Now that the euphoria around the leadership vacuum that created a protracted tongue wagging at the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) has been subsided following the recent appointment of a new Director General, Engineer Momodu who has been deputy to his ousted boss Amara Kanneh, many people are expecting a positive output of the new DG.
There is no doubt that Engineer Momodu is a breed of former Director General Engineer Munda Rogers under whose leadership he became renowned as bed wetter of his boss who was the then leader of that vital government entity for which many citizens are apprehensive about his appointment.
The stark reality is, in many instances, the apprentice will always inculcate the handwork of his boss and if it goes that way, then it will ascertain the proverbial saying, “putting new wine in old bottle.” In fact, most citizens are concerned about the latest development because they are yet to understand the rationale behind the appointment whether it was based on qualification, experience or high connection. Recalling the recent past, not too long ago, the new DG was appointed as deputy after his former nomenclature as Director of Operations. But the decision lies in the hands of those at the helm of affairs at that very significant government entity, yet, many people are concerned because of their previous high expectations during the regime of the then DG that was shattered. And if his boy takes over from him what is the guarantee that he will not continue the legacy of his boss which was unimpressive to many people in this country.
The people are also concerned about this latest development because they are curious to see tremendous changes under this new DG’s regime, more so when he is not new in the office and he knows when and where his predecessor fails or left undone.
No wonder some people interpreted the latest appointment as continuation of duty to the many roads that were slated by the SLPP government for rehabilitation and construction. If their speculation comes to fruition, then they hope to see it done this time round with no excuse since public announcement and disclosure were done long ago about these roads and streets in the cities across the country.
There is no gainsaying in the fact that road network is a very vital component to development of any nation, which is why many patriotic citizens are very adamant about the activities of SLRA. And they are quite conscious of the fact that one of the major factors to our numerous problems in the country is bad road network. Many farmers are perishing together with their products in the provinces as a result of bad roads to access sober markets in the cities. Equally, dozens of people in the city are starving for long time to eat certain local products because of their high cost as a result of scarcity or even unavailability of the particular goods that they may long for at any time.
There is no doubt that our alarming bad road network in the country is undoubtedly one of the problems that is contributing to high prices of many of our local products. Without outing the cost of almost all of our local products in the country, the glaring high cost of them is really unprecedented. And many people are expecting that the new DG will go the extra mile to portray a semblance of change about all these issues by doing the needful to the handwork of his former boss to the expectation of the general populace so that their dream of providing them with good roads in the country is actualized.
Despite the fact that some people are still not convinced about changes that the new DG will bring to that very important entity for which they referred to him as ‘‘new wine in old bottle,” yet, they are expecting him to change the current situation at the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) which they consider as one of the hubs of development of this country.