“Democracy is Development” – Says President Koroma
By Ute Schaeffer, 16.02.2011
Thank you very much, Your Excellency, for giving Deutsche Welle-Radio an Interview.
We visited you several years ago so I know Sierra Leone a little bit and I think you are
making big steps forward. I just want to start with that very simple question:
What is your assessment of the bilateral visit to Germany? Which role is Germany
playing in Sierra Leone?
Germany has been one of the first countries that have established diplomatic ties with
Sierra Leone since independence and we have maintained strong diplomatic relationships.
Over the period, they have supported the development of the country greatly, before the war
and after the war. Before the war, they have been supporting development in areas such as
agriculture, education and assisting the provision of jobs for the youth. Immediately after the
war, they came in very strongly in supporting the rebuilding of institutions of governance,
they have supported the restructuring and training of the police force, in the area of
agricultural production, employment creation among the youth through GTZ and they are
also very much involved in the overall budgetary-support for the government and through the
EU, the infrastructural development. So there is a great relationship in existence, where we
have been supported greatly by the government of Germany and this is an opportunity for us
to further strengthen the relationship that is existing.
Are there any concrete results in which field Germany could or would support you
more than before?
There has been openness in the meetings that we have had. I had a very useful
meeting with the president, the chancellor, the foreign minister, members of the German
private sector and members of parliament. And in all of the meetings, there is an element of
enthusiasm, willingness to strengthen what we have been doing in the past and establish
new areas of intervention, especially the private sector coming in. There are huge
Opportunities in the country, the country is very peaceful now and safe, and we have built up
a suitable environment for investment and this has attracted a lot of German investors and
we had meetings with them. We have about 40 companies established and expressing an
Interest to come. We believe we just have to follow what we have done. There was a
Commitment in a part of the government to continue to help us, because of the need for us to
Fast-track the development of the country. As a government we have impact on a lot of
Development-projects and there is a need for us to sustain these projects. There was a
Commitment on the part of the German government officials to see us through our
Development Agenda. So I believe it was a successful visit.
We want to inform the international audience on the progresses, your country is
making. You started in 2007 with the Agenda of Change. So what are the main pillars
and what remains to be continued? What are the challenges?
The pillars in the Agenda for Change are rarely priority-sectors, that we believe –
when addressed – will impact on the development in the country and change the lives of the
people. The pillars are agriculture, energy, infrastructural development, health and education.
We believe that these sectors, when addressed as we have planned, as we are doing, will
lean back to the lives of people. We have started in all of them. We have ruled out a lot of
programmes in the agricultural sector. We are now trying to commercialize agriculture,
because about 60 percent of our people are engaging in the agricultural sector, but most of
them in subsistence farming. And by commercializing agriculture, you get them to move
away from subsistence to commercial activity, which will end them a living-income and we
also believe that it will open up the agricultural areas. We have to do a lot of road
construction to connect the markets, to make them available and we are going to emphasize
on value addition on the agricultural products. By that, we will be able to create new job
opportunities for youths and also increase our export earnings. So we believe there is a huge
potential out there in the agriculture. We have the land, we have abundance of water and
because of the archaeologies we have, we can grow and with that we will be able to address
the issues of food-security and giving the farmers access to the international market for their
products. So there is a huge opportunity there. And we have started the process and it is
going very well. The only challenge we have is that we still have a financing-gap for the
programme. We are looking at 430 million Dollars for the whole commercializationprogramme.
We still have a financing-gap of about a 180 million Dollars. We do hope that the
international community and Germany will explore the possibility of supporting us.
Now in energy we have come a long way. We have a provided energy in Freetown, our
capital city. We have made plans to ensure, that most of our cities, the rest of the cities in the
country and the district headquarter towns are provided with electricity. We believe that there
will be no sustainable development in the country if there is no energy. And in a short time
we are going to provide this energy in cities and towns. I think in the medium to long time, we
are going to explore the possibility of developing our hydro-potential. From a study, that was
done over the years; we believe that we have between 1000 and 2000 megawatts of hydro
and we have now commissioned a study for the evaluation of the study to be facted. And we
are going to invite both the private sector, bilateral friends and multilateral agencies to help
us in developing the hydro potential of the country and to make sure, that energy is provided
not only for the cities and towns but also all the rural communities.
We are also looking at developing the solar-energy, which we believe could be used in the
rural areas. We have already started projects and we have put in place an institute, that will
help the ordinary one to be able to develop the skills of installing solar panels in the villages
and it is ongoing. We believe by that, we will be able to have electricity provided in the
country.
Now the infrastructure-programme is also going on. We have impact on the largest
infrastructural development-programme in the country. We are doing feeder-roads to open
up our rural communities. We are doing trunk roads to connect districts and major towns and
we are also doing the major international trunk roads to link up Sierra Leone in the trans-west
African highway, and we are also doing urban roads. The urban roads, the construction of
new roads is ensuring that we open up and widen the streets in Freetown, our capital city
and construct new roads to ease the traffic-situation. We are doing that in all of the regional
headquarter-towns and districts and so there is uniformity in terms of development of our
road infrastructure. It is a big project and it is the biggest, the country has ever had. Of
course, we have come a long way, but we also need a lot of support to sustain these
programmes.
We have not left behind the social services. The health-sector has been a very disturbing
area, because we have had terrible health indicators, especially in the areas of mortality of
our mothers and young children. We quickly conducted a study, which provided us with the
evidence that most of these people could not afford the cost of the service. That is why they
were not going to the service. It has resulted to unnecessary deaths. Because of the
evidence of that study, government has taken the responsibility to provide a free health care
for the children under five, for the pregnant women and mothers. This has proved very, very
successful, because a lot of people are going to the hospital to take up the service and it has
resulted to some decrease of mortality-rates. This is an indication, that it is a step in the right
direction, but we have challenges there. We need to build up medical personnel, we also
have to improve on the institutions and the equipments that are used and make drugs
available. These are huge challenges and we have made progress, but it is also an area,
where we need a lot of support.
And of course, the bottom line in all of this is human resource development: Educating our
people, empowering them with the skills, that will make them competitive, not nationally but
internationally. Only when you empower somebody with the proper education, the
appropriate skills, you will be able to move away from poverty on a sustainable basis. And
that is why we have reviewed the entire educational system in the country. We now have
advised people about the governments’ road map and how to improve the entire educational
sector. It is also going to be very expensive. It is something that we have to go with. We have
to ensure that it is implemented. And I’m sure, with all that we are doing with the Agenda for
Change, challenges still exist, but I think we are in the right direction.
The Challenges are huge, there is a lot of pressure on the budget, but I think we will use this
opportunity to appeal to friends of Sierra Leone, that this time around we have a government
that is focused, a government that is committed, that is prepared to transform the lives of the
people and we need help, so that we will be able to sustain the process. The Agenda for
Change will continue until 2012 and we have come a long way. We have made substantial
progress, but we need to see the agenda through, and this will require a lot of support;
technical, financial and otherwise. So we look forward for having that support and I am sure,
with support from our friends and multilateral institutions, we will get the end of the first face
of the Agenda for Change, Sierra Leone would have substantially transformed.
One might say this is already a success-story. Coming back to the comparison of this
difficult heritage of this civil war which is now ten years ago, behind us. If you look at
Liberia for example, the neighboring country, we see a growing impact of former war
lords and of corruption. What makes the difference of the post-conflict history of
Sierra Leone in comparison to your neighboring country?
Our focus was on continuing the peace-building process. Peace-building is not just
one event, it is a process. Peace-consolidation means effectively ensuring that you don’t
repeat the mistakes of the past. At all levels, at the governance level, at the level of the
society, at the level of the relationship with international partners. Therefore, immediately
after the war, we tried to stabilize the humanitarian situation and we tried to demobilize
people, tried to de-send them, tried to reintegrate them into society through a process of
training. And we had the Truth- and Reconciliation Commission established. In the end of it
all, there were terrible moments, bitter experiences, some people were emotional during the
process, people worked openly, asked for forgiveness and we saw an embrace of people,
rebels and civilians, even people that were amputated were prepared to embrace. The
people that inflicted difficulties on them – and it was a healing-process. So we have been
through that. We have also instituted the special court, so that people with the greatest
responsibility will take responsibility for their actions, to ensure, that the circle of impunity is
not continued anymore. Now, these are healing processes.
On institutions and good governance, we believe, that the mistakes of the past, the social
Marginalization, political intolerance and the things that led to the difficulties, should be
avoided by putting in place institutions and structures that will deter such actions. That is why
we now have an anti-corruption commission and we have one of the toughest anti-corruption
Laws in the country. I mean in Africa, it is working very well and it is sending the right signals.
We have tried to reform the public service; we are trying to encourage workers to focus on
what they are doing and at the governance level, there is a lot of tolerance and inclusiveness.
We have tried to open up the governance. The national broadcaster that we have has been
given to the people and now everybody has access to it. The opposition will go and they are
given a platform, also to members of the civil society. So that feeling of being marginalized
no longer exists, because you have a platform. We now have 35 or more newspapers and
radio-stations all over the place, community radio-stations, other radio-stations. We have
over 40 radio-stations all over the country. So there is this feeling of openness, freedom of
speech. We are not seeing we should allow each to go without working within the framework
of the law. The law exists really. We have to work within the framework of the law.
Now beyond all of this, we need to strengthen the government institutions. This is why the
first step was to restructure the entire security forces. We are going through a process of
restructuring the police force and the military, the once undisciplined police force and
undisciplined army is now restructured and is professional to the extent that now we are
participating in the UN peacekeeping-missions. That is the extent of the professionalization
that has been acquired by our forces. And the judiciary has also been transformed, the entire
justice-sector. So these are all measures that we are taking to ensure that we sustain peace
and every step of the way is considered as a peace-building mechanism. And it goes
towards sustaining peace. So these are great efforts, there are great challenges but I think
we are moving on.
We have a big discussion now about international law, about international jurisdiction.
A very critical stance is for instance taken by the Kenyan government concerning the
ICC. Are you satisfied, do you believe that the court for Sierra Leone is a positive
element to end impunity?
The court for Sierra Leone is specifically for events that happen in the country. We
believe that there is a justification for the court. Justification, because there is a need to send
out signals – that nobody can shoot you away to get to power and expect to get away with it.
And that if in the process, you allow people under your instructions to violate human rights,
abuse people and disrupt the smooth running of society, you have to take responsibility. And
I believe that what has happened has sent a signal to the people in the security forces,
people that have plans of just access in power through the back-door, to think twice before
they impact on such action. So it has had a useful purpose and I think, like I said it is going to
put an end to the circle of impunity, of which people are doing things.
There are some protagonists in Africa who say that it is possible to have a
development-agenda without civil rights. We could take the case of Ethiopia, we could
take the case of Rwanda and they are promoting a – let’s say “Chinese way” in Africa.
I think you are using other arguments. So is it possible to establish sustainable
development without democracy and essential rights?
I think democracy is about development. The people in Sierra Leone have been
through difficulties. Even when the war was not completely over in 1996, they went out and
voted for a return to a civilian regime and they believe that the democratic process gives an
opportunity to the population to choose their leaders. And when you are given the opportunity,
like I was elected in 2007, I believe that I have a responsibility to sustain democracy. And
the only way you can sustain democracy is by giving it back to the people. What I refer to is
the democratic dividend; that is development. You have to bring in development. When they
see development, they see it is visible, they see a great effort by the government and
sincerity on the part of the government to bring in development. It will strengthen their faith in
democracy. So I think it is a two-way situation. In the first place, the people have been given
trust in the democratic system by electing the people, their desire to rule them. And in return,
you have to focus on doing the things that will change the lives of the people. And this will
strengthen the democracy, it will deepen the process and I think in the way you will be able
to use democracy for freedom, to develop the country. And I think that is our focus and that is
what we believe that should be the way.
We thank Deutsche Welle Radio for the permission to republish the interview