By Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma:
President, Sierra Leone ~

 The Diaspora is pivotal to the sustainability of the ongoing renaissance of Africa. Topics relating to the Diaspora are dear to us, for the African Diaspora was very integral to the emergence of my country Sierra Leone, and our neighbor Liberia.

Sierra Leone was for centuries known as the Rice Coast, and Bunce Island in my country was for decades a major fort and port for slavers who forcibly took hundreds of thousands of our people to the rice growing areas of Georgia and other states in the South of the United States. John Newton, the slaver turned evangelist had his inspiration for composing Christendom's most famous hymn, Amazing Grace, on the shores of our land.

It was indeed amazing that the dream of the return of the African Diaspora to the African homeland got to be actualized with grace when neighboring Liberia, and my own country Sierra Leone, where so many thousands were shipped out to the United States, were to play historic roles in this display of the resilience of humanity. But it was not only a question of return, it was also about the forging of links between this Diaspora and those within the continent in ways that would enhance free enterprise, trade, education and divine values. These were the ideas that led to the founding of our capital city Freetown in 1789.

Our city grew; the idea thrived for a while, and our brothers and sisters from the Diaspora and their descendants were at the center of growth, education, and innovations throughout the West African Coast. The Diaspora returnees to the continent and their descendants were pivotal in the founding of Fourah Bay College in Freetown, the oldest western style university in sub Saharan Africa, the establishment of the continent's first secondary schools, and for building a community renowned for its advocacy for equality, justice, political and civil rights.

The scramble for Africa in the 1880s put enormous strains on the idea and actualization of return of people of African descent to the continent. That scramble was an inglorious race amongst non-Africans for the resources of Africa. The continent was carved up amongst European powers; political and economic marginalization, and a divide and rule policy by the colonialists prevented the optimizations of synergies between the Diaspora returnees to Sierra Leone and their compatriots. But the resilience of the Diaspora returnees hardly waned. They moved all over West Africa, spreading knowledge, establishing centers of worship, founding newspapers, starting thriving businesses and forming alliances all over territories in the Gulf of Guinea to end colonial rule.

Too many events have been played out since that time. Africa regained its independence; but our economies stagnated. Economic exploitation of the continent, mainly by non-Africans, and political repression of the people, mainly by their own very leaders created too many realms of deprivation in the continent.

The 21st Century has brought in its wake a new beginning for the cradle of mankind. Within 10-20 years, Africa's annual production value will be between USD 1.5 and 2.0 trillion. The region has 80-90% of the world's chromium and platinum group metals, 10% of its oil reserves of oil and 40% of its gold. Our continent also has some of the earth's largest deposits of iron ore, uranium and copper.

Our common fatherland has approximately 600 million hectares of arable land suitable for cultivation, of which 15% of this land is developed. Per capita water resource is 4,600 square meters, and this is more than that in Asia.

The African story however, is not only about natural resources. A great revival is taking place in our telecommunications, retail, finance and other sectors. More Africans are having more disposable incomes, the middle class is expanding, more than 60 million Africans have an income of $3,000 a year and this is increasing to more than 100 million Africans in a couple of years. The Africa Development Bank now reports that over 350 million Africans, a third of the continent's population, are in the middle class. READ MORE...

SOURCE:
African Executive
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