July 27, 2021
By Dadson A.Musa
The eastern province in Sierra Leone especially the districts of Kenema and Kailahun are now the places where our forest reserves are largely still intact. If you want to get fine timber and in abundance, the eastern province is the place for that. While the forest cover is fast depleting in the north due to rampant timber trade, the reserve in the east remains the hope of this country.
Kenema in particular used to have a forestry department which was processing our raw timber and selling some whilst the remaining ones were used to manufacture furniture.
Sadly, the recent visit to the forestry department in Kenema will shock you to know that what was once a viable government institution is now a shadow of its former self. The quarters are now occupied by people who have no business with forestry and the compound has become bushy especially in the rainy season.
The machines and other implements are now dysfunctional. The place has been turned into a lorry park for haulage trucks. So, it’s a huge industry that can create jobs in that part of the country which is lying in waste and youths there are unemployed and disgruntled.
The question that really comes to mind is can we ever manage things in a sustainable way in this country?
This is because so many things have been mismanaged to the point of destruction in this country since our independence. Starting with the country`s currency which was pegged at Le.1 to £1(British pound sterling).
One can see the vast difference after 60years of self-rule.
Other examples include the Sierra Leone Producing Marketing Board (SLPMB), the railway, Fourah Bay College that once earned us the title Athens of West Africa , our airfields in Bo, Kenema, Gbangbatoke, etc, are all now in dereliction.
The list is endless about places and institutions that we have literally self-destructed either through politics or tribalism. In its bid to create jobs, the forestry department in Kenema really needs to be looked into by the youths or agriculture ministry for revival as this will create jobs and stop the migration of our youths to Freetown or attempting to engage in “temple run”.
So many untapped potentials exist in this country, what we need to do is to look inwards instead of waiting for donor funds, stop the over politicization and needless tribalism. Respecting our fellow Sierra Leoneans and building more on local content can save the day.
No foreigner is going to build this country for us; we have to build it ourselves. The potentials are all there, human and material.
All we need to do is to drop some attitudinal and behavioral negatives.
Take paid work seriously; be punctual and regular in our work places. If China and other Asian countries can get themselves out of poverty, why not us.
Putting the right people in the right places and taking politics away from development is the only and right way out of poverty for Sierra Leone.