One Year After Kanja Sesay’s Resignation… The Nation Faces Worsening Energy Situation
Insinuation that Kanja Sesay was the cause for the deteriorating condition of the electricity situation has been proven wrong, as one year after his resignation, the situation has deteriorated drastically, with worsening power supply and a plethora of fires acquainted with electrical causes, allegedly orchestrated by power surge. Over 200 fire outbreaks have been recorded by the National Fire Force. To make matters worse, the National Revenue Authority (NRA), sealed the office of EDSA for failing to meet its financial obligation. The energy sector’s problems continue to mount unabated. In hind sight, many Sierra Leoneans are of the view that Dr. Kanja Sesay may not have been the problem, and that there is more to it that meets the eye.
Has President Bio seen the Light?
In his Address to the nation marking the 64th Independence Day on Sunday, 27th April 2025, His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio admitted that, “Reliable energy supply remains a critical challenge facing our nation today”. This admission has left many Sierra Leoneans feeling that what happened at State House few days before this event, wherein two floors at State House were gutted by fire, allegedly by electrical cause (either negligence of leaving appliances unattended during the said weekend, or power surge), with report on an ongoing investigation pending, coupled with the disgraceful sealing of the EDSA office by the NRA, an agency supervised by the Finance Ministry, and revelations by the Energy Ministry and EDSA that huge sums of money are owed to EDSA by MDAs, may have played into the President’s admission and may foster a full investigation into the poor energy situation in the country and the role of the Finance Ministry in all this. For some school of thoughts, changing of the Energy Minister is not the solution, but rather, a comprehensive assessment of the goings on at the Finance Ministry over unpaid subsidies to contractors and the failure of the ministry to deduct from source, allocations in respect of utility bills from MDAs’ budgetary allocations. It further reveals that there is communication gap or deep division among the President’s Cabinet, or that they are not telling the President the Truth. This speculation is high among many citizens, who are aware that the Cabinet meets every week to discuss progress and challenges faced by their respective ministries, as well as their agencies. Another looming disaster is the possible disconnection of water supply to MDAs by Guma, if one is to take the directive from the Parliamentary Committee to Guma seriously.
