In 2011 certain individuals and institutions created impact in the progress of our country. This is not an exhaustive list of them all but we are hereby bring to you those that caught our attention irresistibly.
First Step: They led the way for real value-added export for the first time since the war ended by opening a juice factory outside Waterloo in the outskirts of Freetown. They exported concentrated mango juice from the country in the year gone by. Not only did the First Step investment create jobs they also enabled villagers who own mango trees to benefit from them in an unprecedented way. In a country where attention is obsessively glued on the extractive sector, this is clean investment which hardly hurts the environment yet showcases the country abroad in a very positively light. They should however consider establishing retail shops in the country and bottling or canning juice here in addition to the wholesale to Europe.
Africa Minerals Limited: In a country where jobs are few and far between, they are the largest private sector employer. In just 14 months of operations they exported ore. They bailed out the country's national football team, Leone Stars with a $ 50,000 contribution which one can arguably say substantially contributed in making the team the highest improving side on the continent in the FIFA ranking. However amidst complaints around shelter dissatisfaction, safety issues in and around the mine and the railway AML should be more honest about their activities and figures, less belligerent to critics and criticism, and make conscious efforts to address the perception that they are being partiosan and too involved in national politics.
Catholic Church: The Catholic Church managed, very well, the delicate balance of splitting its largest diocese without the rumpus that usually accompanies such. Under the stewardship of Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles, the Freetown and Bo Diocese was separated and a new bishop appointed to head the new Bo Diocese. The Church also established the first and only university in the north of Sierra Leone, University of Makeni which has addressed a key deficit that had existed in that part of the country.
ECOBANK: They transformed banking in the country and went big on expansion by taking over ProCredit Bank. They were the highest risers in 2011 becoming the the bank with the third largest total asset, from seventh. A truly African bank they are present in 32 countries in Africa including all ECOWAS countries and Cameroon and Chad. It is however unclear why they chose to establish a branch in Kenema and NOT in Bo and they should consider transforming their headquarters building to a branch as it is very congested.
Bo City Council – The municipality has consistently been hailed for its prudent financial and waste management while exhibiting probity and accountability at the highest level. While some other councils and municipalities are enmeshed in allegation of graft and brinkmanship, the Bo City Council and its mayor Dr Wusu Sannoh have been riding high especially in the year gone by.
Africell – The mobile phone company is the only one in the country with a 3G facility which has tremendously enhanced its smart phone internet use. Their show of corporate social responsibility took an interesting dimension last year with their building of the Clock Tower in Makeni. Stunning! The company should however make conscious effort to address and redress the perception that they are meddling too much into national partisan politics.
FC Johannanson: The were the only sporting team in the country in 2011 to have won an international tournament when they clinched the Under-16 Swiss Cup.
Mercury: The sports betting company has redefined lottery in the country and they took a giant stride especially last year by paying school and college fees for hundreds of needy people. But for them a good number of those would have dropped out of school.
Melian Tours: The best-organised private sector transportation system in the country, Melian Tours deployed a number of buses to address the country and Freetown's chronic transportation problem.
Leone Stars: The national football team became one of the highest climbers on the FIFA ranking going more than sixty places up in 2011. In January last year they were 123 and by December they had climbed to 60, one of the most dramatic climbs in the world. This now puts the team at 11th position in Africa much higher than many of the teams at the CAF tournament kicking off later this month.
US Embassy: The United States Embassy stepped up its outreach programmes in 2011 registering a rise in the number of applicants for both the Fulbright programme which is a graduate programme and the Humphrey programmes which is a non-graduate one. This included nationwide radio discussion programmes and an inter-collegiate debate in December, 2011. An increased number of people for the International Visitors Leadership Programme to the US was also recorded, as well as an increased number of young women leaders to the US under the Catholic Religious Pluralism programme.
Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo: The Minister of Information and Communication was exemplary in articulating government policies and positions. Always willing to take interviews sometimes at no notice. He was on radio stations all across the country. Probably for the first time he organised press conferences outside Freetown. He spent hours in radio stations sometimes staying late into the night. He was the virtual spokesman of ECOWAS on the Ivory Coast political stalemate even if the committee set up by the regional body did not achieve anything.
That said, the minister made many gaffes and said untruths when he went loose on Charles Margai forcing him to apologise, his repeated assurance and deadlines that former workers at The Sierra Leone Daily Mail would get their benefits fell on fallow ground. He should probably be a bit more careful in making assurances.
Rapture Kids: They wowed everyone who heard their nightingale-like voice singing in honour of the country of Sierra Leone as it turned 50 years. The seven kid members of the group are aged between 6 and 12 years.
Vafulay Kanneh – He is the 14-year-old boy at the Sierra Leone Grammar School who scored the best result in the Basic Education Certificate Examination scoring aggregate of 8 (eight) in eight subjects. His consistency is amazing in that he topped his school at the primary school-leaving exams, NPSE three years earlier.
Adama Gondor: Even before the advent of the free health care initiative for pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers, Nurse Adama Gondor had been the arrowhead in fighting for the health of children and mothers in deprived communities. After nine months as the head of the Kroo Bay Community Health Centre she was transferred to another slum area at Mabela where she has been for two years and heads the community health centre. In 2011 she battled to save hundreds of children and mothers in the deprived slum that Mabela is. Her health centre needs a lot more help and hand to keep the centre going.
Kelvin Lewis: Journalist Kelvin Lewis chaired the committee set up to investigate the political violence in Bo last year. In a record time the committee submitted their report with national acclaim, with no disagreement by any progressive section of society. The proprietor and editor of Awoko newspaper also played the delicate balancing in reporting on issues in the year under review.
Olu Richie Awoonor-Gordon – The late former proprietor of Peep! showed wit, knowledge of issues and the English language with an excellent sense of humour. He will be sorely missed.
Dr Kadie Sesay: She became the first woman with the closest shot at the presidency in the history of the country having been chosen as a presidential running mate by one of the main political parties, the SLPP.
