By Mahmud Tim Kargbo
The turbines are up. The real test begins now. Five machines installed outside Bonthe promise new electricity, but their national significance will depend on reliable supply, local opportunity and the institutions behind the investment. At the centre of the government’s effort is Chief Minister, Dr David Moinina Sengeh, entrusted by President Julius Maada Bio with coordinating priorities across government. Sherbro will test whether political confidence can be sustained through delivery.
The story began in 2015 with an introduction. Siaka Stevens, grandson of former President Siaka Probyn Stevens and a long-time family friend of Idris Elba, approached Elba with an idea: “There’s an island outside Freetown where you can build hotels, and we can go there and have fun.” What began as an informal development proposition soon encountered a fundamental constraint: without dependable electricity, wider development would remain difficult. Elba and Sherbro Alliance Partners therefore brought in specialist expertise. Octopus Energy’s agreement, announced at COP28 in November 2023, proposed up to five wind turbines, solar panels and battery storage, alongside data collection intended to encourage further investment (https://sherbroislandcity.com/about/founders/; https://octopus.energy/press/COP28-Octopus-Sherbro-Sierra-Leone-Partnership/).
President Bio’s appointment of Sengeh as Chief Minister in July 2023 expressed political confidence in a former Education Minister and Chief Innovation Officer. During parliamentary scrutiny, members expected him to help ministries work together, track performance and turn policy into delivery. They also described his appointment as evidence of the President’s confidence in him (https://www.parliament.gov.sl/uploads/handsards/1ST%20AUGUST%202023.pdf). The record places his responsibilities within public expectations of coordination and accountability, not a personal mandate over every government project.
At the Antigua discussion, Sengeh described the Sherbro initiative moving through Cabinet and formal processes involving the President, the Attorney-General and other officials. He had engaged with the project as Education Minister and continued to support it as Chief Minister. He recalled that, during a visit to the United Kingdom, the person expected to sign a document was unavailable and President Bio asked him to sign. “I love it,” Sengeh said. The anecdote conveys the confidence he felt the President had placed in him. He was equally clear that the partners were not seeking shortcuts, tax breaks or preferential treatment. His responsibility was to help government act coherently, not to set established procedures aside.
The project’s passage through Parliament gave that principle a formal test. On 24 June 2025, Parliament passed, with amendments, the Investment Framework Agreement (Ratification) Act 2025, ratifying the agreement between the Government and Sherbro Alliance Partners (https://parliament.gov.sl/uploads/press_release/pdf/PARLIAMENT%20ENACTS%20THE%20INVESTMENT%20FRAMEWORK%20AGREEMENT%20%28Ratification%29%20ACT%202025%20%20-%2024th%20June%2C%202025.pdf). The debate also raised questions about community awareness and consultation. Ratification established a legal framework, not a guarantee of success. Delivery still depends on transparent oversight, clear obligations and consistent implementation.
Zoisa North-Bond, Chief Executive of Octopus Energy Generation, widened the discussion beyond Sierra Leone. She challenged the negative assumptions attached to African energy markets, arguing that broad perceptions of risk can obscure viable projects and deter investment. She also questioned a figure of approximately five trillion dollars said to have been lost or foregone in African energy investment. That remains an assertion raised in the Antigua conversation, not an independently verified measure. Her wider point is consequential: investors must scrutinise their own assumptions as carefully as they assess African markets. Africa’s energy opportunities should be judged on evidence and project economics, not inherited stereotypes.
The need is considerable. World Bank data puts electricity access in Sierra Leone at 39.2 per cent in 2024 (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS?locations=SL). Unreliable power raises business costs, restricts working hours and weakens essential services. Sherbro cannot solve the national deficit, but it can test whether a renewable mini-grid can provide dependable electricity beyond conventional grid expansion. Its performance must be measured by affordability, continuity and maintenance, not turbine numbers.
The Elba Hope Foundation reports that all five turbines were installed outside Bonthe in 2026, with the solar and battery system being completed. Once operational, the project is designed to serve about 14,000 people across 1,299 homes and 121 businesses and public buildings (https://www.elbahopefoundation.org/program-area/sustainability-connectivity). At the Antigua discussion, Sengeh also cited 127 local people receiving training. Their progress should be tracked into qualifications and employment. Installation is not commissioning; projected beneficiaries are not proven gains. The next test is reliable electricity at a cost households and businesses can sustain.
Reliable power could support fisheries and cold storage, reduce post-harvest losses, improve schools and health facilities, extend digital access and help enterprises operate longer. Those gains require affordable tariffs, maintenance capacity and businesses able to use the supply. Sierra Leone’s Medium Term National Development Plan 2024 to 2030 prioritises infrastructure, human capital, jobs and green growth (https://moped.gov.sl/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Final_Sierra-Leone-MTNDP-2024-2030-1.pdf). Sherbro’s contribution should be measured in productive opportunity, not promotional projections.
President Bio launched the Energy Transition and Green Growth Plan in November 2024. It targets universal electrification by 2040 and links the transition to transport, industry, buildings and agriculture (https://www.seforall.org/our-work/initiatives-projects/energy-transition-plans/sierra-leone). Sherbro can advance that ambition if it produces reliable operating data, develops local technical capacity and offers transferable lessons. Its wider value depends on financial and technical sustainability.
The responsibility remains shared. Government must protect the public interest, maintain oversight and ensure community participation in decisions affecting land and livelihoods. Investors must deliver reliable service and report results transparently. Sengeh must coordinate within institutional boundaries; Bio’s political backing must be matched by accountability. North-Bond’s challenge is equally important: capital must follow evidence, not prejudice. Trust is sustained by predictable decisions and demonstrable results.
The turbines may generate electricity, but leadership and institutions must turn it into opportunity. Bio’s confidence gave Sengeh a responsibility to coordinate; his test is to convert that trust into progress without weakening public process. The measure will be tangible: a child able to study, a fisher able to preserve a catch, a technician able to build a career and an entrepreneur able to grow a business because power is dependable. When those outcomes become real, Sherbro will have shown how political leadership, institutional discipline and investor partnership can serve the public good.