March 10, 2021
The Institution of Governance Reform has published its 2021 report with deep delve into the activities of China’s engagement in the economic activities on Sierra Leone. The report highlight hinges on the friendship that has been in existence for over four decade between the two States.
The report has it that since independence, the Chinese have been the biggest player in the construction sector in Sierra Leone; dominating in particular, government-sponsored infrastructural projects.
The report validates that in the early years following independence in 1961, when the Israelis built the house of Parliament, the state owned five-star Cape Sierra Hotel, and the new campus of the country’s only university at the time, most of the visible public infrastructure that the public can easily recall have been built by the Chinese.
Highlighting some of its tangible infrastructural developments amongst many are the National Stadium, Youyi Building which houses most of the government ministries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the ongoing 47-mile long four-lane road that links the capital Freetown with the rest of the country.
According to the report, various communities’ members gave positive response on Chinese road construction work. About 7 in every 10 residents (68.7%) in communities in Regent and Grafton area where Chinese are constructing a new double-carriage four lane road linking Freetown and Western Rural Districts reported that livelihood including business activities tied to transportation has improved as a result of the construction work.
“Early Chinese investments came in the form of state-owned enterprises (SOE). The earliest SOE in Sierra Leone was the Magbass Sugar Complex constructed in Tonkolili district between 1977 and 1982. The Magbass SOE was a 1,280 hectare complex that was built and managed by Chinese until 1996, when the civil war forced them out. Magbass eventually returned to operation in 2005 with the capacity to hire as many as 1,500 workers, and has only recently begun to promote Sierra Leoneans into the upper ranks of management,” IGR 2021report.
However, even though the IGR report has it negative side on China’s involvement in the economy of the state, the Chinese Spoke person when responding to questions from the members of the media said “according to the 2019 annual report of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Sierra Leone, the Chinese side accounted for less than 3% of all the foreign debts of Sierra Leone. It is baseless to accuse China for adding the debt burden of Sierra Leone. Actually, most of the China-assisted basic infrastructure projects are funded by Chinese government costless aid”.
Therefore, according to the spoke person said “such projects have greatly promoted the development of Sierra Leone and the improvement of the people’s livelihood and are welcomed by the local community. Furthermore, in 2018, China exempted all the interest-free loans borrowed by the Sierra Leonean government, and China offered the Sierra Leonean government a debt suspension of 2020 repayments under the Debt Service Suspension Initiative agreed by the G20”.