Political rhetoric and action are quite often miles apart. In almost any speech by politicians about Sierra Leone, there talk of the beautiful coastline and how much potential tourism holds of for this beautiful corner in West Africa. However, to allow the practice of sand mining to continue along Sierra Leone’s pristine coastline is irresponsible and demonstrates a complete lack of commitment to developing the tourism industry. It shows that consciously or not, there is no thought or desire to protect the livelihood of future generations. We seem intent on killing off the tourism industry before it even has a chance to blossom. Our obsession with immediate and ill thought out fixes for issues facing this country will surely come back to haunt us and the consequences of the sand mining currently going on is no exception.
According to TribeWanted, a few weeks ago the government in Sierra Leone endorsed the practice of sand-mining on John Obey's neighboring beaches for a full 6 days a week during all daylight hours. I doubt that sand mining is about creating employment. It is definitely no sustainable way to maintain employment when in fact you are destroying the communities around where this activity is going on at the expense of mansions in the hills (for which trees and vegetation have already made way) and the punters who are simply cashing in on this act.
So no, tourism is not a priority and is not an important part the national agenda for “prosperity”, if it was we’d be trying to find a workable way forward.
Have a look through the BBC’s “In pictures"documentation of what is going on and also read this blog for more information.
