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October has brought some very interesting news for the travel and tourism industry. Travelling within Sierra Leone can sometimes be a painful experience as I was reminded when I visited Bo last year. It took us about 5 hours but it should have been much less - the roads are especially bad during the rainy season. So you can imagine my reaction when I heard that domestic flights have resumed in Sierra Leone. I'm sure this is welcome news especially for the business community … 40mins from Freetown to Bo… not bad at all. The operator (Eagle Air) will operate their 17 seater aircraft will operate flights from Hastings to Bo, Kenema, Yengema and shuttles to Lungi. Second big news is that the Dual Nationality Bill has been passed in parliament… it took a while but we got there in the end. This is very good news as the government seeks to draw the Diaspora in to Sierra Leone’s future development. It is also a huge psychological leap forward that this issue, seen by many as a deterrent to going back home has been put to rest. I guess as far as that goes the ball is now in the Diaspora's court. Got a guesthouse or apartment? Have you got a guesthouse or apartment to rent in Sierra Leone? If so, please get in touch with us – we are also interested in apartments for rent on a long-term basis. Why is it so difficult to do business in Sierra Leone? Sierra Leone has been ranked amongst the most difficult places in the world to do business. In truth, this is no secret and is an issue currently being looked at by the Sierra Leone government and DFID but until things start to improve, we’re ranked 168th out of 175 see: http://www.doingbusiness.org/EconomyRankings. If this interests you, then documented administrative barriers to investing in Sierra Leone may also be of interest. It is a huge PDF document so it may take a while to download on a slow connection. 
UJIMA FOR AFRICA DEVELOPMENT INC. PRESENTS For more info visit: http://www.ujima4africa.org Site Update: Fancy learning Temne? The page on krio has been re-written in the recommended orthography used in schools and colleges in Sierra Leone. In addition to that, we have added a page on Temne and will hopefully be adding Mende and Limba in the near future. Thanks to Dr. Sheikh Umar Kamarah for this contribution. Sierra Leonean Passports – Renew or Brand New? It seems that folks are being told to take brand new Sierra Leonean passports instead of renewing existing ones and this has been discussed in the forum. Does anyone know the reason why? One explanation thrown in was that it was for revenue generation… another speculation was that maybe these are brand new passports with special security features. Bottom line is, no one seems to know the exact reason why. If you know, please help us by shedding some light on this matter. Sierra Leone Videos Last month I provided a link to a 20 minute documentary on Sierra Leone which was broadcast on CNBC. I think some people may not have been able to view it, so please try using one of these links: I am also working on getting the latest investment promotional videos from online. This should be ready by the next edition of the newsletter, so stay tuned. We will also have a bit more information on news that Prince Charles will be visiting Sierra Leone sometime in November. That's it for this month. Until next time, take good care of yourself and each other. Bimbola |
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October 2006 |
Ujima Cultural Carnival Extravaganza