Ryan C Briggs

Sunday night I saw President Koroma of Sierra Leone speak at American University. His speech was mostly focused on development issues in Sierra Leone and I thought some readers might find it interesting.

President Koroma outlined his priorities as follows:

1. Energy
2. Agriculture & Infrastructure
3. Tourism & Mining

His energy policy had two goals. First, providing a reliable amount of energy to Freetown by completing the Bumbuna dam and the transmission lines. Second, by testing and implementing pilot projects involving mini-dams to provide power to rural areas.

The agricultural policies were mentioned second. The end goal of the policies was to stop being a rice importer by 2011. This would require increasing domestic rice production by 500 000 metric tons. Nor surprisingly, Sierra Leone’s rice production fell drastically between 1990 and 2000. President Koroma vaguely identified two ways of increasing production: increasing investment in agriculture and “reviewing the land tenure system.”

Tourism and mining were mentioned as third tier priorities and ways of increasing foreign exchange. The plan for increasing tourism centered around building better hotels and improving the country’s image. The government is also apparently reviewing mining licenses, although I do not know exactly what that means.

President Koroma included passing references to corruption “as a cancer of society” and said that education “was the most important investment in our future”. He finished by stating that there would be elections within 36 months and that if he lost he would step down without a hassle. He then answered questions from diaspora Sierra Leonians in the audience, one of which I will include:

• Q: What is your government doing to prevent FGM?
• A: FGM is a sensitive issue in our country. We (Sierra Leonians) need a solution that is acceptable both to the women of Sierra Leone and the international community. This issue is currently under review.