Sierra Leone has secured a US$74 million World Bank grant, not a loan, but a grant for the government to construct rural roads, bridges and markets.
It is money that could change rural life forever. Money to connect farms to markets. Money to connect chiefdoms to towns. Money to give market women a decent place to sell.
In rural Sierra Leone, a bad road is not an inconvenience. It is a death sentence. A pregnant woman in Falaba dies because she cannot reach a hospital. A farmer in Koinadugu loses 50 bags of rice because the bridge is broken. A child in Pujehun misses school because the river has flooded.
Four climate-resilient bridge proposals are already under review. They must be built to survive our rains – not for ribbon-cutting ceremonies, but for 50 years.
Yet many Sierra Leoneans are asking: “Na who go eat am this time?” That cynicism is earned after decades of roads paid for but never built, and contracts given to friends, not competent firms.
Government must now do five things, publicly:
Publish everything: the agreement, the projects, the costs, the contractors; choose by need, not politics; hire competence, not connections; involve communities to monitor the work and maintain what we build.
To the World Bank: Thank you for trusting us. Please stay, monitor, audit and visit the villages unannounced.
The people of Koinadugu, Kailahun, Bonthe, Pujehun, Falaba and Moyamba are not asking for miracles. They are asking for a road they can pass in the rain, a bridge that will not collapse, and a market with a roof and water.
Sierra Leone has secured the grant. Now, Sierra Leone must secure the trust.