remains a state secret. The apparent lack of transparency and accountability facilitate embezzlement, corruption and revenue misappropriation. In extreme cases as it did in our recent past, access to such resources fuel and sustain conflicts thereby weakening governments and institutions. The global consensus therefore is that if governments manage these revenues transparently and efficiently, they could serve as a basis for successful economic growth and poverty reduction.
Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, such global consensus has informed my Government’s Agenda for Change under the strategic area of “sustaining peace, security and good governanceâ€. The vision for the Sierra Leone EITI is to ensure that the natural resource wealth becomes an engine for sustainable development, and that poverty eradication in Sierra Leone through transparent, accountable and effective management of the revenues generated, controlled and the utilized for the benefit and satisfaction of all Sierra Leoneans.
Mr. Chairman, against this background, my Government contracted the services of Verdi Consulting in December 2009 to carry out a reconciliation of payments made by six industrial mining companies and three major exporters / dealers with revenues received by Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies including some District and Chiefdom council for the period 2006 and 2007 and to publish their findings. This exercise is the beginning of the publication of a series of reconciliation exercises in the extractive sector whereby information on what is paid by each company and what is received by government is periodically made public in an accessible manner. It is now time for everyone to account to the public every payment made and revenue received from the extractive industries in a transparent manner so that we can together transform the “resource curse†into meaningful and sustainable development projects. A scoping study of the oil sector will soon be undertaken so that it will form part of the subsequent EITI Reports.
Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the EITI Report we are about to launch today has far reaching findings and recommendations, which when vigorously pursued, will go a long way in addressing some of the issues of transparency and accountability that have plagued the extractive sector for decades. In this regard, my government will do everything possible in ensuring that the issues contained in the Report are adequately addressed to the extent that it will plug off seepages. The EITI process requires that the Report should be disseminated to a wider audience in a comprehensible manner. I therefore call on the Multi- Stakeholder Group to take adequate steps in ensuring that the Report is made accessible to everybody in a simple and clear language. Though the validation deadline of the 19th March 2010 which would have made Sierra Leone EITI compliant was missed out, my government has requested a three month extension of the validation period and we are determined that we will complete it within the timeframe requested.
Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, let me particularly thank the International EITI Board and the Secretariat, the Multi-Stakeholder Group, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, GTZ, the African Development Bank, the United Kingdom, the Department for International Development and Verdi Consulting for their various contributions towards this great success.
On this note, on behalf of my Government and the people of Sierra Leone, I now declare the “First Sierra Leone EITI Reconciliation Report†launched.
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