Sierra Leone Telegraph: 13 March 2020:
Yesterday, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) – Dr Akinwumi Adesina, held talks with Sierra Leone’s President Dr Julius Maada Bio at State House, about the bank’s support for the country’s economic development, social progress and poverty reduction initiatives.
Presenting the AfDB president to president Bio, finance minister – Jacob Jusu Saffa, said that the Bank is very supportive of Sierra Leone.
The AfDB president said that he is delighted to be in the country to gain first-hand experience of progress in the country. He said he has held several meetings with key stakeholders.
He commended the government for its efforts in Human Capital Development, saying that development is about the wellbeing of citizens. He also thanked the President for becoming a champion for nutrition – a show of leadership by creating the opportunity for those who cannot afford the high cost of living.
He also commended the government’s proposal for construction of the Lungi Bridge to connect the capital Freetown and the airport town, noting that it is a structural urban development that could create new economic opportunities through special economic zones.
He said that the bank has reviewed the government’s priorities and assured president Bio of its support for the country’s development programmes.
President Bio welcomed the AfDB president and his team, saying that Sierra Leone is a small but determined nation that is changing the narrative about its image around the world.
He said that despite inheriting a challenging economic environment, his government is instituting a lot of reforms, especially in the area of fiscal consolidation.
He said that his government is committed to prudent economic management and has brought back development partners such as the International Monetary Fund, who had earlier left the country.
Bio also informed the bank’s president of his government’s efforts to clamp down heavily on corruption, which is holding back the country’s development.
He noted that the fight against graft is both a way of correcting the past and also creating a deterrent for present public officials.
“We have been able to increase tax revenue and fight corruption, which is a fight that we will continue to pursue. The free quality education has helped increase the number of enrolment in schools; and we are serious about it because it is part of our inclusive development. I want to thank the AfDB for its support to our infrastructural sector, which is an enabler for development,” he said.
Earlier, the AfDB President also held a consultative meeting with ministers, heads of agencies and other senior members of government on projects that are being supported by the Bank. The meeting was chaired by the Chief Minister, Professor David John Francis.
Bintu – Your sob story just doesn’t ring true; You really want us to believe that you voted for the legendary APC twice, before finally realising that you had made a terrible mistake?(lol) With such a sellout attitude,and cloudy,sense of judgement, the APC considers you a good riddance,just like scales,scraped,and cleaned off a huge Red Snapper,before it is prepared, cooked,and made edible in a delicious meal.
Please lady, take your fabricated sob stories, sighs of regret,and hollow,SLPP trumpets full of holes,somewhere else. On this glorious forum,there are alchemists,that can discern, examine,and transform things through their refined intellect,and impeccable sense of Judgement. We are not here to play sloppy, petty,childish games.So, Adios Signora! Take your outrageous lies,deceptions,and deceits somewhere else;Not buying it at all…Rising Sun Will Rise Again.
“Indeed. I will never put my “hard earned money in SLPP government hands, unsupervised”. Terrible! I will wait instead, till the APC is back in power. God bless Mr. Saidu Conteh, the APC and all the investors waiting for the APC to come back to power in 2023. YEAH.” Sahr Matturi
Hahahahaha. Ar go die wit laf. APC could not be trusted with Ebola funds, what we call locally in Salone ‘Kasankay money’ and you want to trusted them with investment funds? But the whole idea of APC coming back to power in 2023 is wishful thinking. I am 40 years old and frankly, I don’t believe I will see APC in power again in my lifetime. And I really regret voting for tiffy tiffy APC in 2007 and 2012. Hahahaha.
Thank you very much Ms Bintu Conteh for your views which I respect and appreciate. There are times even in life, when things are rough. I can understand why you don’t tend to like the APC. But that will be temporary in my view. To be honest with you Ms Conteh, the APC is on a mission to bring Sierra Leoneans together and mobilize investors globally to come invest in our country. Jobs and good food will be in abundance for every Sierra Leonean. Definitely, you would like a Sierra Leone with enough jobs and food among other things.
I know people like you can understand things and are always ready to be a member of any organization that is fighting for Unity, Peace and Progress in Sierra Leone. Frankly speaking, I admire your comment. No malice. APC, through the great Leader former President Ernest Bai Koroma and the entire APC membership are trying to put a team that will make people like you just become very happy and vote APC in 2023.
So, if you are happy with what I have just told you, please pass the message on to your family, friends and neighbors, telling them, the “New Order” to “get SALONE sorted” is on its way. That big change will come in 2023 “by God in Power”. Ms Bintu Conteh is a star and a very strong IRON LADY. God bless Ms Bintu Conteh.
A wise man will listen to advice,but shame will be the promotion of fools. It seems,my solemn warnings to investors,to look before they leap, tread cautiously in Sierra Leone has not fallen on deaf,and stubborn ears. This nation of ours is the only one we have,so we are not going to stand idly,on the sidelines watching a bunch of arrogant,shortsighted, incompetent,group of men plunge us all,into the abysmal depths of no return. Nope,not happening!
By coming to Sierra Leone its now crystal clear that Dr Adesina means business;Yep,Sierra Leone is a bride ripe for marriage,and there are many suitors,anxious to charm,and woo her into submission. And he that will invest in her, and win her admiration and love,must also become acquainted with her negative, disagreeable, characteristics – Although as beautiful as wild roses,blooming on the peaks of Everest, there is an eerie, frightening side to her,that shatters mirrors with just one look of her penetrating gaze.
My advice to the ADB boss,is to invest time,and effort into laying the foundations for any investment seeds that they wish to plant in our beloved nation. Folks,do your research with painstaking precision;Your foremost priority should be to visit,and become closely familiar,and acquainted with communities in which you are interested in investing money, training, and expertise.
Do not put your hard earned money in SLPP government hands, unsupervised. You’ve already been warned! Ever seen a nanny vigilantly watching over a restless,fidgety toddler? Watch over them, without flinching just like that,for they are notorious for receiving handouts, bribes, and loans,with smiles,only to frown,and growl later,at their well meaning benefactors, when every penny has been squandered,with riotous living.
Again,I would like to see substantial financial investments directed at local farmers, engaged in organic farming,and the rearing of livestock, that are raised naturally,that are fed organic grains,and vegetables. I would advise that the use of fertilizers, be severely restricted, or not used at all when growing our staple crops.We may be a poor nation,but we must make smart choices when it comes to food – We must eat moderately, and healthily so that in old age we will become as fit,as. fiddles,thriving,and living longer. Enough said!…Rising Sun Will Rise Again.
Indeed. I will never put my “hard earned money in SLPP government hands, unsupervised”. Terrible! I will wait instead, till the APC is back in power. God bless Mr. Saidu Conteh, the APC and all the investors waiting for the APC to come back to power in 2023. YEAH.
A distinct character trait of President Julius Maada Bio is that he pays no attention to his detractors. While the rabble rousers rave and rant like madmen and madwomen, the energetic and determined president sharpens his focus on reviving an economy that was in tatters just two years ago.
Economic policies are generally constrained by time lags. This means that upon implementation, it takes time for these policies to have an impact on the economy. But Sierra Leone has come a long way from the time when all state institutions teetered on the verge of collapse, when the state was ravaged with diseases and competing swindlers to a point in time when the powerful president of the African Development Bank would visit the country for the sole purpose of congratulating the head of state on a job well done.
Dr. Akinwumi Adesina’s visit is an especially significant development in that it indicates that global and multilateral institutions have now fully acknowledged and embraced Sierra Leone’s upward trajectory of development. In contrast, in the age of Ernest Bai Koroma, the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank all fled Sierra Leone as they were fed up working with scoundrels camouflaging as stakeholders of state.
No state survives in the throes of bad governance, unbridled corruption and overt political violence. That these vices of yore now exist in an extremely diminished state means that Sierra Leone is ready for a takeoff. Inflation is backpedaling as reflected in the downward movement of fuel and other prices. The goal is to bring inflation down to single digits.
Additionally, a significant investment in rice production as indicated by the Torma Bom project would soon impose a downward pressure on domestic prices while giving a jolt to the export sector. The picture even becomes more illuminating when one considers that tourism, once a dead industry under the rogue Ernest Koroma, is now being revived. Suffice it that only a diversified economy promises sustained growth and development.