By Hassan I.Conteh
Sierra Leoneans in the provinces are particularly happy to see the putting up of a 530-KM power transmission lines across the country.
”Time will come you won’t find it that easier to get a land around here (Taco site ); as you can see the poles ,these are poles for electricity which we are eagerly waiting for,” Rashid Komeh, my elder brother at Masingbi Town, in Tonkolili,,north of Sierra Leone, was explaining to me with hope for the light-coming that will change his life and many residents of Masingbi.
That was five years ago since May 2017 when I went for a short visit at my home land. Just eight miles from Masingbi is my born-village, One Board.
In fact, the hope of joy was already on the faces of Tonkolilians before 2017.
Now, seeing progress at work, that joy then by Masingbi people is also shared by other people in the south, north, east and West and the capital, Freetown.
While energy transmission towers were being built up off the town, people expressed delight about the light to come.
But the light (power supply ) has not come yet since then.
The process to get up the poles, to connect towns,to construct power stations and sub-stations is tedious and tardy.
There have been some hiccups along the way. COVID had affected the project, WAPP.
WAPP is West Africa Power Pool Project.
It comprises countries in the Mano River Union (MRU) in the sub-region.
These countries are: Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
WAPP is to resolve the repeated energy power outages within and between these countries.
Engineers say there is on plan, about 225 KW power transmission lines with a speed of 1,303 KM to run through the 11 sub-stations in Sierra Leone.
Ivory Coast is the host nation.
So, the recepients countries: Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are to be connected by a running power cable from the host country.
The transmission poles, whose construction work is underway, and are connecting towns and villages at border points.
Kenema, Kono (bordering Liberia), Tonkolili, Bombali, Koinadugu, Kambia (bordering Guinea), and Karene districts, are to be covered by the 530-KM lines.
Much of the work would have been completed by now in those areas.
Such a project, if completed, will improve village life, business growth, health services and other spheres of life.
But, the pessimisms among Sierra Leoneans about the promise of a reliable, and accessible WAPP’s power supply are common.
Coming down from a poda -poda vehicle in Waterloo at Bottom Mango at a ‘dark night’ around 10:00 on Monday 24, July 2023, a young man was finding it difficult together with his two sisters to walk in the night through a narrow road leading to their home.
Waterloo is located in Western Area Rural district. It is about 32km from the capital.
The young fellow and his sisters couldn’t suppress their ambivalent feelings about WAPP’s power supply.
”We really miss Freetown, the capital, because light (electricity supply)is better there than here in Waterloo,” they said.
”I used to leave at Kissy where I attended primary school. But I did my secondary school here in Waterloo,” the fellow guy explained.
As they walked onto the pebbles, kicking up some stones, I reached out for my pocket and shone the road with my Android Vivo phone light recently given to me by a friend as a gift from China.
The sisters and the brother-man, however, expressed dim hopes ahead despite sounding previously optimistic of better days ahead.
”We just hope this Ivory Coast light makes Waterloo a not-dark district anymore,” the brother said.
Contradicting him her sister said: ”That all depends if corruption doesn’t exist on thd power supply like how it is rife now. You’ll notice some areas are getting repeated ‘black out’ while others almost get uninterrupted power supply throughout the week.”
We all agreed with the sister.
And with covering just few steps within a few minutes, we parted company.
At my house, the compound was very dark that even a thief dressed in white satin couldn’t be seen.
I knocked the wooden door harder, and my wife answered faintly from a deep sleep with her and our son in the dark.
I shone through the phone light again while waiting impatiently for EDSA light to come midnight as most often the case.