Sierra Leone Hosts African Bank Governors Conference

Deputy Finance Minister Richard Conteh

500 cabinet ministers, finance experts, international partners  (World Bank, IMF, etc.) from nearly all the sub-Saharan countries in Africa, and the Breton Woods institutions are to meet in Freetown between August 12 and August 13, 2009 as the Africa Caucus Group A Press Release issued by the Ministry of Information and Communication in Freetown states that African Ministers of Finance and Bank Governors formed the African Caucus following the Montere Convention in Mexico in 2002. The Caucus is composed of African countries that are also members of the World Bank and the IMF, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa whose economies are weak and characterized as “Least Developed Countries’.

The rationale of this African Caucus is because in the annual meetings of the World Bank/IMF, African countries would be generally marginalized, and their concerns largely ignored.  Also, because most African countries would hardly be able to meet their financial commitments to these Breton Woods institutions, they would not be represented in various committees where key policies are debated.  In the face of such marginalization, the African countries have grouped together so that focus will be made to bear on the peculiar financial concerns of African countries vis-à-vis the rest of the world.

The Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Sierra Leone, Dr. Samura Kamara,  is expected to chair the meeting, by virtue of his position as Chair of the African Caucus for 2009-2010, after serving as Vice Chair during the preceding two years.

The group regularly meets to discuss the latest economic challenges facing Africa countries.  An official at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development believes that the hosting of the African Caucus meeting in Sierra Leone offers the country ‘tremendous benefits’; as it would be the biggest international finance meeting  the country is hosting following the ends to its civil war  in 2002.

The 500 participants of the conference will help in showcasing Sierra Leone’s investments and tourist potentials as well as improve donor confidence and relations.

The Minister Mineral Resources, Alhaji Alpha Kanu, is quoted by local media to have expressed that it is important for Sierra Leone to host the African Governors conference since he is of the conviction that it will ‘help project the image of Sierra Leone’.

The government of President Ernest Bai Koroma, which came to power almost two years ago, was elected on the platform of change. In that line, there have been efforts aimed at rebranding the image of the country at the international front, and the hosting of this meeting in the next couple of days is seen as a major rebranding development.

The meeting in Sierra Leone is expected to discuss common economic problems facing member states, and to specifically discuss financial and economic crisis in the  context of Africa,  and also to ‘review various economic policies and reforms to meet current  global trends’ says Edward King, Public Relations Officer for the Ministry of Finance.

Meanwhile, the Freetown City Council is flexing his muscle to ensure that the city is kept clean, a Herculean task during the rainy season, when heavy rainfall causes a lot of land erosion, and gathering of debris to clog the gutters of the city.

The last conference of such magnitude held in the country was in 1982; when Sierra Leone hosted the Organization of African Unity (OAU) conference.

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