Sierra Leone: Working with the right people in governance
We all know that not all state actors have the potential of achieving great things especially in the discharge of their respective functions. Therefore, if a government is to succeed, it needs to have the right people in the right place. It needs to have people with adequate skills and knowledge, with sound attributes to be able to deliver expected results. People with such qualities are in many ways successful in governance. They make things happen and don’t sit back waiting for others to do something before they get started. Simply put, they grab the bull by the horns.
Ambassador Stevens listening attentively during the visit in Bielefeld
However, the basis that set the direction for such a success is a leadership with exemplary character – a leader who is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get dirty. This is the exact picture of the Ernest Koroma administration. With his visionary leadership which enables him to see into the future with clear and exciting ideas of where he wants to take Sierra Leone, he has set up a formidable force, whose excellent and strategic planning of government policies remain exemplary.
I will not bore readers with such a systemic analysis of Ernest Koroma’s team of excellence. This is because evidences as to how his able lieutenants have delivered perfect results in their respective duties speak volumes. This could be attributed to the significant strides forward since Ernest Koroma took over the mantle of leadership despite numerous challenges as a result of bad governance and blatant corruption by past governments.
Among this hardworking and successful team of the APC-led government is Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to Germany, H.E Jongopie S. Stevens. Like most government actors at home and abroad, Ambassador Stevens has been extremely instrumental in exploring Germany’s rich economic and trade potentials. He has been effectively engaging meaningful investors across Germany, in an effort to attract their attention to go and do business in the country.
Ambassador Stevns ready to inspect the plant
The Ambassador believes that global trade and international investment are among the most important prerequisites for growth, employment and prosperity. That is why he has taken upon himself to hold fruitful discussions with trade organisations and engineering companies in the Federal Republic of Germany, to lure their interests in establishing their respective businesses in Sierra Leone.
Recent among them is Interargem, a company based in Bielefeld, Germany that produces energy from waste. It is one of the leading waste-to energy companies in Germany. The company provides its clients with a high level of waste disposal reliability on the basis of thermal waste treatment. Being an integral part of an environmentally friendly waste management system, the objective of Interargem GmbH according to the General Manager, is primarily the management of its core operational business, the thermal treatment and energy recycling of waste in both waste incineration plants Bielefeld and Enertec Hamelin. Interargem operates a waste incineration plant with capacity of 400,000 tonnes per year in the Bielefeld suburb of Heepen, while power supply is said to be approximately 180,000 MWh to 45, 00 household per year.
Responding to the challenges faced by government in providing solution to waste management in Sierra Leone, Ambassador Stevens has encouraged the waste-to-energy plant in Bielefeld, to establish its operation in Sierra Leone. This would augment President Koroma’s effort in improving electricity supply and promote foreign trade investment in the country.
The Waste-to-energy plants in Bielefeld
Germany is one of the most highly developed and efficient industrial nations and the world’s fourth largest national economy. With a population of 82 million, Germany is the largest and most important market in the European Union (EU). The German economy focuses on industrially produced goods and services. Its mechanical engineering products—vehicles, and chemicals are highly valued in the international market. This is why Ambassador Stevens said Sierra Leone should continue to tap the benefits of trade and economic relations that exist in Germany.
In another development, the Ambassador has also visited an engineering company, LSK Gmbh that produces water purification machines, LED lights and other technology in Kirchlengern. The Company’s manager Mr. Manfred Lederer said his company which has been in operational since 1987, produces special machines with a qualified technical staff. Their products are widely distributed and sold in Germany and other parts of the world.
The Ambassador took a conducted tour with Mr. Lederer, to access the company’s potentials for trade in Sierra Leone. It could be recalled that Mr. Lederer was the producer of a solar powered water treatment machine that was recently donated to Sierra Leone by a German Company, Medical Medizintechnik through the Mayor of Kirclengern Ruediger Meier. Mayor Meier and Susanne Schroeder, one of the founders of the Driving-YMCA-Doctor for Sierra Leone, are strong partners in identifying assistance projects for Sierra Leone. – By Umaru S. Jah-Berlin, Germany
