In this episode, we continue to examine the privatization of Sierra Leone's National Power Authority (NPA) in 2011 and the history of the Western Area Power Generation Project.

We discuss details of transactions between various agencies of the Sierra Leone government and multinational corporations like Blue Flare Power Ltd (BVI), TCQ Power Ltd, Copperbelt Energy Corporation Africa (CECA Sierra Leone) Ltd, and Milele Energy. We point out the involvement of the World Bank Group, and other development agencies in these transaction, and we begin to highlight the role of Lebanon as an operational conduit for these corporate transactions.

This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.

In this episode, we examine the role of the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) in Sierra Leone’s electricity corruption, showing how the DFC inherited a corrupt electricity contract from British financed corporations, and how US international investment is now financing corruption and deepening underdevelopment in Sierra Leone.

This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.

In 2011, Sierra Leone politicians enacted a new electricity legislation that created two parallel institutions, the Electricity Generation and Transmission Company (EGTC) and the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) to replace the state-owned National Power Authority (NPA).

Since 1982, NPA oversaw electricity supply in Sierra Leone, including the fixing of consumer tariffs. In 2016, international financial institutions ranked Sierra Leone 178 out of 189 countries with lowest electricity access. Development agencies stated that weak oversight of the electricity sector was responsible for the poor ranking, and they suggested that dismantling NPA and privatizing electricity supply would enhance electricity transmission and distribution capacity in the country.

However, the dismantling of NPA and the privatization of electricity supply in Sierra Leone has not resolved the country's perennial electricity crisis but has further worsened access to electricity and fueled corruption.

In this episode, we reveal how local politicians, international financial institutions, and British and United States financed multinational corporations created a transnational project that exploited the dismantling of NPA and the privatization of electricity supply in Sierra Leone to corruptly enrich elites and corporations, whilst imposing fictitious foreign debts on the country.

This episode is part of the VOICE FROM EXILE commentary series of the Africanist Press.