By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
As the number of new Ebola cases continues to drop, the Sierra Leone government has launched its Post Ebola Recovery Plan.
The blue print, launched by President Ernest Bai koroma at the Miatta Conference Center in Freetown, contains four priority areas, aimed at addressing the setback occasioned by the devastating effect of the Ebola epidemic.
Last month the United Nations hosted a conference in New York in the United States in which the three Ebola affected countries of the Mano River Basin - Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia - presented documents detailing their plans for economic recovery. Sierra Leone`s two presentations were done by Finance Minister Dr Kaifala Marrah and the Chief of Staff in the Office of the President, Saidu Conton Sesay.
The plans attracted 3.4 billion dollars in pledges for the three countries out of which Sierra Leone is to benefit from US$802.4 million, revealed President Koroma at the Miatta Conference launching last Friday.
All those who have suffered as a result of the Ebola outbreak would receive support in the post Ebola Recovery plan thereby improving their livelihoods, the President said as part of his keynote address.
The recovery plan was designed to be implemented in nine months.
“We will revamp the health sector and enhance social protection. After nine months, we will set aside two years during which Sierra Leone will be restored,’’ the President stated.
President Koroma also disclosed that the pledges made in New York were just the start of the journey, stating that Sierra Leone was poised to benefit from other supports. He cited the United States which he said has had a policy of closer cooperation with “fragile states.”
The President called on donor partners to ensure that the implementing organisations they funded operated within the strict principle of accountability.
Prior to the official launch of the document, the President`s Chief of Staff, Conton Sesay, reminded the audience of the devastating effect of the Ebola virus, which he said had claimed the lives of over 3, 500 Sierra Leoneans. He noted that the epidemic affected the school system and weakened the economy, among others.
This situation compelled the government to come up with a recovery plan that places priority on the improvement of the health sector, revamping the education system, providing support to the private sector, with a particular focus on farmers, and ensuring social protection for vulnerable groups affected by the Ebola outbreak, Mr Sesay said.
“A team of competent staff has been set up in my office for the delivery of the implementation plan,’’ he said.
When the document shall have been launched, he added, “we will visit various districts in the country to explain the post Ebola Recovery Plan document to the local councils for their participation.” The Presidential Chief of Staff also informed the audience that facilitators and data analysts would be attached to each local council to provide dedicated support, as well as to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the plan.
“As we proceed, we will continue to learn lessons which we will plough back into existing structures,’’ he said.
He assured local authorities that the team of facilitators and analysts that would be set up to ensure the delivery of the plan would cut down on government bureaucracy to speedily implement the plan. But he cautioned that they will not be a replacement of government ministries, departments and agencies and district councils.
“The team is not a permanent entity and also not a decision-making authority on its own,” he explained. Mr Sesay then informed the audience that his office would ensure that a performance tracking system is in place to serve as oversight and that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development would do the budgeting and provides the financial resources for the implementation of the plan, in addition to performing an oversight, monitoring and evaluation function.
Minister of Finance Dr Kelfallah Marrah reminded the audience that prior to the outbreak, Sierra Leone was a “sunshine and resilient country.” He noted that the cost of financing the private sector was 18% and that exchange rate was stable, among other economic factors.
Not too long after, he said, the price of iron ore at the global market fell, agriculture also contracted to 30% and compounded by the effect of the Ebola outbreak, resulting into the contraction of the country’s economy.
It was this poor economic situation, the Finance Minister said, that prompted him to advise the government to come up with a Post Ebola Recovery Plan “to energise the economy.”
World Bank Country Manager, Ato Brown, also dwelled on the effect of the epidemic, citing the collapse of roads projects which he said, alongside the health implication of the disease, comprised a “gruesome twin shocks.” Mr Brown warned that although the number of new cases were falling down, the fight was hardly over.
“We need to get at zero and return life to normal life,” he said, noting that the recovery plan entailed restoring the health services and improving gross domestic product, among others. He said all this would not be easy for the government which he urged to work closely with its partners to realise these objectives.
“Sierra Leone will have to work with her partners to actualise the implementation plan,” Mr Brown said, calling on President Koroma to create the necessary structures that would energise the private sector. He said there should be no room for corruption and even the perception of corruption.
“We will support the 6-9 months implementation plan and any other associated plan that government would put forward,” the World Bank boss said.
Head of the UK`s Department of International Development, Marshall Eliot, said the period of the Ebola epidemic was a difficult year and that emerging from it required a great effort.
Mr Elliot praised Sierra Leone`s response to the epidemic.
“I have worked in emergency responses in other countries but none has impressed me than the one in Sierra Leone,’’ he said.
(C) Politico 28/07/15
