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The paradox that Sierra Leone is the poorest country in the world despite its
abundant mineral resources is an inconvenient truth that is about to change. As
part of his tour of West Africa, billionaire financier and philanthropist George
Soros was in Sierra Leone this month to pledge his support for the country's
economic recovery.
Foreign Affairs Minister Zainab Bangura took great pride in introducing Soros
to members of the media community in a press conference at the Bintumani seaside
hotel pressroom in Freetown on Feb. 10. Bangura also introduced Aryeh Neier,
president of the Open Society Institute in New York, and Nana Dakor, executive
director of the Open Society Initiative for East Africa, an affiliate of the
Open Society Institute. The Open Society Institute promotes democracy and good
governance in African countries
 Before opening the floor to comments and questions, the moderator,
Presidential Affairs Minister Alpha Kanu expressed great satisfaction in the
fact that Sierra Leone is now able to attract such a great personality as Soros.
In his opening remarks, Soros spoke of his involvement in what he called the
"big change" in the former Soviet Empire that created the "big opportunity" for
him to become a philanthropist. He said he was in Sierra Leone to assist a
nation that has held "free and fair elections, a process that is now leading to
a democratic transition…
"We want to help build a free and open society."
Kanu noted that the world has 3.5 billion people who depend on oil, most of
whom are among the poorest on earth. "There is a shifting of blame from
government to the [extractive] companies and from the companies to government,"
he said. Citing Sierra Leone, he continued, "The people are not benefiting from
the minerals. We don't benefit much from our extractive industry." He further
explained that the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (E.I.T.A.) was
formed by Western countries to ensure that the people benefit from the mineral
resources of their countries.
Indeed, based on a fair assessment of the prevalence of poverty in Kono
district, the former home of the third largest diamond in the world and the
place of the infamous "blood diamond" coinage in the recent past, the E.I.T.A.
does not seems to be working in the interest of the people.
When pressed by reporters to offer specifics on how he would help the people
of Sierra Leone, Soros said his organization would help this previously war-torn
West African nation in the area of "extractive mineral industry transparency
policy formulation" and in "the development of civil societies." He maintained
that the natural resources belong to the people but that very often rulers used
the resources to benefit themselves creating what he referred to as "the
resource curse."
Knowing very well that he would be preaching to the choir, Soros said, "I
don't need to explain to you what is resource curse. You have suffered much from
it in the recent past."
It appears that Soros and his Open Society are in Sierra Leone at the right
time. But if by "recent past" Soros referred only to the infamous blood diamond
days then he needs an update on the recent unrest in Kono district. Police and
mining security officers responded in December to a demonstration for mining
policy reforms with brutality that led to the shooting of at least one youth
activist.
This incident was the reason for the suspension of mining activities that the
foreign minister mentioned in her opening statement when she spoke about
problems in the mining industry and the government's reaction to them, although
she failed to state the reason for the suspension and the subsequent government
inquest into the matter.
Soros, however, told the audience of mostly reporters demanding specific ways
he intended to help Sierra Leone that his organization in collaboration with the
United Nations Development Program would create a capacity-building fund that
will help the people of Sierra Leone with intellectual capacity building through
fellowship funding. He explained that the program would help qualified Sierra
Leoneans who want to return home to work in the interest of the people do so, as
opposed to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund expatriates who "have
their own agenda that often works in the interest of governments and the
institution they represent."
Later, outside the press conference, Lamin, a concerned citizen said, "This
is the point; [one] especially developing economies often find difficulty
grappling with. But coming from a world-renowned financial speculator, political
activist, and philanthropist would likely drive the message through."
This explains why Foreign Affairs Minister Bangura felt such a sense of
fulfillment and pride in her effort to orchestrate the arrival of the
billionaire in Sierra Leone.
Her sense of satisfaction was so obvious that a reporter picked up on it and
asked, "Why are you beaming?"
"I am beaming," Bangura said, "because it took us four and half years to
invite George to come here." She went on to explain: "When George speaks, the
world listens. He is the man that predicted the recent recession; you must have
seen it on CNN. He had a very good discussion with government and he is carrying
a good impression of us. His opinion will help open many doors for us rather
than us going about knocking on doors."
Responding to Bangura's comment, Soros said, "I was able to listen to the
president and hear his ambitious plans, which I am sure he would be able to
deliver." But he also noted that he did not intend to become a "bed fellow" of
government.
Soros engaged his audience in a lengthy explanation that his support was not
unconditional though he may have liked what he heard. Once in power, he said,
governments are tempted to do differently from what they originally set out to
do. As an example, he cited the Rose Revolution in Georgia, which was "a bad
experience" for him. Although he was "quite impressed" with the Georgian leader
at first, his organization became the main critic of the government when that
ruler became autocratic.
"I don't expect such in Sierra Leone," Soros said, expressing his optimism in
the leaders here.
I asked Soros about his being referred to by his critics as more of a
political activist than a philanthropist. He responded that his organization
would be embarking on the development of civil societies, something entirely
different from the intellectual capacity-building project in the extractive
mineral industry he would be helping the government of Sierra Leone with through
the formulation of transparent mining policies. In his own words, he called
himself a "political philanthropist."
The deputy minister for trade and industry, Mabinty Daramy, has since her
appointment demonstrated an unfaltering commitment to the building and
encouraging of a strong private sector economy, which she has said "would help
to reduce the growing youth unemployment in Sierra Leone." At this point in the
press conference, she found an opportunity to interject her ministry's agenda
into the equation:
"Mine is a commentary as opposed to a question. As a financial speculator
your [Soros'] reflexivity, financial markets, and economic theory resulted in
huge financial profit for you in 1992. When Britain failed to adhere to all
European financial market trends, you bought 10 billion pounds that made 1
billion pounds profit on black Wednesday from the Bank of England for which you
were dubbed 'the man who broke the Bank of England,'" she said with comic
effect. "We welcome you along with your ingenious financial speculations skills
and unparallel philanthropy to Sierra Leone. On a serious note though, we will
not mind to dub you the man who built the bank of Sierra Leone."
Kanu, in his closing remarks, lauded Soros' intellectual capacity-building
plan by alluding to Matthew 4:19: "When you teach a man how to fish, you feed
him for life. When you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. We are looking
forward to you to teach us how to fish."
Billionaire George Soros
Visits Sierra Leone - Worldpress.org
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