By Ibrahim S. Bangura
Sierra Leone —October 24, 2025: Dr. Kaifala Marah, a seasoned public servant and leading contender for the All Peoples Congress (APC) standard bearer position, has pledged a data-driven covenant to transform Sierra Leone’s rural communities.
Speaking at the Bintumani Conference Center in Freetown, Dr Marah outlined his vision for rural revival anchored in science, accountability, and grassroots empowerment.
Addressing a diverse audience of traditional leaders, lawmakers, civil society organizations, and citizens, Marah introduced the “Kalian Model,” a framework developed from a comprehensive study of 17 villages in Kalian Chiefdom. The model assesses key development indicators, including water access, education, healthcare, roads, economy, and connectivity, to replicate it nationwide.
Drawing on his personal journey from rural hardship to national leadership, Dr Marah shared vivid memories of growing up in villages like Musaia and Kondenbaia, walking barefoot, fetching water from streams, and studying under kerosene lamps. He emphasized that these experiences shaped his empathy for the struggles of Sierra Leone’s rural youth and families.
Marah criticized past interventions that lacked evidence and failed to meet local needs, citing mislocated boreholes and under-resourced health facilities as examples of the disconnect between Freetown and the country’s 15,000 villages. “We cannot develop what we do not measure,” he declared, underscoring the importance of data collection, real-time tracking, and community oversight in his proposed model.
The Kalian study revealed alarming statistics: 76% of water sources were unsafe, health units were overburdened and understaffed, schools were overcrowded, and poor road networks isolated communities from markets and services. Marah’s model proposes targeted solutions, including water testing, teacher training, healthcare access improvements, and infrastructure upgrades.
He also highlighted his personal contributions to development, including road rehabilitation in Kabala and Bintumani, school upgrades across districts, and microfinance support for women. He pledged to expand these initiatives nationally.
Marah credited former President Ernest Bai Koroma for empowering local chiefs and expanding chiefdoms, and acknowledged the contributions of Presidents Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and Julius Maada Bio in local governance reforms. Inspired by Koroma’s decentralization efforts, Marah’s covenant aims to deepen community-level development through structured planning and transparent resource mobilization.
Announcing the launch of Bintumani II, Marah committed to conducting chiefdom-wide studies, building a national database, drafting development charters, and implementing capacity-building programs. He described the initiative as a covenant for measurable change and participatory democracy.
“Macro stability means little if we fail to address preventable deaths, market access, and education quality,” Marah stated, urging citizens to demand evidence-based leadership over blind trust.
Concluding his address, he reaffirmed his commitment to transparency, local empowerment, and national progress, offering “New Hope” through a model rooted in accountability—from Kalian to every chiefdom in Sierra Leone.