By Africa 24 newsman

The female opposition member of All People’s Congress (APC) party who is representing Western Area East District Hon. Rugiatu Rosy Kanu says the country’s economy is manned and is in the hands of foreign nationals.

She said successive governments have been investing seriously into the country’s enconomy.

She said this shows that something is missing because some huge chunk of Sierra Leone’s economy is in the hands of foreigners.

Most critics also believe that this is affecting Sierra Leone’s economic growth as foreigners largely determine what comes in and out of Sierra Leone’s market.

However, Hon. Kanu said Sierra Leone will still remain in this situation if something is not done as a nation.

Hon. Kanu made the submissions  on Thursday 11th July, 2024 during the debate on the ratification of the concession agreement between the government of Sierra Leone.

The discussions centered around the design, financing, construction and operattionalisation of a seaport at Dublin and Ricket in the Banana Island and a logistics hub(harbour terminal) to be built at Kent by the Gento Group of Companies.

She encouraged all Sierra Leoneans both home and abroad to come an invest in Sierra Leone, assuring them that it will enable the country  to retain her proceeds instead of foreign investors taping in.

Hon. Rosy said money will go through several hands before leaving the country.

She argued that it is not in the case for Sierra Leone, adding that Sierra Leone as a nation cannot develop through foreign investments until government recognises local investment opportunities.

Presently, she said, Sierra Leone is yearning for investments that guarantee high returns.

She further said in all sectors including, agriculture the needed investments should be prioritized.

For the past years, Hon. Rosy Kanu said, farmers are going all around searching for tractors to hire for their farming activities, but the ones available are not evem enough when looking at the packages and branding.

She said they wanted to see attractive packages and branding done, saying that “if you want to do that you’ll have to go to Ghana or China.”

Talking on the medical area, Hon. Kanu said the medical sector is poor in the provience. She said if someone wants to do medical scan one has to move all the way to Freetown. She said there are potential investments areas in the country that will guarantee high returns.

She noted that investing in the above-mentioned areas will creat job opportunities for  Sierra Leoneans.

Hon. Kanu heaped praises on the erstwhile President Ernest Bai Koroma and President Bio for creating the enabling environment for Sierra  Leoneans including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gento Group of Companies as well as Mohamed Gento Kamara and Mr. Alimu Barrie of Pavivort.

She assured that the opportunities accorded to them during the debate were welcoming.

“Like I said earlier, we need to encourage our brothers and sisters to invest in Sierra Leone because a bulk of the country’s enconomy is in the hands of foreigners,”Hon. Kanu said.

Hon. Rosy Kanu commended Mohamed Gento Kamara and appealed to both sides of the ailse to speedily ratify the agreement.

The Acting Leader of the opposition party, Hon. Daniel Brima Koroma, who is representing Koinadugu district and the Deputy Speaker in Parliament Hon. Ibrahim Tawa Conteh called on the Bank governor, and Minister of Finance (MOF) to support the project and a way of promoting local content policy.