Demolishing Lumley to construct highway will breathe new life into the area

They said it wouldn’t happen; which is why some continued to build. They said the govt would not have the ‘cahunas’ to clear out the Lumley junction area. On Saturday, they were proved wrong as work commenced on the dismantling of buildings and the market at Lumley. This is all for a good cause though… National Development which is more important than any individual or enterprise. As far as I know, residents have been compensated.

This is part of the preparation for the “Extension of Wilkinson Road to Water Street” Project, which has an optimistic end date of July 2011. Wilkinson Road through Congo Cross to Water Street will be upgraded to a four lane highway.

Residents and landlords of the Lumley and Juba hill area should be licking their lips because if the congestion problem in that area is solved.. not only will it ease their daily frustrations but it will become a more desirable place to live once again. Sadly, it lost its prestige after the conflict and I know from experience through our real estate business that hardly anyone wants to live there these days. These areas were the choice for Presidents, Ministers and those fortunate enough to be in the higher end of the Sierra Leone – or certainly Freetown’s – citizenry.

So as I sit in my office at Congo Cross, looking at my vandalised sign board next to the fence that is supposed to be knocked down as a part of this project; I’m trying to visualise what a four lane highway running right in front of us will look (or sound like) in the next twelve months. Scary, but totally worth it for National Development.

Happy Birthday VSL! Six years later, we look back to the future

After a friend of mine reminded me of how much Visit Sierra Leone had done over the last six years – whether I realised it or not - I was forced to go back into the archives and find a document called inspiration.doc. If you remember this document, it means you have been there since day one! The first couple of paragraphs read:

“When was the last time you heard Sierra Leone mentioned in a sentence without being followed by one or more
of the following words: donated, aids, war, war child, war-torn, prostitution, rebels, amputees, corruption, poverty, rebel, RUF, child soldiers? Whilst these may be perfectly valid in the context in which they are used, anyone who’s been to Sierra Leone will know there are many other sides to the country.

Not enough is said about the natural beauty of the country, its people, and what it may have to offer to the world at large. This has been the inspiration behind the development of www.visitsierraleone.org . This website aims to promote those aspects of Sierra Leone which makes it a tourist destination for the adventurous traveller. The intention is not only to target non-Sierra Leoneans but also Sierra Leoneans scattered across all continents.”

Or course, the site looked different then and I have been looking for a screenshot but unfortunately, I didn’t keep any. I did however find the original logo which I cooked up myself one evening.

This document was sent out in July 2004 and was effectively the ‘launch’ of VSL – there was never an official launch with balloons and champagne – and it explains why VSL has remained a passion. At the time, I was a pretend nerd working in the IT department for the charity SCOPE. Now I’ve moved back to Freetown and dedicated full-time to VSL and its sister business, VSL Property, and my only regret are the internet speeds, which were much better at SCOPE in 2004 than in Freetown in 2010!
As always, one is thankful to the assistance provided by friends and family over that time, and I guess birthdays are the time to look back and reflect as well as plan for the future.
At six, VSL has changed. A lot. So many things have happened in that time. We still deal with all manner of inquiries relating to Sierra Leone, one of my personal favourites being “Can you tell me more about the poro society and how do I become a member?”… or one that came through last week “i need a sierra leone passport will that be possible even if it will cost me 500us,thanks”. Er, no. We continue to provide free advice through the forum and continue to be driven by the central goal of “rebranding Sierra Leone”, which was our catalyst in 2004 and continues to drive us today.
But from an information-based website with a single person at the helm in 2004, we are now an Inbound Tour Operator/Travel Services company with staff of six (up from one in 2008).
As recently as 2008, you’d have been hard pressed to find an operator running scheduled tours to Sierra Leone (not those organising one-off trips for adventure seekers). In 2010, we are proud to represent three UK-based operators now including Sierra Leone in their brochures, with another few from Europe in the pipeline.
We’re proud to have received acclaim from industry leaders such as Bradt Guide and the Lonely Planet.
Bradt Travel Guide for Sierra Leone: Visit Sierra Leone has single handedly done more to promote
awareness of Sierra Leone as a tourist destination than anyone else."
Lonely Planet West Africa Guide said of our forum community “Tons of travel advice and an active discussion
forum where, no matter how obscure your inquiry, someone will probably have an answer”.
Of course, I cannot talk about VSL without mentioning our forum community, who have been quite supportive over the years. It’s a blessing that relationships, both business and personal, have been formed on that platform and will hopefully stand the test of time. Perhaps one of the best things is how many of our active participants have actually relocated back to Sierra Leone. Mah-D, Fisherman, Saloneboy, DCGunner, Nasratha, Sabawaka, Joyah Bobor, DarkChild and others…we’re still waiting on you Cool-runnins!
As a small but ambitious company, our emphasis is now on serving clients to the best of our ability and with a passion for sustainable tourism development, we also provide valuable services to corporate clients and groups, both before and during their stay. We want them to leave with positive experiences and fair recommendations that Sierra Leone is worth a visit.
Among the highlights of this work was the chance to provide travel and ground handling services to South Africa’s Bafana Bafana and the Equatorial Guinea national team (our office staff are footie fanatics) but it has also been fun to learn about the positive work that many of our clients do. One example is the group at Mape Project, who we have been providing some logistical support to. Their vision for tourism development is astounding and you can find out more about their work at www.themapeproject.com.
On the development side, learning of the work that Madieu Williams, the Sierra Leonean born American football safety player for the Minnesota Vikings does through the Madieu Williams Foundation with a joint partnership with the Healing Hands Foundation in the field of Health and Education was inspiring.
A few months ago while we were in Berlin for the Travel Fair and were able to get some tour operators interested in Sierra Leone as a possible destination and just a few weeks ago, we worked with the National Tourist Board (SL) and Exodus in bringing four journalists from The Metro, Times Online, The Independent and The Press Association to Sierra Leone for a press trip. The first of those articles is out and we are proud to say that Exodus will start advertising their trips here for January 2011. See Metro Article.
Six years later, in our own little way - we’re still trying. Just imagine where we might be, with your help, six years from now.

With the Beach Bars gone…can somebody at least turn on the lights?

 
Picture courtesy of Awoko.org (http://www.awoko.org/)

Almost two years after the beach bars were demolished by truckloads of soldiers and armed police to make way for tourism revamp just how is that going? How is the beautification process coming along? No, honestly. Because I may have missed it. Maybe just getting rid of the bars was seen as beautification itself? How long do the trees need? What are those structures starting to rare their pop up where the beach bars used to be? Roy’s for example? I’m not knocking Roy’s because I like what they’ve done but it proves the point that existing owners could have been given the opportunity to modify their establishments.

In any case, this post isn’t about the bars being gone. It is about what has failed to follow. Forget the trees for a second… why is there still no power along the beach in 2010? All these shiny new restaurants and hotels like the Taia Resort have to generate their own power. 

Taia Resort

I mean, common… this is an accessible, flat stretch that already has power at the Police Post (Aberdeen end) and Golf Club (Lumley end) in the capital city.

As the President rightly tells us every now and again, infrastructure is the foundation for economic growth. So, maybe the Tourism Ministry would do well to gather round their friends from Energy and Power and any other related Ministry and get Lumley Beach out of the dark ages. Sometimes, I am tempted to believe that the powers that be are scared of Tourism development in this country and as a result, sub-consciously or otherwise, sabotage it.

Please, this is not 1910 it’s 2010 and this is our city beach; and filthy though it may be (for another article), we love it still. So if the Ministry is serious about the ‘tourism revamp’ along the beach, this would be a good start – two years later.

See earlier article about the demolition:

So what do you think of the beach bars situation?

So how is Sierra Leone these days?

This is the question posed to me by a friend who was visiting home for the first time in about a decade. “Economically, things are tough” came my initial reply.

The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST – 15%) combined with a more proactive approach to tax collection by the National Revenue Authority (NRA) and the scary presence of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has increased the cost of living in Sierra Leone. However, this is a very positive thing for Sierra Leone so it is a bitter pill we have to swallow. It is not perfect but we will learn to understand it and how it works. I do believe that 15% is on the high side, but the silver lining is that it should force us to ask where the money is going! This should be the natural - we pay tax and earn the right to demand accountability.

Add to this the fact that the entire global economy is still on a downer and it just makes things worse. The tourism industry where I am, has been seriously hit and there are no signs yet of things turning around. Sierra Leone of course, hardly has what you’d call a tourism industry anyway.

The promise of things to come…

However, I can categorically say that I am once more starting to get very optimistic about Sierra Leone’s future. There is just so much going on.

Free health for pregnant women and infants

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Sierra Leone has the world's highest death rate among pregnant women and children. Hopefully not for much longer! The government will launch free health care on April 27^th 2010. There are many questions as to whether it will be sustainable and many criticisms that the systems are not in place. As long as the government is committed to making it happen I’m sure (well I hope) they will find a way. Regardless, this is an important development for Sierra Leone and I wish them the best of luck!

Improving road infrastructure

I am very impressed with how the government appears to have taken the challenge on infrastructure head on. Some of the ongoing road projects include the

• Peninsula Road (ongoing)
• Kambia-Port Loko (ongoing)
• Masiaka-Bo-Kenema(more or less complete)
• Kenema-Koindu Road Corridor (Kenema-Pendembu 1^st phase, ongoing)
• Makeni - Matotoka (ongoing)
• Port Loko – Lungi (soon to award contract)
• Hill-Side road (soon to commence)

A couple of interesting ones are:

• Widening of Wilkinson Road (Madongo Town to Lumley
• Rehabilitation of City (Freetown) Roads

I say interesting because these are wholly funded by the Government… also taking into consideration the amount of property development in those areas, I can just imagine the chaos. It’s also scheduled to be complete in 2011. Nice!

Energy

So, not only is Bumbuna complete but another 10MW machine was just last week commissioned in Freetown. I also heard the Minister of energy and Power on the radio talking about other towns in the provinces where going to get Bumbuna power by the end of the year. Sierra Leone’s chronic energy problem is by no means solved but the political will appears to be there and sometimes that’s all it takes.

Internet Underwater cable

Now this is one that is another one that is close to my heart! Sierra Leone has confirmed its plan to connect to the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) cable, a submarine fibre-optic system that would run along West Africa with connections to France and South Africa. The project is expected to go live in 2011. Not only should this significantly increase the bandwidth available to Sierra Leone but it should also be cheaper. I will be following this one closely.

Some interesting investments

It sounds like private money on a large scale is starting to trickle in. A lot of noise has been made about London Mining’s investment in the Marampa Iron Ore project and Addax Energy’s $400m investment in agribusiness. Both seem to hold promise – but both deals have come upon criticism from various circles. I haven’t read the small print but I hope Sierra Leone benefits from such investments. it is definitely worth following their development. According to MarketWatch, mines will see $3 Billion of Investment in Next Three Years.

Airport Ground handling

I complained about the airport in my recent blog post. I still think it’s badly run. There were two recent developments at the airport though. A firm has been awarded the contract to carry out a complete refurbishment of the airside infrastructure of Lungi Airport. In a separate development, a new company is now responsible for ground handling operations at the airport. The new ground handling company Sky Handling Partners (Sierra Leone) is a subsidiary of Groupe Europe Handling.

The new and improved Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation

I believe this we are only the second country in Africa to have a public broadcaster – after SABC. Definitely the first in West Africa.

The SLBC is the result of a merger between United Nations radio in Sierra Leone and the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service.
Septimus Kaikai a former Minister of Information in the SLPP administration is chairman of the board of trustees.

The new and improved SLBC TV (broadcasting about 12-18 hours a day) bears almost no resemblance to SLBS TV. I'm really impressed so far... and in a country where Satellite subscription is probably under 10,000 households (DSTV is under 5k), there seems to be a lot of scope for growth as I've been led to believe they also broadcast in other districts. The program scheduling needs some work but it’s a great start. As with all things sustainability and being able to generate enough revenue is key and  I’m guessing advertising and external funding would help. However, while the do have some good reporters/programs they will need to downsize and go after new and dynamic individuals and talent to keep viewers interested. Well done SLBC, Good Luck!

 

Anti Corruption Commission

Regardless of what some might have you believe, the Anti-Corruption is a much more effective institution than ever before. For the first time we are seeing government officials at the Ministerial positions being called to task. The Minsters of Health and that of Marine Resources have both lost their jobs after being charged to court by the ACC. They follow the former head of the National Revenue Authority (NRA) and other people in office who have been prosecuted by the ACC. While corruption cannot be eradicated; the ACC under the leadership of Abdul Tejan-Cole is a fantastic ally in the fight against it.

This is not saying that all is well, there are still many challenges to overcome but there still many reasons to be optimistic about the future.

Oh, and Akon is coming to town for a concert!

Has Sierra Leone's Tourism ‘Revival’ lost its way?

Greetings from the World’s biggest Tourism/Travel Trade Fair (ITB, Berlin). Oh Sierra Leone, how I wish you were here!
Some may ask which tourism revival? Well, six years after VSL was started in 2004 we have definitely seen change in attitudes to Sierra Leone. Long way to go - I know – but there have been a lot of goodwill in the foreign press (and reputable ones too) about Sierra Leone’s tourism potential.
The Bradt guide to Sierra Leone was also a major plus for the industry – but I can’t help but feel that there is very little or no support coming from government to build on some of the goodwill from such publications. Whether it is a conscious strategy or not, I don’t know but as someone involved in the industry, I do not see what is being done to kick-start this industry. Actually, what is even more frustrating is that in some ways we have taken steps backwards.
Take the National Tourist Board for example. They have been able to do some proactive marketing, from some funds that were donated from the IF (Integrated fund) – they did promotional video, brochures, new Sierra Leone map and also the first training seminar for Tour Guides. All good. However, they have not been able to attend Tourism fairs such as the ITB in Berlin or WTM in London because of chronic lack of funding from the government. Or forget about tourism fairs – they now struggle to pay the staff of the NTB. As such, the staff morale that was the pre-2007 is all but gone. They used to levy a bed tax of 7.5% from which they keep the office running and are able to engage in on going marketing activities, which is within their mandate.
This revenue has been taken away from them and handed to the NRA. The tax has also gone from 7.5% to 15% in a couple of years. Money now goes to the NRA and as I understand it they struggle to get the necessary funding from the govt to keep their office running effectively. The NTB used to collect a lot of information from the hotels as part of this process, information which is of value to potential investors such as amount of beds and pattern of usage, occupancy etc. Of course, NRA isn’t interested in all of that stuff and it’s becoming difficult to get information (on an industry level) in order to make solid investment conclusions.
There is the airport, which is in need of a serious clean up. At every point during this trip, I was asked for money. From the point when I was dropped off by the Allied Marine shuttle, to the point I went through the final security check. How much does it cost to clean up Lungi Airport and get some sanity? Is Ministry of Tourism and that of Transport and Aviation working towards making this first point of contact a more pleasurable experience? I doubt it somewhat. The airport really ticks me off because it doesn’t require a lot of financial investment to get order.
Perhaps the destruction of the beach bars is perhaps the most decisive thing the ministry have done. They were clearing them to make way for lights and palm trees neither of which are present. In fact, rather worryingly is the increase of structures being put back on the beach. The latest, an extension of Roy’s restaurant is quite nice, but pushes the boundaries in terms of what is or isn’t a permanent structure. How long before the beach side is littered with structures again. A few weeks ago a group made of mainly of expats volunteered to clean up Lumley beach. How embarrassing. They walked the full length of the beach on one Sunday morning. The beach wardens and life guards that were part of an employment scheme have all disappeared.
There is the deforestation around the Charlotte Falls which is another of our tourist attractions. No to mention the rapid deterioration of our monuments and relics and deplorable state of sites such as Bunce Island.
Is there a plan to protect the Western Area Peninsula and land grab that will occur after the final half of the peninsula road is complete? Is there a proper plan to develop that area in a manner that will retain it’s beauty? Or are we going to allow anyone to build high-rise hotels at River Number Two?
I am convinced that the tourism industry in Sierra Leone is not being treated with any seriousness regardless of what the political rhetoric is. I remember reading reports of His Excellency’s speech after he was elected President in 2007. Tourism and Agriculture were highlighted as key industries he would be looking to develop. It has gone from this to an admission by the tourism minister that tourism is not a priority of the government, and that is a real shame especially when I hear of the challenges to tackling unemployment.
Tourism is a private sector driven industry driven by government support, much like any other. We need more from the latter.
Take Rwanda – there is lot we can learn from this country that is smaller than Sierra Leone, had “bad perceptions” issues like us and is pursuing the same strategy Sierra Leone aspires to -high end tourism. Talking to their representatives at their stand, it becomes obvious that they still have their challenges but are tackling them head on. Tourism is on the national agenda and everyone is working towards making it work for Rwanda. There is clarity of vision and an approach that works for them now, rather than saying Tourism is waiting for the other things such as infrastructure to be put in place. There is a lot we can learn from Rwanda, and they will be open as we are not direct competitors.

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Walking around the ITB, past the Zimbabwe, Sudan, Mozambique and Sudan stands – I see no reason why Sierra Leone should be absent. Didn’t we just give Haiti $100,000? A fifth of that would have gone some way to get Sierra Leone at the ITB, something that is an  investment for the future.
We can still do it, the potential is there and there are those in the private sector trying hard to make things happen. We can accomplish a lot if government and the private sector engage with each other and are driven by a common goal. Country above individual egos, ambitions and politics. We need to take control of our destiny as far as tourism goes. Political will is badly needed and the sooner we get it the better.