Bumbuna : An everlasting boost for President Ernest Koroma and his government

When we were students at Fourah Bay College in 1975, I can remember all of us students (including the present President H.E.Ernest Bai Koroma ) marching  down  to Freetown to demand electricity for the college campus , where power outages had become too frequent at the detriment of our studies and hot breakfast, lunch or dinner at the dining halls. This was during the radical Student Union Presidency of Mr.Boubaccar Njai-Bah ,whose government I served as Propaganda Minister. We marched to the Tower Hill offices of the late Vice-President S.I. Koroma ,where Alusine "Toujours"  Kamara took the microphone from the hesitant Njai-Bah and told the VP in no uncertain terms (In his baritone voice ) : "Mr.Vice-President, if we don't have light today, we are not returning to the campus." Vice-President  S.I.Koroma, who had developed a soft spot for FBC students ( He even invited us as guests  to the opening of his Rogbere-Bana Agriculture project at Port Loko  thereafter ) promised us faithfully that he will make Mr.Kilowatt (As the creative Sam Metzger called the almighty electricity that was rare in those days like rain in the Sahara) "behave". True to S.I's promise, by the time we walked back to the campus, Mr.Kilowatt was back and the cooks were preparing some steaming dinner for us, while the library and our dorms shone radiantly with light.  It was another day of joy on the campus.

In those days, blackouts ,which were otherwise  unknown in Sierra Leone, were beginning to become manifest and the situation would  get worse later , degenerating into what the then Electricity Corporation called LOAD-SHEDDING, with communities having light in turn. Later in the 1980s , there would be no light at all.

PRESIDENT ERNEST KOROMA : A  NEW SPRING IN HIS STEPS

But the interesting thing in this reflection is  that the man who has now become the nation's saviour ,vis-a-vis restoring light to the nation , marched  downtown with us that day to demand electricity for the campus. God moves in a mysterious way.

Unknown to us as we marched downtown that day, there was a future President of Sierra Leone among us . And more significantly, this future President will ensure that with his ambitious energy project , no student ,whether from FBC or MMCE or what-have-you , will ever march on the city  again to protest against the unavailability of light. Only God knew then that as we protested in front of Vice-President Koroma's office ,we had a future President in our midst who would ensure that no such protests for light took place again, in the fullness of time.

There is no doubt that students belonging to the 1970s brigade of FBC who took part in that  march will be very proud indeed that one of their own achieved the unachievable in Sierra Leone , the magnificient goal that  had eluded many Presidents and leaders before him ---bring the much-talked-about Bumbuna Hydroelectricity Project to reality in Sierra Leone . I don't know for others. As for me , Friday November 6 was one of the most emotional days ever in my life . I had to keep back the tears as I lay back reflecting on the significance of the day. One of my own, one of my fellow students at FBC,  with whom we lived  at the  same student dorms, ate Mammy Green's delicious cassava and potato leaves , hung out at Boss Tick, rode "Public" (The student bus ) to town,   studied in the same library, 'floated'  at times at the same Freshers' Dances at the Adjai Crowther Amphitheatre (with the immortal Super Combo Kings bringing the house down with their earth-shaking releases like 'Memuna' and 'Gombu' ) did what no other President has ever been able to achieve before in Sierra Leone : Complete Bumbuna and actually switch on the lights to herald the reality of a monumental project that all Sierra Leoneans had understandably come to regard as a myth (Until it was commissioned on Friday ). It was  indeed a major achievement for the people of Sierra Leone . But also, it was a glorious achievement for us who marched that morning from FBC  to Freetown to ask for  electricity.

And this herculean achievement by President Koroma and his government will  remain everlasting.Forever and ever, this achievement will ever have an Ernest Koromasque tint.  Like a historic victory gained on the soccer pitch, the question will ever be : "Who scored the goal ? ". It will never be "Who passed the ball ? ". This is not to discount whatever efforts any other President or government put in to actualize Bumbuna. The reality of life is that the man who nets the winning goal enjoys most of the credit. When Sierra Leone defeated Ghana for the first time on January 31, 1970, the question has always remained who scored the goals to give Sierra Leone that memorable victory. Sierra Leoneans will ever remember  that it was King Kama Dumbuya  who registered that cheeky goal against Africa's best goalkeeper then, Robert Mensah (One of the earliest goals ever in an international match in Sierra Leone : 45 seconds ) and that it was Christian Cole , who 36 minutes afterwards , rocketted home the second goal that left the erstwhile unbeatable and star-studded Ghana Black Stars stunned beyond belief . Those who watched that historic match knew that it was Abu Syrian Bangura who blocked the Ghanaians'  surge from the kicked off , beat three players and floated that lovely, long pass to Vava George on the left flank,  and that it was Vava who laid on the ball perfectly for King Kama. Many  will rememder that .  But what the majority  will remember most is that it was  Kama  who lulled the man-mountain Robert Mensah out of his posts, beckoned to  him to come  out and when the unfortunate goalie obliged  , lobbed the ball cheekily  over his head and then virtually walked it into the empty net. When the match ended, it was Kama and Christian Cole who were carried shoulder-high by jubilant Sierra Leoneans. That is the reality of life, SLPP. That is what will ever remain in people's minds. The man who finished the ball into the net. There is always an aura about the man who scored the goal.  It was he who won the match for his team . He is the hero.

Five, ten, twenty, thirty , fifty,  hundred years from today, the question will not be "How many percentage of Bumbuna did the SLPP  complete before President Koroma came to power ?".The question will ever be : "Who completed Bumbuna ?". The man who finishes the job gets most of the praise. In society , the winner takes all.  There is no glory in being a 'Could-Have-Been'. Therefore, there should be no attempt to cheat President Koroma of the plaudits he deserves.  The President did a yeoman's job  to make Bumbuna a reality  and he must be highly commended . And when you consider what the President himself said in New York almost two months ago,  that when he came to power, Bumbuna and many other initiatives were abandoned projects and that the APC  had to renegotiate the loans or assistance for these projects, while government too poured in some money , you realize that President Koroma and his government deserve all the praises they are enjoying now because it was not an easy victory . They  worked acidiously and demonstrated extraordinary commitment towards the task of restoring electricity to Sierra Leone.

In fact, The truth is that President Koroma's Bumbuna achievement was not a mere flash in the pan. Before he came to power,President Koroma realized what Sierra Leoneans needed to have their economy jumpstarted . It was electricity. And he promised the nation that if he won the elections, one of his first priorities will be the restoration of electricity in Sierra Leone. One can see that Bumbuna was not laid on the  silver platter for President Koroma . It was not a fullblown, juicy fruit just waiting to be plucked. EBK  had to work very hard to revive the project first of all and then work strenously to have the dam completed . The completion of Bumbuna was  therefore a calculated and purposeful plan and act  by President Ernest Koroma. It was not a fluke. It took zeal, a never-say-die spirit and hard work to keep the plan alive until it was accomplished. Maybe, this was what was lacking in other leaders. Therfore, the opposition should not begrudge the President the praises being larvished on him. Bumbuna will ever be an everlasting boost for President Ernest Koroma.

When the SLPP talks of completing 95% of Bumbuna, it is simply not true. Bumbuna was not static before the SLPP  came to power in 1996. The Old APC originated the plan and some people said they completed 40% of the work. Others conjecture that the  NPRC  may have  raised it to a possible 45% and the SLPP  to 50%. The APC did not meet a dam just sitting down and waiting to be delivered. A lot of work was neede to complete the dam. The public gives  them the remaining 50% credit for completion of the dam.

Even though it is not true that the SLPP completed 95% of Bumbuna , nobody denies the party their share of the praise,  for their own effort  However, the undisputed fact is that President Koroma and the APC  deserve most of the praises because  they completed a lion's share of the project. And in just two years ! ! ! Bumbuna is Ernest Koroma's achievement and we hope Sierra Leoneans will give the President the patient  time required  to actualize his other promises to the people.

HATS OFF TO YOU, MR. PRESIDENT.

 

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