By KABS KANU :
President Ernest Koroma is not only opening up the opposition stronghold of the South -East to good roads and infrastructure; he is also bringing the same joy to his ruling party’s base in the North. What previous governments since Independence 54 years ago have not been able to do for Sierra Leone, the development-oriented President Koroma is accomplishing .
The Makeni-Kamakwie Road, cutting through Lokoland, Sanda Temne and Biriwa, Sella and Safroko Limba territories —which was one of the most neglected and one of the most dangerous roads in the country — has received the full attention of President Ernest Koroma and it is presently being reconstructed and graded , under the President ‘s ambitious program of transformation of Sierra Leone by road, air and sea .
During a discussion of the Sustainable Development Goals at the recent African Union Summit in South Africa, infrastructural development was emphasized as one of the investments deemed as Africa’s solution for sustainable growth and development. Opponents of the President, who are often too ignorant to understand governance and national development concepts, have , sour grapes-like , tended to underplay the importance of President Koroma’s national road and infrastructural development programs, no doubt because their own party, the Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ), were not able to accomplish these goals during the two times they have governed our nation. Those who understand the concept of national development know that the starting point is good roads and infrastructure.
Inhabitants of the Bombali Shebora, Makari Gbanti, Gbedembu Gowahun, Magbaimba Gowahun , Gbanti-Kamaranka, Sanda Loko, Sella, Safroko and Biriwa Limba and other chiefdoms that will be served by the paved highway are mainly agrarian and cattle-rearing people and this improved highway will no doubt boost the Government’s Food Security program as farmers will now be able to transport their produce and cattle to the capital and other cities, an enterprise that was hampered in the past by extremely bad and dangerous roads.
By the time his term expires in 2018, President Koroma would have left a magnificent legacy of national development in Sierra Leone.
Many descendants of Bombali District, interviewed by COCORIOKO , expressed profound delight at news of the ongoing reconstruction and paving of the Makeni-Kamakwie Road because it had been one of their areas of great concern. During the rains, some sections of the road become almost impassable and accidents-prone.
PHOTOS BY SHERIFF ALPHA ( APC SHERIFF )
