PICTORIAL : THE FIRST OF 2 MACHINES ARRIVE FOR UNLIMITED ELECTRICITY IN SIERRA LEONE

When the APC won the 2007 elections the President clearly (and rightly) highlighted energy as one of his priorities. For those who don’t know the background to Sierra Leone’s power ‘issues’ – Sierra Leone has been plagued by very sporadic and poor power supply for the best part of the last 30 years hindering our push for investment in the country and sending the cost of living through the roof. Freetown is more or less powered by private generators, noisy and I’m not sure how good it is for the favourite buzz word at the moment – environment.

Anyhow, he appointed a dynamic lady as his Minister of Energy and Power, one Hon. Afsatu Kabbah and barely a month ago a contract was signed with a Belgian firm to provide electricity for Freetown. Critics (mostly, Sierra Leoneans in the Diaspora) had a go at the cost and terms of the contract. In the meantime, most folks in the country where just interested in eradicating this power plague.

The date (now infamous) for the supply of power was set at December 20. It was stated that the machines will arrive on the 18th and this was achieved as the machines where cleared yesterday amid great fanfare. Of course, it was politicised but I guess you can’t really blame them for it. Chants like: “Ernest nor dae lie”.. “APC on target”.. “Goodbye Kabbah tiger, hello Koroma Power” echoed from the crowds. ‘Kabbah tiger’ are the tiny and affordable 1KVA generators which are scattered all over the city, bringing power to the homes of many. They became popular during President Kabbah’s reign.

So, will they make the 20th? It’s seems a really tight deadline but we hope so. Last night, a convoy of Government officials went pas at 11pm so someone’s working pretty hard. How the SLPP refused to see the political weight of solving this issue beats me, and though not the only reason they were ousted I believe it was a big part. It was a very visible failure.

Having been in Freetown now for a few days, it is clear to me that folks expect a lot from the current government, and know they have the power to kick them out if they don’t deliver. 

I’m sensing that hope is alive once again and transforming the hope into belief will no doubt be the catalyst for better times in Sierra Leone. Maintaining the momentum will be a challenge for the current government, but come December 20 or even (December 25, allowing them a few days) if the lights are switched on they would have gone some way towards making this happen. Good luck Sierra Leone!

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Added on December 24th:

As it so happens I didn’t post the above when I wrote it due to limited Internet among other things. Since the above, the machines where indeed commissioned on December 20th by his excellency President Koroma. There was no big switch to 24hr power but with some of the transmission lines out there it may not be such a bad thing. The launch was symbolic and the President who spoke quite well, was keen to stress how we can achieve the near impossible with some serious hard work.

Since the launch, areas of town have been experiencing increased electricity supply a a gradual pace. In fact today there was even power at my dad’s office and I heard him say he couldn’t remember the last time they went the whole day without switching on the generator. “Years” he said.

So hope is still very much alive.