AS a “new kid on the block” in the Mano River Region in West Africa, and the exclusive club of leaders in the African Union, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, 55, wouldn’t want to be seen as impulsive or “poking his nose” into the affairs of his ‘older’ colleagues. Even so, he has a word or two of advice on leadership for them. “If your continued presence or stay in power becomes a threat to peace, you should reconsider your options,” he said in response to questions on the vexed issue of self-perpetuation in power and respect for term limits among African leaders at a lecture on governance at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Governance early this year.
He made it clear that it was his personal opinion and not intended to impugn the reputation of anyone, not least of all, his “brother” African heads of state. After all, that has been his position on the issue since 1996, when he voluntarily relinquished power as military head of state after organizing elections to return his then conflict-ridden country to democracy. He has run full circle to return as Sierra Leone’s leader, but this time through the ballot box for a single 5-year term, renewable only once; a condition that he intends to comply without any airs or excuses whatsoever.
The articulate and personable leader wouldn’t contemplate anything that would tarnish his cultivated image as the “Father of Democracy” in his country, a reputation he earned back in the 1990s when he audaciously chose to discard his military uniform and embark on a self-improvement programme. Along the way, Bio earned himself a Master’s degree in International Affairs before becoming president of International Systems and Science Corporation, a consulting and management firm in the United States. He fully “civilianized” himself when he picked up a Doctorate in Peace Studies while he was a Senior Research Fellow at University of Bradford in the UK.
Bio’s affinity for education goes way back to his early beginning, when he lived with his elder sister, a school teacher in Pujehun, a short distance from his native town of Tihun in Bonthe District. His leadership skills were groomed from his stint as Senior Prefect in his A-level days in Bo, a main town in his locality. Since then Bio has been drawing from the deep, rich resources from his childhood, especially his mother’s penchant for Catholicism-driven hard work and the administrative skills of his father, who juggled the lives and welfare of 9 wives and 35 children alongside his responsibilities as a paramount chief.
Bio’s flagship prrogramme, Education for Development, the theme for Sierra Leone’s Medium Term National Development Plan, is reflective of the leader’s own life and vision for his country and compatriots. He is convinced that “investment in human capital through quality education” – the type he has availed himself of – “and free, quality healthcare services and food security will accelerate national development”. In conjunction with development partners, he turned his thoughts into action by devoting 21 percent of national budget to education. To encourage girl-child education, his administration gives full scholarships to girls studying science, technology engineering and mathematics in tertiary institutions.
To redress the culture of waste and fraud in the public sector, Bio appointed a young turk into the leadership of the anti-corruption commission. Under a year, the commission recovered $1.5 million in stolen funds from venal and corrupt public officials and their accomplices. Without ceremony, Bio promptly plowed the funds into establishing the first-ever National Medical Diagnostic Centre in Sierra Leone.
Bio’s love for humanistic ideals and philanthropy were already evident before he ran for president. His Maada and Fatima Bio Foundation was known for donations to the victims of the Ebola epidemic in 2014 and the environmental disaster that inundated parts of Freetown in 2015. He rues the uncomfortable fact that Sierra Leone has been “mining minerals and receiving aid for over 50 years but remains in poverty”.
He is committed to doing something to remedy it. This is why he sees leadership as the opportunity to “listen to with empathy to the ‘craziest’ of ideas, the hopes and aspirations of the younger generation who are looking for a chance to make their lives and the country better”.
As President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Bio now has not only the opportunity but also the pedestal and levers of state to make the dreams of his young compatriots a reality.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
Since the inception of President Julius Maada Bio’s administration in 2018, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Information and Communication has been outstanding in driving the Ministry to contribute meaningfully to the development of the country. In this interview, Swaray speaks on how the Ministry is using ICT to leapfrog Sierra Leone into a digital economy.
WHAT is the thrust of this government’s telecoms policy?
As Sierra Leone is engaged in a digital transformation drive, the telecommunications policy thrust gears towards ensuring that telecommunications services such as mobile voice, data and broadband are improved to such an extent that they contribute significantly to the country’s socio-economic development. This, according to the Digital Transformation Roadmap, would be achieved by creating the enabling environment for availability, affordability, accessibility and reliability in the delivery of telecom and Internet Services nationwide.
To achieve these objectives, the Government intends to utilize ICT as an enabler by diffusing it into the cross-cutting strategies of all growth sectors including agriculture, mining, tourism, financial and entertainment industries as well as service delivery sectors such as education and health. At the same time, ICT would be used to influence and promote equity, transparency and accountability in the socio-political sphere so as to create wealth and jobs.
What do you consider as the major achievements of the present administration towards improving telecommunications since its inception in 2018?
Since 2018, upon taking up office, His Excellency the President made it clear that he desire to use ICT to leapfrog Sierra Leone into a digital economy. Against this background, the Ministry of Information and Communication, under my leadership, has made significant drives toward achieving the President’s goal by working towards improving ICT with the telecommunications at the heart of it. Some of these achievements include negotiating and obtaining Concessionary Loan of USD 30million, through Exim Bank of China, for the much-needed upgrade on the National Fibre Backbone Infrastructure Project. This is meant to address gaps and weaknesses in the existing network and eventually provide ring protection to the transmission infrastructure across the country. This project will also provide Provincial Metro Access Network as well as connectivity for schools, hospitals and other government offices nationwide.
The Ministry has equally initiated engagements with relevant stakeholders, both in the public and private sectors, to kick-start the procurement process for the deployment of a Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast (DTMB) platform based on DVB-T2 technology. The technical design of the turnkey project will cover the country with ten main sites with powerful DTTB transmitters. This framework provides for the implementation of DTTB project that is fully aligned to the overall government goal of improving the broadcast sector nationwide and reaching out to the underserved populace.
Another milestone recorded is the formulation of Cybercrime Law. The Ministry is collaborating with the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to draft appropriate legislation on cybercrimes. This law will facilitate the domestication of the Budapest and Malabo Conventions while enhancing international collaboration for cybercrimes. The Ministry through the Council of Europe is collaborating with GLACY+, which is a Joint project of the European Union (Instrument Contributing to Peace and Stability) and the Council of Europe. Through the collaboration, the Ministry aims to strengthen its capacity to develop and implement appropriate legislation on cybercrime and electronic evidence and enhance their abilities for active international cooperation in this area.
We intend to Review the National Telecommunications Act 2006 (as amended 2009/2015). The nascent law will be called the Sierra Leone Electronic Communications Law and is expected to be enacted this year. It is meant to transform the regulatory environment so as to make it predictable and competitive.
A new bill known as the National Electronic Transaction Bill is at the pre-legislation stage. Once it is passed, it would enhance the admissibility of electronic document/evidence in legal proceedings thereby promoting e-Commerce and improving the country’s rating in the World Bank Doing Business Reform and financial transactions rankings. The adoption of electronic transaction service will also be crucial to the transition of Sierra Leone’s economy from over-dependent on agriculture and mining, to a digitally-enabled economy.
The Ministry is equally engaging partners on safer use of the internet. Indeed, as part of its strategy to create an inclusive digital Sierra Leone, the Ministry joined other countries around the world to observe this year’s Safer Internet Day (SID) as symbolic call to action for all stakeholders to play their part in creating a better internet for everyone, especially for younger users.
Information Communications Technology holds the key to the future of the world economy. What efforts is the government making to ensure that a new generation of tech- savvy Sierra Leoneans are equipped for the knowledge economy?
With the advent of numerous new technologies and the strong desire and willingness to match with other highly digitalized skilled countries around the world, Sierra Leone, under the leadership of His Excellency the President, rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio has set a clear Digital Transformation Roadmap to leapfrog Sierra Leone into a digital economy. To demonstrate the Government’s readiness for digitalization, there are benchmarks set by this Administration to ensure our youths are involved hugely in technology and impact positively in the drive towards a digital economy. One of them is the establishment of the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Office of the President to seed, test and scale innovations to drive e-governance and service delivery.
The second is the review of existing school curriculum to include ICTs and Innovation from primary, secondary to tertiary levels nationwide. The third benchmark is making internet services available, accessible and affordable, even to the least privileged. The fourth point is that we also providing free quality education for all since literacy is the foundation for using tech devices.
Finally, we are engaging the private sector and the universities to establish innovation hubs, a coding school and other technology-focused incubator and accelerator programmes.
How would you rate the application of ICT in other areas such as education, health and banking in Sierra Leone?
This Administration has prioritized leveraging on science and technology across Government whilst working to develop robust and secure IT infrastructure that will allow proper implementation of e-governance systems, applicability of artificial intelligence/machine learning platforms, blockchains and IoT hence making Sierra Leone a conducive digitalized ecosystem. This infrastructure will provide not only the internet for the masses, but offer a robust road for Sierra Leone to propel towards the digital economy.
To demonstrate its interest in these areas, the Ministry organized a laudable education programme where civil society activists, Local Council representatives and Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were represented to discuss and design a road map for the transformation of Sierra Leone into a Digital Economy.
In almost all MDAs, the presence of this new change ranging from infrastructure design and implementation of locally developed digitalized systems by IT personnel have been a priority.
Our banking institutions can now boast of digital running applications which shows sign of increase in broadband connectivity. The SIM KORPO application used by Rokel Commercial Bank and the Orange money transfer by Orange Mobile Company, are two of the few examples of digital financial solutions currently being used by citizens. Numerous digital applications are presently being used in Sierra Leone as a means of promoting actual availability of undisruptive connectivity and internet services to our people.
Finally, seeing private entrepreneurs active in the use of innovative technology to run their businesses is a massive boost in the right direction. I was overwhelmed to conveniently use the TAP TAP vehicle services app the other day with proper data security and affordability.
In this age of the Internet of Things (IoT), what are the efforts of your Ministry to improve on internet penetration in Sierra Leone?
The combination of an increase in population, increasing demand for technology use, Government’s priority on digitalization, the introduction of technology into educational curriculum and the increase in the use of smartphones, GPS tracked vehicles, smart kitchen utensils, smart home devices and other digital devices, are the reasons why this Administration is focusing on making Sierra Leone a sustainable internet ecosystem. Some of the efforts we are making in this direction include reduction in the bulk purchasing cost to Internet Service Providers which in turn created a ripple effect to end-users; securing funds for the completion of the fibre backbone nationwide connecting institutions such as universities, schools and other essential institutions up to the last mile. In addition, we are increasing the deployment of resource centres to provide access to information through the internet at minimal or no cost and promoting the need for efficient and affordable electricity supply.
What is the outlook for your Ministry?
The Ministry is working to create the enabling environment for Sierra Leone to become a digitally inclusive society with ICT as a means to unleash the innate potential of every citizen to leapfrog the country into a digital era. This vision is also consistent with the ‘Leave No One Behind’ mission of the United Nations as espoused in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the ‘Africa we want’ principle of the African Union adopted in its 2063 Vision. To achieve the above strategic vision, the Government realizes that the sector requires critical interventions to enhance its role as an enabler to economic growth and social progress. The Ministry aims to improve the leadership, Governance, coordination and partnerships in the ICT sector; Improve and upgrade ICT related policy, legal and regulatory frameworks; and improve ICT Infrastructure and access. We are also working to improve ICT human capacity, digital skills and knowledge; improve electronic Governance for enhanced public service delivery; improve Information and Cyber Security; and introduce the use of ICT in curbing corruption.
The Ministry is also developing the framework to design a National Digital Transformation Roadmap along with these areas. The strategy, when completed, will outline Government’s roadmap for the overall development of the ICT sector and present a blueprint to project Sierra Leone into the digital economy.
The ICT landscape will continue to evolve in various directions, and the Government will strive to create an enabling environment that provides equal opportunities for stakeholders in different areas of the country to take part in the process. In this context, cooperation, coordination and productive dialogue between policymakers and other stakeholders will remain instrumental.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
