Abubakar Hashim in Free Town

Taking a decision to go to Sierra Leone down the West Coast of Africa was a difficult one as getting there itself. Direct flights have long been cancelled. The only flight getting there from West Africa is Air Cote D’lvoire. Getting a seat on board requires almost two weeks booking. Though the Ebola rates are now coming down, the country is yet to come out of the woods.

It’s a year now since the Ebola outbreak. More than 3,000 lives have been lost in Sierra Leone, with a cummulative figure of over 10,000 in the 3 affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The economic and social fabrics of the country have almost been paralysed. The mining sector, the major revenue earner, is yet to pick up. Flights coming into country have dropped to 3 from the usual 10. The sea port wears the same look. “The Ebola has devastated our very human existence and casts a dark shadow on our economic prosperity blue-print”, revealed President Ernest Bai Koroma, during the country’s 54th year anniversary on April 27, which was very low key.

The speech was more centred on the negative effects of Ebola to the nation, a far-cry from the usual pomp and pageantry that characterized past anniversaries. “Ebola day will later be declared in memory of thousands of lives lost,” the President further revealed in his anniversary speech.

•President Koroma with President Obama on post-Ebola plan in Washington

None of the three countries, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, all contagious to each other, have been certified Ebola – free by the World Health Organisation (WHO). At the time of filing this report, Liberia will be declared Ebola free on 9th of May, when it will be 42 day-old zero Ebola-free. Sierra Leone still records single digit, particularly in the Northern border town of Kambia, bordering Guinea, where the disease still ravages villages in the interior. Last week, 22 cases were recorded in Guinea, making the road to recovery rather bumpy and difficult.Sierra Leone has been recording 1, 2 or 3 cases per day, particularly in the border town of Kambia and in Moa Wharf in the capital city of Free Town.

Undeterred by its negative economic consequences, the three leaders – Presidents Koroma, Johnson-Sirleaf and Kondeh were recently in Washington with President Barrack Obama, discussing their Post Ebola plans.

The plan takes a four clear-cut strategic dimension. It focuses on the economic recovery, with health, education and social protection, forming the cardinal pillars. This has attracted support from international donors, with a pledge of $1.8 billion from international partners to the 3 affected countries.

The Post Ebola plan, similar to the Marshal plan Europe received from the United States of America after the Second World War, was initiated by the World Bank, under the auspices of the United Nations a few months ago. It is a bail-out economic recovery plan geared towards revamping the ravages of Ebola.

This plan will actualize President Koroma’s very last sentence in his 54th Independence speech – “Sierra Leone will rise again after Ebola, to sustain her transformative economic drive”.

Though a difficult time for the country, Sierra Leone is on the drive for a re-brand. The hospitality and warmth of the people still pervade on arrival at the airport and other border posts across the country. It is this friendliness, beautiful topography and peaceful atmosphere, coupled with vast abundant mineral deposits, that will show case Sierra Leone as an investors’ destination after Ebola.