Perspective Poverty Is Not A Curse But A Challenge By J.B.Roy Kajue The same way an individual goes about escaping from poverty, I believe is the same way a nation too goes about it. For example, it would surprise fellow Sierra Leoneans to know that at independence in 1961, Sierra Leone was one of the richest developing countries in Africa. But gradually, through poor state governance and willful mismanagement of scarce financial resources, we descended into the abyss of poverty. Even China that today has turned into the nation with the biggest cash reserve in the world was poorer in 1961 than Sierra Leone! How did they achieve it? Not by magic or wishful thinking, but by the people of China under a national visionary leadership doggedly slaving to improve on their lot – Sierra Leoneans have to understand that without making sacrifices, without savings habit, without learning how to spend money wisely, we cannot hope to create wealth. Now President Koroma and the ruling APC government are determined that a richly endowed with natural resources Sierra Leone has no business being permanent bedfellow with poverty. So the government has planned that between now and 2035, Sierra Leone should throw away its shameful mantle of widespread endemic poverty and march proudly towards the rank of dignified nations that know little or nothing about the excruciating poverty that still holds back the growth and development of the majority of the masses. How do we go about it? Firstly, a person trying to leave poverty behind has to have brains, energy, a survival skill that the job market requires and a steely determined will to succeed at whatever he or she chooses to undertake. Character too plays an important part in leading one to success. Many of our fellow citizens are dishonest in both little and big things; dishonest people hardly win the trust of others; and when people mistrust you they don’t entrust you with anything valuable or worthwhile. That was why prior to now our donor partners only threw us crumbs, knowing fully well that we were incapable of managing any money given to us for development either honestly or prudently to create wealth. The recent Transparency International report points to Sierra Leone as being characterized by a high level of bribery and corruption. Certainly, if this perception is true, then Sierra Leone can hardly win the kind of credible foreign investors who have the capital, know-how and skills that will lead private sector participation in the economy. Thus, this article wants to focus on the challenges identified that the Agenda for Prosperity faces in its implementation. The most important of these is strengthening governance mechanisms and improving on the capacity of the public sector. While it is true that since 2007 when President Koroma assumed power as head of state, transparency and accountability of government have improved tremendously, and decentralization deepened: the fact remains that salary, wages and conditions of service for majority of workers in the civil service remain discouraging and encouraging of corruption and bribe taking. Furthermore, during the implementation of the previous Agenda for Change, the formulators of the AfP recognized that monitoring and implementation framework of the AfC were not fully developed: that there was no universally agreed results’ framework to monitor and evaluate progress. This was attributed to insufficient inter-ministerial collaboration and coordination. Thus the AfP formulators strongly recommended that successful implementation of programs and projects under the AfP requires a high level of coordination between and within government MDAs, and the 19 local councils. This will reduce unnecessary duplication of functions, wastage of scarce resources and lead to faster implementation of programs and projects.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 12:59:25 +0000
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