By: Saidu Jalloh
On the 25th October 2023, The United States of America Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Bryan Hunt has held an interview on Epic Radio to discuss about Sierra Leone and United States of America relationship in which he reveals that the US Will continue to support Sierra Leone.
Before the interview, Bryan Hunt used the opportunity to appreciate the warm reception he had received from Sierra Leoneans and also said that had the opportunity to meet with wide cross section of government officials, opposition leaders, civil society activists and the ordinary Sierra Leoneans. He also said that he had had a beautiful view of the country after he had traveled to the provinces like Kambia to see the Peace Corps volunteer who are now working in the health sector and educational sector and also visited Portloko where he saw some of the economic challenges the ordinary Sierra Leoneans are faced with.
“I think there is a great deal of work The United States and Sierra Leone can do together to advance mutual goals, democracy, prosperity health. I am looking forward to working alongside the people of Sierra Leone to support your efforts to develop your country,’’ Bryant Hunt said.
Bryant Hunt expressed that he was more optimistic to visit Sierra Leone especially about the state of development of the economy, and he had really hoped to see a society that was able to moving forward on the development trajectory. He also mentioned how the impact of the Russia invasion of Ukraine and the global challenges that the world is facing and he said it is a period that Sierra Leoneans are struggling to make ends meet in their household.
The U S Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Bryan Hunt also expressed surprised of the quality of program of the government to try to move the country forward. He also lavished praised on President Bio and his Cabinet in which he said they had put forward in what he called an aggressive agenda, an aggressive agenda that Sierra Leone needs to move to middle income developing country status. He advised the government to focuses on addressing these challenges that Sierra Leoneans are faced with, he advised that agriculture, youth employment, infrastructure that the country continues to face with should be prioritized.
He opined that the government is very welcoming since he arrived and he had excellent meetings across the board with the government and opposition and he said everyone is very clear about what they want especially the support partnership with the United States of America which was something very welcome and for him to be here.
He maintained that he did not want to do a ship ridding because he think Sierra Leoneans across the political spectrum really value the relationship with the U S.
He furthered that there are concerns Sierra Leoneans are addressing in which he mentioned the mediated dialogue that has produced an excellent agreement for national cohesion. He denoted that he is looking forward to supporting the government and opposition as they work together to implement peace.
He noted that the president address to the nation was to keeping in the spirit that they would like to see of reconciliation of national unity, of peace, of moving forward and very democratic electoral reforms in which he said he believed that Sierra Leoneans are moving the country politically and they as the international community could return to normal support in providing technical support, financial support, ideas so that Sierra Leone would have a strong electoral system going forward.
In speaking about democracy and territorial independence, he explained that Sierra Leone respect is critical and respect has to go both ways in international system, and he also advised they in the United States have to show some amount of humility as it comes to some of these issues and they also have their own challenges at home.
“I think the government is right to say they deserve respect and they deserve to be consulted on this issue and they deserve the ability to work with the opposition to shape the democracy of Sierra Leone and people,’’ Bryan Hunt explains.
He also talked about the Sierra Leone economy in which he said it is much intertwined and wanting to improve the economy fundamentally they are talking about getting private sector to invest and create new jobs that people need to support their family.
He said investors are not going to come to Sierra Leone and Sierra Leoneans are not going to extend their business in Sierra Leone if there is no stable political system and that is fundamental.
He end the conversation by saying that he had spoken to many U S business both who are active here and those considering investment is that the first question they ask is that what is going on with the politics? How stable is that? How safe is my investment? Can I get a guarantee if I extend that the government is going to be there next week? If the give me tax concession is that going to be a written or is that going to stay if government changes? He climaxed that all of the political drama and people being really focusing on it have a direct impact on whether or not we can move on the prosperity of the country.
