Sierra Leone: “Prosperity is not a gift on a silver plata”
…..President Koroma urges Sierra Leoneans during the launch of the Agenda for Prosperity. – His Excellency Dr Ernest Bai Koroma has said at the official launch of the Agenda for Prosperity on Friday 12th July, 2013 at the Miatta Conference Centre that, the Agenda for Prosperity will be the country’s road map for the next five years in meeting the goal of becoming a middle income country and donor nation within the next 25 to 50 years. He however warned that prosperity is not a gift on a silver plata but only comes to those that go for it.
The president encouraged the people of Sierra Leone to understand that abundance of natural resources is only half the story; “the reality of prosperity only comes to a people that go for it. We must go for it with determination. We must sweat it out with our hands, with our brains and with our minds. We must set out to embrace the values of innovation, of cultural renewal in the workplace and respect for public goods.” He also called on all Sierra Leoneans, both at home and abroad, to realize that success primarily depends on what we as a people do for ourselves and not on what others do for us. “The possibilities of growth, renewal and transformation reside in every Sierra Leonean. We must assert these possibilities to seize the destiny of prosperity. I am very optimistic that we will be successful; I believe that we will all do more; and that together we will achieve the goals that we have set out for ourselves in our Agenda for Prosperity”, he said.
“This Agenda”, according to President Koroma, “is the firming up of the aspirations of our people.” He further maintained that government, under the Agenda for Change, built roads everywhere, attracted billions of dollars of investment in agriculture, mining and other sectors and ensured one of the fastest growing economies in the world. “We commenced the creation of a favourable environment for the private sector to thrive, established a free healthcare program for pregnant women, mothers and children under five, and more than doubled resources allocated to education. We improved electricity supply, provided funds for local government more than any other government before, ensured the reduction of poverty, and continued the consolidation of our democracy through greater respect for human rights, gender equality, and a freer press”, said the Chief Executive.
Although there are still challenges, which the president didn’t gloss over, he reiterated government’s commitment to do more to sustain the transformation of the country. President Koroma noted that it was because of this that he set up the Committee on Development and Transformation, “charged with the responsibility to take stock of the progress we have made as an independent nation over the last 50 years and to chart the way forward for the next 50 years”, he said. It was this committee that organized the Sierra Leone Conference on Development and Transformation, which posited a number of outcomes.
“This Agenda for Prosperity”, President Koroma went on, is therefore the outcome of the pact between Sierra Leoneans, the APC, the Government of Sierra Leone and himself to do more.
“We will do more to complete residual projects in the Agenda for Change and to address recurring and emerging challenges. We will do more to address unemployment, particularly among the youth. We all need to do more to better manage our natural resources for the good of all Sierra Leoneans, we need to do more to add value to our primary products, and we need to extend, expand and sustain the Free Health Care and Scaling-Up Nutrition initiatives. We will reform the educational system to meet the emerging needs in the job market, we will finish on-going projects in roads, energy and water supply, and we will build much needed infrastructure, including the new mainland airport, railway, roads and ICT capabilities; provide a social safety net for the vulnerable population; promote good governance; ensure that the public sector is capacitated to deliver; empower our women and ensure equal opportunities for both men and women; and above all, we will sustain our fight against corruption, and provide the enabling environment for the private sector to thrive”, said His Excellency the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma. – By State House Communications Unit
Please go to link to access full speech:http://www.statehouse.gov.sl/index.php/component/content/article/34-news-articles/698-keynote-address-by-his-excellency-the-president-dr-ernest-bai-koroma-launching-of-the-agenda-for-prosperity-12-july-2013
