PONDER MY THOUGHTS BY Andrew Keili CHAMBER DINNER: THE ODE OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR “The future does not belong to those who grumble, it belongs to those who meet challenges. The era of ‘fold hand fold foot en grumble na corner’ is over; the era of transformation is dawn upon us. We are at a time in our country’s history when what will happen for the next several decades is being set; be active and positive parts of that set point in our history. That is the objective of my presidency, to create a partnership for prosperity with the private sector, and I believe it is within your rights, your aspiration and your capacity to be active members of this partnership for prosperity. “ These were the words of challenge from President Koroma to the Private sector at this year’s annual dinner of the Sierra Leone Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture. The dinner was graced as is usual by a mixture of top decision makers in Government and a potpourri of people from all spheres of the private sector. The dinner provides a forum for the Government, though the President and the private sector through the Chamber President to espouse their views, vision and plans for the private sector. The President of Chamber Mrs Gladys Strasser King in her speech remarked that the Private sector was appreciative of some of the positive strides by Government especially in the areas of implementing the local content policy and some infrastructure projects. She mentioned major development projects in the pipeline, notably the Mamamah Airport, the Targrin – Freetown Bridge, the Fibre Optic project and the ongoing Precon project towards EU export market certification of Sierra Leone’s fishery and marine products. She however repeated the private sector refrain of the prohibitive cost of power, affecting many businesses. She was particularly scathing on the law and order issues: “ Today we witness the glaring challenge to law and order and the tendency towards violence which have infected virtually every tissue in our body politic. Our economic lifeblood can only maintain a healthy flow in an environment where the law is respected, order maintained and peace is evident.” On the issue of the inordinate number of unemployed youths she remarked: “Not only is it a destabilising factor economically but also socially.” She stressed on the need for government to be “pivotal in identifying and establishing the number, type and location of technical educational institutions”. The President, in response went to great lengths to tout his government’s achievements, especially in the financial sector. According to him, “GDP growth for 2013 was recorded at 13.3%, with Sierra Leone ranked as the country with the second highest growth rate in the world..... Interest rates on government securities fell considerably, with 91 day treasury bills falling from 23.4 % at end December 2011 to 3.4% at end December 2013. Similarly reductions were observed in all the tenures.” There was however a hollow ring to his statement that “the commercial banks’ lending rates are beginning to reflect the decline in the government securities rates and this would boost lending to the private sector”. The private sector has asserted in other fora that the commercial Bank lending rates are still unacceptably high. If formulating new laws is the yardstick of judging the efficiency of running a country’s financial system then we should be way ahead of similar countries. The President went to great lengths to enumerate these: ” We have acted to develop a more robust legal environment, which will give confidence to investors and businesses in general. Thus we have enacted The Companies Act 2009, The Bankruptcy Act 2009, The Payments System Act 2009, The Credit Reference Act 2011, The Bank of Sierra Leone Act 2011, The Banking Act 2011, The Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Financing of Terrorism Act 2012. We have set up the Credit Reference Bureau, modernized the payments system, and we are building a state of the art Disaster Recovery Site.....we are introducing a number of legislations this year, including the Borrowers and Lenders Act to facilitate the use of moveable assets as collaterals/ securities for loans; the Securities Act to establish the platform for more trading on the Stock Exchange and allow firms/ businesses to raise additional long term capital for expansion and production; and the Collective Investment Scheme Act to facilitate joint investments with other parties in order to undertake large projects.” Quite a handful, probably bordering on overregulation, some may say. The President also alluded to the unbundling of the electricity sector and his plans in the immediate for setting up the new institutions relating to the reform of the sector. His assertion that no government had done more to improve the electricity situation was understandably met with polite claps in the wake of recent happenings in the electricity sector. His final challenge? “The private sector needs to be more innovative, more assertive, more trusting of each other to ensure mergers and create efficiencies, more hardworking to deliver on their contracts; more supportive of training opportunities and job creation for our people.” The normal ding dong battle was not meant to produce any winners but for everyone to state his position. The existence of a vibrant private sector is highly dependent on whether the policy environment obstructs or enables private enterprises to conduct business effectively and this debate will undoubtedly continue. A highlight of the evening was the awards given to various companies and individuals. African Minerals was the outstanding company in the Industry category, “in recognition of its unparalleled corporate leadership demonstrated in successfully developing a World class mine, its outstanding contribution to the economic and social life of its employees and communities in which it operates, its immense contribution to the country’s economy and for setting a stellar example in implementing its corporate social responsibility scheme.” Sierratel won the commerce category “in appreciation of its extensive services in the field of commerce particularly in the telecommunicati ons sector, through revitilazing its operations and offering its clients reliable and affordable internet services and for its plans to make such services more pervasive.” This year, a new award was introduced – The Outstanding Achievement award for exemplary leadership in implementing the Local Content Policy. This went to Sierra Rutile Ltd. I reproduce excerpts from the citation: “Sierra Rutile embarked upon the compilation of a detailed manpower plan two years ago. This was for the purpose of predicting its future human resource needs to meet the regulatory requirements of the Mines and Minerals Act 2009 and the Local Content Policy, both of which call for the skills transfer to, and career development of Sierra Leone nationals. The company’s response was to integrate talent management and succession planning, into a culture of high performance and excellence. Sierra Rutile’s Localisation Plan, which identifies and develops the company’s future technicians, managers and leaders, has emerged from this process. Key to the success of the Localisation Plan is its new Performance Management System. Employees whose performance and potential are rated highly against their KPIs and described as ‘high potential’ or HIPOs for short undergo accelerated training for important technical, supervisory and management roles within the company. Sierra Rutile’s Localisation Plan also promotes the transfer of skills from expatriates to Sierra Leonean citizens to the extent that it has the highest number of Sierra Leoneans in its management cadre, compared to similar companies. This award is given to Sierra Rutile Ltd. in appreciation of its work in implementing the Local Content Policy, ensuring that the brightest and the best achieve their full potential; contributing towards the development of the country’s technical and managerial pool; and reducing reliance on expatriate knowledge and skills.” Congratulations to Sierra Rutile for taking the implementation of the local content policy seriously. FOUR FORKED FOR 4 FOR 4 An open letter to the President titled “Re: Former aspirants of constituency 56 Lokomasama Chiefdom for APC seeking job opportunities”, recently reproduced in the newspapers caught my attention. The letter purportedly written by one of four aspirants for various positions in the last General elections was candid. These potential aspirants were cajoled to step down for others in the interest of their party but were now being sidelined. The letter goes on:”We were convinced to do so even though some of us had the support of our constituents and the majority to be given the symbols to contest the elections. We did that for the love and unity of our party by throwing our total and unflinching support to those candidates who successfully defeated the candidates of other political parties, especially the SLPP candidates with a four for four victories. You promised that the four of us would be offered jobs and positions after the elections”. The letter continued: “We are stranded and could not survive this present predicament without any means to sustain ourselves……..We are hopeful that your Excellency will look into this matter and get us out of this situation.” Several questions come to mind however. Why not just meet the President and appeal to him? My guess is that they had probably tried a direct route but had got frustrated. Poor souls!-I really do feel their pain. It is possible their problems may be solved. If not, one advice may be to cross over to the “other side” where the grass is greener. But wait a minute-even they have their own problems but have no one to appeal to. Whatever final action they may take, I congratulate them for bringing this matter to our notice in the “open letter”. One lesson learnt: Four for four victories do no however provide automatic employment. Ponder my thoughts
Posted on: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 16:08:44 +0000
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