Summit Communications: In late June, the Conference on Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Stability in Africa was held in Freetown, a sign that of the international community's confidence in your country's return to peace and stability. Sierra Leone's DDR success is considered to be a model for emulation. Many nations, as you know, are attempting to reconcile recent tragedies with modernization and stability for the future, but this is a very difficult goal to achieve. Your nation is one of the few to succeed. President Kabbah, we are keen to understand why you feel Sierra Leone has succeeded where others have failed.

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: We succeeded because of the rapid rate and professional manner in which we carried out the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration process. From the beginning, we agreed that one of the causes of the war was exclusiveness and so a central component of the DDR process was inclusiveness. The transition was so successful that now we are regarded as model for post-conflict countries and, in fact, the head of the DDR process in Sierra Leone, Dr. Francis Kaikai is now in Darfur in southern Sudan, providing the same kind of support there.

During my twenty-two years with the UNDP, I gained a lot of experience. I was in charge of UN assistance to liberation movements from South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe amongst others. I represented the UN in Tanzania and, when Idi Amin began to create problems for Uganda, I was asked to look after both Tanzania and Uganda during a very dangerous time. Then, when Zimbabwe was in the process of gaining independence, I moved from New York to coordinate all the UN activities in Zimbabwe. It was a tense time with a lot of racial tension. So over the course of my career I gathered a lot of relevant experience, which I brought to bear in my position as President when addressing the conflict in Sierra Leone. That was one important factor. Another was that my colleagues in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were willing and able to help in repelling the rebels who had penetrated our borders.

Very competent Sierra Leoneans who worked with the Government at that time carried out the DDR process. Together we combined a lot of relevant experience with the political determination to address the dangerous situation we were facing and ensure that peace came back to our country.

Summit Communications: Looking forward to January 2006 and the momentous occasion of the UN peacekeepers withdrawal. This is a clear indication of the international community's confidence in your country's return to peace and stability however it does raise security issues. Are you confident that Sierra Leone is ready to take care of its own security?

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: I am absolutely certain that the country is read to take care of its own security. In fact, I've just finished a meeting with the UN representatives here studying the whole programme. Firstly, security will not be a problem. Secondly, we have also made important progress in our various policies and programs to kick-start the economy and have decided to meet with the UN once every month to coordinate those areas where we will be merging our own resources with any UN or donor assistance to carry out certain projects, be they infrastructure projects, food security or the whole question of state security itself. The rebels targeted our income generating areas by taking over our mining areas, by smuggling diamonds and destroying the main mines like Sierra Rutile. This seriously affected our income level and we cannot kick-start the economy without the appropriate means.

On the question of security, we have defined the responsibilities of the various state agencies. The police will look at internal security and the military at external security and we have a National Security Office that will look at the overall security situation.

Sierra Leoneans have had enough of war and violence. We are convinced that it is a thing of the past. Our only cause for concern is the neighbouring countries; Liberia and Guinea. There will be an election in Liberia in October and we will watch that situation very carefully. In Guinea, they have been having some problems so we're keeping our eye on that as well. However, our evaluation of any possible spill over from those countries points rather to a possible influx of refugees than any security problem and as signatories to various UN resolutions and treaties we have contingency plans in place to handle that kind of situation.

Summit Communications: Certainly from our many interviews we get the impression that Sierra Leone has moved on. However, it is true in the United Nations' Development Programme's latest tally of development levels around the world, Sierra Leone ranks last. This poses a major challenge to which many people in Sierra Leone are responding but this statistic does not project a very positive image of the country. Please share your thoughts on Sierra Leone's international image and the misconceptions that people have about your country.

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: In the first place, I think journalists have a tendency to make too much out of this UNDP Human Development Index. Back in the seventies, Sierra Leone became what the UN calls a Least-Developed Countries and is now one of 36 such countries in the world in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. Somebody advised the government of Sierra Leone at that time that they should lobby to become an LDC because at that time, there was a special fund in the UN where they spent extra money on LDC's. Therefore, countries wanted to be declared as LDC's in order to benefit from that fund. Secondly, if you are declared as an LDC then the UN funds the local cost of running the UN office so you save a lot of money. These were the reasons why Sierra Leone initially became a LDC.

In terms of the index, the fact that we were listed last does not mean that we are the poorest country on earth. There are many countries for which there are no statistics. For instance, if you look at the list you will find that a country like Liberia is not there but Liberia exists. Somalia is another country that has been at war for longer than ourselves but they are not listed on the index. My other contention is that because we had been at war for ten years, the statistics that they used were out of date so don't be surprised if the rating is very different the next time you see it (in the latest UNDP Human Development Index Sierra Leone did indeed move up to 176th place in the index).

Summit Communications: Obviously, however this index has had an impact on people's perceptions of your country. What are the main misconceptions that people have about your country that you would like to address?

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: Clearly, there is no doubt that we went through a very brutal war here so for this reason, people who have read about this or who saw the television images broadcast are concerned. My answer to this is simple; Sierra Leone has long been and is again today a very peaceful and law-abiding country. It is one of the few countries to attain independence from its colonial authorities peacefully. To the extent that if you go to State House you will see even now a photo of H.M. Queen Elizabeth there in the main entrance as well as a list of all those people who were colonial rulers of this country.

We didn't fight for our independence; we discussed it, negotiated and attained our independence. Now, this war that took place was due to people coming into Sierra Leone from other parts of Africa attracted by our diamonds. Some of them were hired killers. You have bad people in every part of the world but generally these were not Sierra Leoneans. A few such as Fodeh Sankoh were power drunk and worked with Charles Taylor to come in and steal our diamonds, with a view to controlling our country and taking it over but they are certainly not typical Sierra Leoneans.

I declared the war over on 18th January 2002 and by May of 2002 I was on the road. I went to every corner of this country by road, every district campaigning for an election. And I didn't go with a battalion of soldiers, I went with just a handful of people and I travelled day and night. And some of the areas I went to were areas where the rebels were concentrated and nothing happened to me. If I am safe then I think anyone will be! Everyday I leave this place I drive myself. I drive around, I go to the beach and see what's going on and I try to live as a normal human being.

Summit Communications: If Your Excellency is safe then I'm sure anyone else will be! We are keen to understand more about a central pledge of your second presidential term, which is your pledge that no Sierra Leonean will go to bed hungry by 2007. Your Excellency, please share your ideas and strategies to achieve food security with the readers of the New York Times.

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: The day I was sworn in for my second term I left Freetown to attend a meeting of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on global food security. While I was there I made contacts. I spoke to the Director General of the FAO, to Kofi Annan and to one or two other donor countries. At that point we had just one or two tractors and people were dependent on old-fashioned labour and I was able to articulate our needs in terms of inputs. I was able to convince some of our donor partners and agencies and the response was very positive. Now we have about eighty tractors. But I didn't stop there. I have my own farm where I harvest rice. This showed the people that I wasn't just talking, I was practising what I preached. More and more business people are moving into agriculture including the Vice President, Ministers and private investors and it has picked up extremely well. One of the topics I will be addressing in my speech at Makeni is the whole question of food security. I visited one of the farms not far from here with someone from the UN recently and she said that that farm was a farm of the size of about 200 acres and she said she's been to about 750 of such sized farms in the country and one farm of this size is enough to provide all of the rice we need in Freetown! By 2007, we should be in a position to supply our domestic needs and even to export rice.

We are also constructing major feeder and trunk roads so that people can get the farm inputs to he farms and that farmers will have speedy access to markets. We are even thinking of exporting to the US through the AGOA act and to the EU through the Everything But Arms agreement.

Summit Communications: Another issue of critical importance to the country is the debt issue. At the Sierra Leone National Debt Strategy conference, organized by WAIFEM and DRI in April, Governor Rogers of the Central Bank said, and I quote: "A number of factors have impacted negatively on the debt burden of many low income countries. These range from inadequate and untimely debt relief by creditors, to exogenous shocks and weak governance on the part of the debtors." Your Excellency, please share with the readers of the New York Times what you feel is needed from the international community to ensure that Sierra Leone's debt reaches sustainable levels.

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: Well, firstly the HIPC initiative gave us certain benchmarks. We have complied with those benchmarks up to this point but we have others we must fulfil next year. It should be a formality and then we will receive about US$ 1.1bln in debt cancellation.

Summit Communications: And do you feel that untimely delivery of aid is a problem for Sierra Leone?

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: Yes. It is a very serious problem for us. For example, we get budgetary support from the EU and the British. They have been very kind it's not something they have to do and we appreciate that. However, by the time the money comes into the Bank of Sierra Leone it's usually very late and since the Ministry of Finance has already planned to spend money on various activities and doesn't have the money to pay for them they have to go to the Central Bank to ask for a loan which obviously we have to pay interest on. By the time the aid is received, much of it discounted because of the interest payments.

There was a study carried out by ActionAid where they found that 80% of the aid declared by developed countries actually stays in their countries and only about 20% actually makes it to developing countries.

Summit Communications: It is also essential that the international community know of what Sierra Leone is doing to address issues of good governance. Please share with the readers of the New York Times how Sierra Leone is ensuring greater transparency and accountability and more disciplined fiscal management.

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: By the time I arrived in government, corruption was endemic but it was taboo to mention it. This disturbed me and in fact in a speech I gave to Parliament I characterised it as a "national security threat." So I took the initiative to ask the British to help us set up an Anti-Corruption Commission. They refused initially so I pressed and in the end they agreed. So the British sent us a gentleman who had helped Hong Kong to set up their own anti-corruption unit. This same man had also advised Botswana about setting up their own unit. So he was the expert who helped us to put it together. I knew that government officials at a very high level often get involved in corruption so I said when we prepared the legislation for parliament that a clause should be included to say that even the President should not have the authority to fire anyone working for the Anti-Corruption Commission and that even the President himself should be subject to the authority of the Anti-Corruption Commission. Now, I cannot appoint someone to the ACC, instead I have to recommend someone to Parliament and Parliament will have to scrutinise this person and decide yes or no. If somebody is working there and I want to fire him I can't. Instead, I would have to make a charge and submit that charge to Parliament who will then judge whether or not he should keep his job. I gave the ACC a very strong mandate. Just three or four days something came to my attention which I then brought to the attention of the ACC who are following it up. So, I don't get involved in the day to day running of the ACC. The idea is rather to set an example and make sure they have the power to do what they must. And as I said at the beginning, corruption was a taboo word here - you didn't talk about it - but now its on everybody's lips and is a great debate in society. We even have officials at the ACC who visit schools to tell children about how corruption can cripple a whole country. We cannot afford so many leakages in the country's revenue base and the country's wealth.

Check on the World Bank report and you will see the progress we have made on governance.

Summit Communications: And there's no doubt that Sierra Leone is reaping the rewards. Indeed, it is testament to your nation's renewal that foreign investors are seriously committing to new projects, especially in mining. Mr. Stuart MacGregor of Argyll Resources Corporation recently announced plans to invest USD 1.6bln in mining bauxite and alumina in the Kambia District in a project he described as: "The largest infrastructure project to be undertaken in West Africa." However, in many of our interviews with government ministers they have stressed the need to promote Sierra Leone's competitive advantages to investors. What are the key opportunities and incentives to highlight to an American audience?

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: This is great news for us. You see we have had one problem until recently. Our country was regarded as a source of raw materials and the minerals were taken and processed somewhere else and we did not add value to it. These people came and proposed to us that instead of just mining the ore they would convert the ore into alumina and export it from here. This benefits in a variety of ways. Firstly, it creates extra employment for our people. Secondly, we add value to our mineral resources and so we earn more than we otherwise would. So this really is the kind of project we are looking for.

Summit Communications: And what are the key opportunities and incentives to highlight to an American audience Your Excellency?

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: The very first thing to stress is that the people of Sierra Leone are very friendly. You can go to a country and you can make a lot of money but if the environment is unfriendly then you won't feel happy. Money is not everything. The second thing is that we've created an investor-friendly environment. I have said on a number of occasions that if you come here all you need to do is to take out the appropriate visas, to sort out your bank accounts and the appropriate remittances and pay your tax when you make your profit and that is it. We have even come to the conclusion that some of the government industries we have inherited are to be restructured along with the help of the World Bank so that we can sell them for profit to the private sector. I always say that governments are the worst kind of businesspeople. If you want a business to be run well and you want to make profit then give it to people who know how to do it. We try also to give concessions. For instance, these people bringing in machines for the alumina plant will be able to do so tax-free with no customs duty and won't have to pay until after some time after they have found their feet in Sierra Leone. The corporate tax is quite reasonable here.

Summit Communications: Your Excellency, as you can see from the layout of our reports we are also very interested in interviewing the personalities and telling their stories. When you were elected in March 1996, guided by your philosophy of "political inclusion" you appointed the most broad-based government in the nation's history. Please tell us about the significance of this idea of "political inclusion" and how it represents your own personal values.

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: Well, I believe very strongly that a country like Sierra Leone where we have the African population initially when the British were here the Freetown peninsula was regarded as part of the United Kingdom and in fact, the national status of people born in this area was that of British subjects and citizens of the United Kingdom and colonies. People born just twenty miles away were regarded as British protected persons and because of this there was a tendency to be some polarisation. Now I felt this was very bad for a small country like this and that there must be some national cohesion. Even our post-independence politicians attempted to get the people to vote for them according to tribal or regional considerations. So I felt that if we were to continue with that then it could be a source of further conflict. So to avoid that type of situation, and it was not easy, because my party is supported mainly from the south and east where there is a heavy concentration of population that always supports us. Now, the one-party state that came before us was predominantly a northern party so there was a tendency for people from the south and east to say look you belong to this party why do you want to give jobs to the people in the north. Now I happen to be in a very privileged position in the sense that my mother came from the east, and I was born in the east, my late wife came from the south, I grew up in Freetown from the age of three so I'm regarded as somebody from the west, my wife was a strong Catholic and I am a devout Muslim and my father was from the north. So, I said if this is the opportunity to have national cohesion with me having all these contacts around I said the best thing to do was to say please let's do this, let's broaden the base of this party. Politically, it wasn't easy and many people were not happy but I really believed it was the right thing to do and a leader must strive to do the right thing. And it's paying off. It's paying off for my party today because we're going to have an election in 2007 and the north which would normally support the opposition has decided to strongly embrace our party. People in the other parties are saying this and are also trying to reach out to other areas.

Summit Communications: Also, as you can see, by looking through the reports; we've interviewed a lot of top personalities in different countries, both in the public and private sectors; and so while we interview institutions like the Ministry of Information, we're also interested in talking to the personalities that lead those institutions. You seem like a very eloquent man, Professor Kaikai. Could you tell us a little bit about your background and how it has influenced you in carrying out your job here in the Ministry?

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: I studied economics. That's my background. But about seven years ago, I was asked by the President to come and join him so I left my job in the US and came here. Before I came, I went for training at the White House and the US State Department to be the Presidential Spokesman. I was Presidential Spokesman for about five years which made it possible for me to understand a lot of the issues facing the country. I was always by the President's side. I accompanied him, for example, in his meetings with other Heads of States. Then, of course, we had elections and I was appointed the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. I have been here since. But my background is economics. It's a social science subject, which opens the door on a whole lot of other areas that actually makes it possible to be able to understand these issues.

Summit Communications: I'd like to introduce the next question with the words of the great Nelson Mandela. He said and I quote: "After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb." You have travelled a long way in your career, from the youngest Permanent Secretary in your country's history to serving as an international civil servant and now as President of your country. There is no doubt that Sierra Leone too has travelled a long way since 1996. As you reflect on your past achievements what are your hopes and aspirations for your country in the coming years?

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: I want my country first of all to be peaceful. Without peace you cannot develop. Without peace you cannot have happiness. Without peace there can be no prosperity. Without peace you cannot leave a legacy for those who follow you. I think that's the major issue. If we are to get on then we must ensure that everybody is content, that everybody has the room to play their own role and feel that he or she has a stake in the country.