President Ernest Bai Koroma : Looking to the future with tremendous hope and optimism

By Kabs Kanu :

There is no doubt that there is truth in the contention of Sierra Leoneans that President Ernest Bai Koroma is the most progressive and productive Head of State Sierra Leone has ever had since Independence. This is the conviction of majority of Sierra Leoneans and they are right and  it is the reason that his thankful people will give him overwhelming support during the November 17 Presidential elections. When you look at all the socio-economic and political developments that have taken place in the nation since Independence, you will find that we have had more rapid and more sustainable developments in the country during the period 2007-2012. You do not need to scratch your head to pinpoint these developments. Unless you are incorrigible and blind  like Dr.Sama Banya and other troublemakers in the nation, President Koroma’s development projects are all around us .Even if you are not in Sierra Leone, you see these new development projects in newspapers and on social media.

PRESIDENT ERNEST KOROMA LOOKING TO OUR NATION’S FUTURE WITH HOPE

The President has successfully expunged the nation’s image as the darkest country  in the world by providing clean and reliable electricity .  Realizing that there can be no sustainable economic and social developments in the country without electricity, President Koroma made the restoration of electricity in Sierra Leone one of the centrepieces of his Agenda For Change. Apart from investing heavily in restoring light through thermal power generation , President Koroma  also went on to accomplish in two years what the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP )  could not do in 11 ungainful and unprogressive governance in Sierra Leone—He completed the Bumbuna Hydroelectricity Project.

Today, our nation’s respect has been restored with the provision of electricity.  The SLPP  does not see the importance of President Koroma’s emphasis  restoring electricity  because the party does not believe in developing Sierra Leone, and Sierra Leoneans should indict the SLPP  for this anomaly by rejecting them once again at the polls. Only a government without self-respect , concern for the welfare of its people and regard for the reputation of its country would have neglected the energy sector of the country as was done by the SLPP.

Another veritable stimulant of socio-economic and political development is improvement in the  transportation sector. The  indispensability of  a good, all-weather road network in the promotion of socio-economic development cannot be overemphasized. It was the  realization of this fact that goaded President Koroma  to  also emphasize the improvement of   the transport infrastructure of  Sierra Leone. President Koroma has therefore invested a lot of resources and commitment not only in road construction but in the improvement of road, air and see transport in Sierra Leone.  President Koroma’s infrastructural development initiative has a two-pronged thrust ; facilitating the free movement of goods and services and boosting agriculture in a manner that will make Sierra Leone self-sustaining in food production in the foreseeable future.

The National Sustainable Agricultural Development Plan (NSADP ) , The National Agricultural Response Program (NARP ) and the Smallholder Commercialization Scheme initiated by President Ernest Koroma have revived farming and other agricultural activities in the nation , demonstrating the commitment of President Koroma to have the nation feed herself in the future.

With investments in other sectors like human resource development ,  President Koroma has set the machinery in motion for the socio-economic and political development of Sierra Leone . Even the President himself knows that he has done a great job for the nation and because of this, he continues to be unmoved by desperate attempts by satanic forces in the opposition SLPP to distract him. The unprogressive and unproductive SLPP has done everything to destroy the President’s focus, with subterranean measures ranging from what the U.S.Embassy in its Wikileaks-exposed cables described as IMMATURE ANTICS to  vile and unrealistic propaganda , drawing the International Community unduly into irrelevant matters  and non-issues , damaging the names of the President and his government officials and  to fermenting chaos in the country. But nothing they have done has succeeded to distract President Ernest Koroma.

When the SLPP ,  principally,  and some opposition parties wanted to use the statutorily – provided – for  nomination fees to threaten the forthcoming elections, President Koroma moved calmly and resolved the problem by asking them to  pay what they shelled out in 2007 as nomination fees and promising to have Government  subsidize the balance. President Koroma is too focussed on the socio-economic and political development of Sierra Leone to allow himself to be drawn into anti-people and unpatriotic endeavours. No wonder the Chairman of one of the most critical opposition parties–The National Democratic Alliance (NDA ) — Alhaji Amadu Jalloh , could not help conceding at FACEBOOK  that he admired the wisdom of President Koroma in rescuing the 2012 elections.

Yes, there are still daunting challenges in the nation . But the people of Sierra Leone , who are much closer to the world now than ever before , through advanced information technology and social media, know that it is a global phenomenon. Thanks to satellite TV ,  Sierra Leoneans, while relaxed in their living rooms,  see the disturbing images of protests all over the world for rising food prices and unemployment. On CNN, they see how the despairing unemployment statistics in the Great United States  are threatening to derail the re-election of President Barak Obama . Sama Banya and other diabolical SLPP  zealots will never succeed in getting the people of Sierra Leone to develop the mindset that President Koroma is responsible for every problem in Sierra Leone . The now wise people know that some of the problems the SLPP  want to capitalize on are either the results of the larger global economic meltdown or a residue of the 11 years of backward and unprogressive governance provided  by the SLPP.

But whatever challenges are being faced by the nation, they  have not escaped the President’s radar. President Koroma has plans to address all of them, whether it is rising costs of food, filth in the city or potholes in the capital. Unlike his detractors, President Koroma believes in action and  is looking to the future of Sierra Leone with hope and commitment. In good time, he will address any other problem in the nation. Very soon, he will launch the AGENDA FOR PROSPERITY ,which will take over from the AGENDA FOR CHANGE.

You want a man in control who is full of confidence , optimism and positivity for the future of the nation and this is what President Koroma is doing. Throughout life, we have learnt from History that the leaders who make a positive difference in their nation and the world are those brimming with confidence, optimism and commitment. Dour attitudes and negativity never build a nation . President Koroma wants to be surrounded by positivity because he knows that he has the commitment, drive and the energy to translate his optimism into success as he has already demonstrated.  May God bless his efforts to make Sierra Leone a stronger , more prosperous and greater nation.

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