By Amin Kef Sesay, Washington DC
In an exclusive interview conducted by three Sierra Leonean journalists, Amadu Lamrana Bah, Amin Kef Sesay and Mohamed Fofanah, who travelled to the US to cover the US-Africa Leaders Summit, with President Julius Maada Bio in Washington DC on the 16th December, 2022, the President started by saying that the US-Africa Leaders Summit is very important to attend because the whole of African leaders are in the US for the important engagement and as such Sierra Leone must be part of it.
He continued that although sometimes people in Sierra Leone say he travels a lot, however, they must understand that it is because where there are other leaders he is supposed to be there to represent the country.
“As good as it is, you have to put up the inconveniences just to make sure that Sierra Leone is part of the world,” he stated adding that US-Africa Leaders Summit was meant for them at the Heads of State level to discuss pertinent issues of cooperation and partnership between Africa and the United States adding that so far the meetings he were very productive.
President Bio intimated that the United States has recognized that they were drifting apart adding that they, African countries and the US, were great partners in the past, but that faded away which he stressed is not good for their relationship and for development on both sides of the Atlantic.
“We need to reset and that is what I think we have done. We’ve had very productive discussions around that and how we can use this new relationship for the matual benefit of our countries, the United States and the rest of African countries and so I think we have a lot of reasons to be optimistic,” the President stated adding that it was done in a very good atmosphere of frankness. He maintained that African leaders were given the opportunity to say what they think about the state of the relationship with the United States and how they can better that relationship to benefit the people.
Asked what was the underlying message he tried to put across while addressing the African and Diaspora Young Leaders Forum, during the US-Africa Leaders Summit and why it is good to invest in young people, President Bio stated that his Government will continue to make efforts to improve conditions of young people maintaining that they want them to be part of what they are doing and that is why they brought in a lot of young people in governance positions.
“They are the future and I am not going to be here forever as a Head of State. I will have to go at a certain point in time and would expect more competent young men and women to have reached that maturity to come here and do better than what we are doing,” he underscored adding how he will not have a legacy if he does not have competent young men or women to take up governance positions and take his place.
“So we have to prepare for that and talking about having access to affordable and reasonable financing we’ve have found it a little bit difficult. We have to work with the private sector to make sure that our young people who want to venture into doing business. have access because you can have the most brilliant ideas but if you don’t have the money for start up, it will only be a dream forever,” he said adding that is why the Government is encouraging the private sector to give them the space maintaining that as a Government they cannot be able to employ all of them which is why they should be able to embark on businesses and other enterprises which will limit the unemployment rate in the country.
President Bio informed that there are so many reasons why they really need to empower the youth adding that it’s not easy to start a business or undertake a project because of lack of finance and they have to provide ways so that they can afford it.
He said young people are always very scary and they do not want to take risks but because they are also educating them they can now venture to take risks.
President Bio pointed out that the country needs a lot of young people to be able to move the economy.
“So I was speaking on behalf of them, encouraging them, that we as a Government will open access to a number of things for them to be able to embark on entrepreneurship,” he said .
Reacting to what his Government intends to do with the 15 Billion Dollars that President Biden announced as new deals and trade for African countries, he said normally, when such are made known, it is left with the country now to go and create its own structures, programmes and projects that they could tap into that.
He said they would encourage American businesses to extend to Sierra Leone businesses maintaining that already there are some of them here already.
The President said they have to ensure that the conducive business environment exists to encourage American businesses to go to Sierra Leone and set up businesses maintaining that there is a clear indication that the United States is willing and ready to reset the relationship between the two countries.
He revealed that there is an entity that wants to establish a Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment and Management Center in Sierra Leone , which according to him is a huge investment and indeed good to have such a center in West Africa as we send most of our people out to Ghana, Senegal and other countries saying discussions are going on in that direction.
“We want to be able also to use such a facility to provide the medical services we require in country,” he said which could be one of the deliverables for the people of Sierra Leone.
On him meeting the American businessman, Rockefeller, the President said he has a company that is interested in supporting green energy transitions and that they are looking at helping Sierra Leone reduce the tariff on mini grids in the regions adding that they are working in that direction.
“These are all the many meetings that I’m talking about. After maybe a few hours, we will sit down as a group before we get back to Sierra Leone here to recap and debrief on all of these meetings and what to identify,” he said saying that is the takeaways from this and how we are going to use those opportunities using various agencies of Government.
On democracy and good governance he said he is committed as a democrat to lead his people through the best form of governance.
He said it was him who not only brought back democracy but also granted certain freedoms such the Repeal of the Seditious Criminal and Libel Law, the abolition of the Death Penalty maintaining that the many things they are doing is geared towards opening up the space so that should those interviewing him, if they decide tomorrow to contest against him, they will have the space.
Asked what he makes of the Americans facilitating Africa to have a permanent seat in the UN Security Council and if that will make his campaign for attaining that easier, the President said with the intervention of the United States that is also one the biggest takeaways.
“We’ve been campaigning on the continent of Africa. That is a common African position many leaders have pushed for but under my leadership, the United States has committed itself to that reform,” the President said underscoring how such is historical.
“And we are now going to work the mechanics of making sure that Africa is represented so that the historical injustice that we have been talking about is taken care of and that is also a take away from this United States,” he said.
He said we already got the money from the MCC and it is now ours only that there are processes that must be fulfilled.
President Bio called on developed countries to think of debt reliefs mentioning that revenues generated to cater for the social needs of the citizenry are large spent on other development priorities.
The President ended by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
