Sherbro Alliance and Idris Elba’s Dream City in Sierra Leone
The Guardian newspaper reported that actor Idris Elba is working with his childhood friend to develop Sherbro Island, roughly the size of the Isle of Man. The West African nation [Sierra Leone] government gave the island enough autonomy to allow the work to advance as 'Dream City in Sierra Leone.'
By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah | Africanist PressThe Guardian newspaper reported that actor Idris Elba is working with his childhood friend to develop Sherbro Island, roughly the size of the Isle of Man. The West African nation [Sierra Leone] government gave the island enough autonomy to allow the work to advance as 'Dream City in Sierra Leone.'
This is not the end of the story
By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah | Africanist Press
A few months ago, the British media enthusiastically reported that “Idris Elba has shared details of his dream to turn an island off the coast of Sierra Leone, the country where his father was born, into an environmentally friendly smart city.“
The Guardian took the lead in the enthusiasm that surrounded the story. The newspaper specifically reported that “the actor [Idris Elba] is working with his childhood friend to develop Sherbro, which is roughly the size of the ‘Isle of Man’ after the island was given enough autonomy by the West African nation’s government to allow the work to go ahead.”
Chernoh Alpha M. Bah | Africanist Press
Idris Elba’s friend is Siaka Stevens (of course Stevens’ last name is a familiar one in Sierra Leone). In its reporting, the Guardian said Elba and Stevens both grew up together in east London, and they have decided to embark on the ambitious project of turning Sherbro into an eco-city. The newspaper revealed that Elba and Stevens had set up a joint company called Sherbro Alliance Partners (SAP), and they had “reached agreements with the Sierra Leonean government, as well as several major firms, to build an eco-city as a public-private partnership.”
This is not the end of the story.
The Guardian further added that Idris Elba and Siaka Stevens have even “agreed on a deal with the energy company, Octopus, to build Sierra Leone’s first wind farm on the island, which lacks main electricity and is a two-hour ferry trip from the mainland.”
This was exciting news in Sierra Leone. News of these kinds of development projects has often been greeted with enthusiasm in the country. Many Sierra Leoneans, both at home and abroad, applauded Elba’s “dream city project.” Of course, the country badly needs real economic and social development, more so development projects and initiatives that are driven by citizens of the country.
However, Elba’s ideas are not new in West Africa; other African entertainers with new smart and eco-city dreams have been on the news lately.
Not very long ago, US-Senegalese singer Akon had also announced his own plans “to build a futuristic city in his ancestral homeland.” The first phase of Akon’s project was supposed to have been completed in 2023. The Guardian, which featured Elba’s dream project, had similarly reported in December 2023 that Akon’s city project faced “delays and controversy” and instead of the promised futuristic city, “only a youth center and the shell of what is planned to be the welcome center had been built.”
Africanist Press Updates: Listen! In this audio episode, the Africanist Press Chief Editor explores the proposed privatization of Sherbro Island and its planned transformation into a 'Casino Republic' in Sierra Leone. The legal and political implications of the proposed takeover of Sherbro Island by multinational corporations.The Guardian added that “while Akon received praise for the planned city’s Afrofuturistic aesthetics,” skeptics are now asking whether Akon’s proposed city “will ever come to pass.” Disappointment is slowly becoming the dream city’s outcome, the newspaper said. In the case of the proposed Sherbro city, the Guardian said Elba is unlike Akon: “he has been clear about where his strengths lie.”
“Never in my lifetime would I have thought I could build the foundation for a new smart city. I’m not qualified for that. But I am qualified to dream big,” Elba told the UK-based newspaper.
Nevertheless, the contrast begs the question: what stands between a “dream” and its “outcome?”
Many people say there are various kinds of dreams: good dreams and bad dreams. They say what separates one dream from another dream is similar to the differences between fantasies and nightmares; the reason why people dream whether they are asleep or wide awake.
Certainly, the UK-based Guardian was grappling with these differences in dreams when reporting on, and contrasting between, Akon’s “dream city project” and Elba’s “dream city project.”
To understand dreams of any kind – and perhaps their differences – one might have to consider the place of the dream and the moment(s) that produced the dream itself. What are the dreamer’s conditions and existential circumstances? What are the internal and external forces that drive an individual(s) to dream?
The totality of the circumstances has to be carefully considered when assessing the place and strength of a given dream. In doing so, we bring ourselves to the starting point of asking, and also debating, whether a particular dream is realistic or unrealistic. What are the dream’s real possibilities? Can those possibilities be actualized? If yes, how can they be actualized?
While thinking about dreams and their realities today, we looked up the “dream city project” of Idris Elba and Siaka Stevens. We looked at the various companies carrying out their dream city project: the Sherbro Alliance Limited and Sherbro Alliance Partners Limited; all incorporated in the UK.
Sherbro Alliance Limited was incorporated on 10th June 2019 as a private limited company (#12040217) under the UK Companies Act 2006. Idris Akuna Elba and Siaka Stevens are the two listed directors and shareholders of the company. On 13th November 2019, the company’s directors applied to voluntarily strike off the company from the UK Register of Companies, and on 26th November 2019, the Registrar gazetted the application to strike off the company from the register, and the company was eventually dissolved on 11th February 2020.
The second company, Sherbro Alliance Partners Limited, was also incorporated on 27th September 2019 (#12231721); similarly, as a private limited company in England and Wales. Siaka Stevens is the only listed company director, and the company’s shareholders, at the time of registration, are IE7 Holdings Limited and Siaka Stevens; each individually holding 50% shares. IE7 Holdings Limited was incorporated on 3rd April 2019 with Idris Elba as company director.
The unaudited financial statements of Sherbro Alliance Partners Limited for the year ended 31st December 2022 included an unsecured “loan of £2,861,393 due to IE7 Limited.” The loan “attracts an interest rate of 4% above the base rate of the Bank of England for repayments made outside of the repayment dates.” In FY2021, the said loan amounted to £2,227,255 and has since increased by £634,138 by the close of FY2022.
READ Idris Elba Arrived In His Father´s Native Sierra Leone For The First Time. Idris Elba arrived in Sierra Leone on Wednesday, December 18, 2019, where he is due to receive Sierra Leone citizenship and celebrate Christmas with the President, Julius Maada Bio, according to government sources. What does this tell us about dreams and their complexities, about the differences in dreams, the varied interpretations of dreams, and the accompanying realities of dreams? How do dreams inform our approach to, and understanding of, nation building and sustainable development?
In any case and by any rate, we attach herewith extract pages showing the registration details of the two Sherbro Alliance companies shouldering the Sherbro city dream project.
First published July 17, 2024. Feel free to share it or Post a comment in the Comments section.
Black And Blue
Photos/Illustrations by Betsy Kiel
Central to this idea of seismic change is the issue of Police reform, which has to happen.
Being black in America should not be a death sentence.
Black In America
A fragile existence
Black In America
Photos/Illustrations by Betsy Kiel
Floyd, Taylor, Martin, King, and Arbery. These are just a few names in the tragic landscape of police brutality and vigilante justice.
After experiencing an episode of unconscious racial bias in the workplace, a colleague remarked so to voice. “Racism never sleeps.”
As an African American male, my interactions with law enforcement have been fraught with stress and a hint of menace. One night while walking home from work, I came within a hair-trigger of being yet another statistic of police over-reaction —Castile, Gray, and McDonald.
Guns were drawn, as I was mistakenly identified as being one of the usual suspects —Garner, Brown, Scott, and Rice.
I had a visceral reaction to the horrific murder of George Floyd. It was the ultimate grotesque perversion of justice and symbolized the painful systematic institutionalized racism endured by African Americans for over 400 years. In addition, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic deadly disproportionate impact on people of color allied to high unemployment and you had the perfect explosive ingredients for the social upheaval that followed.
The chickens of our nations ‘original sin,’ slavery, are finally coming home to roost. Decades of inequality in the realms of justice, health, education, and economic opportunity have left many bereft of hope and close to the edge.
We are now at a historic inflection point as a multicultural American coalition demands an end to racial injustice. This clarion call for change is now a global phenomenon, it would seem that change is at hand.
Central to this idea of seismic change is the issue of Police reform, which has to happen. Accountability and transparency need to be central tenets of any progressive moves to change the negative image many people have of law enforcement. Police union's intransigence ferocious defense of its members has meant that the successful prosecution of rogue cops is extremely rare, therefore, communities of color literally have a license to kill.
Police cannot be allowed to police themselves, and, for the public to have faith in the system, there must be independent oversight.
We need a paradigm in our approach to law enforcement in which police are seen less like an occupying army, but a more highly integrated community-based partner.
Last, bloated police budgets have added to the increased militarism of police departments nationwide. This trend was on full display as police dispatched peaceful protesters with brutal efficiency past Floyd’s death. With crumbling infrastructure, homelessness, chronic underinvestment in human capital, and a myriad of other social ills, perhaps it is time to change priorities and reallocate tax dollars.
The warrior psyche of law enforcement needs to evolve. It leads to the notion we are less than human and need to be policed over aggressively. Deadly chokeholds and the lack of transparency over officers' disciplinary records are positive metrics of change that need to be instituted.
The winds of change, are blowing as evidenced by the multicultural hordes who marched for George Floyd. Our shared humanity unites us, and we look forward to the day when black lives are truly valued, and the specter of police violence exiled to the distant past.
Broadsides by Sage
Photo Illustration By Victor Kerlow
Stay woke, your friend Sage.
Add Birding to a list of things you cannot do while black.
Photo Credit:
Cooper Vs. Cooper
Amy Cooper was walking her dog in Central Park’s Ramble area of New York, a little patch of semi-wilderness in an otherwise manicured park. She allowed her dog off the leash, which is against the rules.
The verbal dispute between Amy Cooper, a white woman, with an unleashed dog, and a black man Birding in Central Park would have gone unnoticed in a city preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic.
That changed when bird-watcher Christian Cooper (no relation) pulled out his phone and captured Amy Cooper calling police to report she was being threatened by “an African American man.” The Widely Watched Video, posted on Facebook by Christian Cooper and Twitter by his sister, sparked accusations of racism and led to Amy Cooper getting fired.
It could have been a great inter-racial love-story for a Hollywood motion picture. The Hysterical Dog Owner Meets Stoic Bird-lover.
However, in light of the murder of George Floyd, there is no doubt Ms. Coopers’ antics could have ended tragically.
Fatal Distraction
Photo: Win McNamee/Getty
With the Coronavirus (COVID-19) infections and deaths skyrocketing, Trump has enough blame to assign to everyone else. The hit list is impressive. It includes China and the World Health Organization (WHO) to name, but a few.
The initial slow response, lack of testing, and the absence of a national plan have left us all shaking our heads.
Dr. Kill
I was always worried about trump bullying the medical and scientific community into submission, and it seems he has succeeded. The rush to reopen the country before getting the pandemic under control is scary. Lives will be lost, and essential workers are merely sacrificial pawns in a cynical bid to bolster his reelection.
The Coronavirus Taskforce is now invisible. Hmmm! Maybe I could take that Lysol enema.
Bronx Bomber
Andrew Cuomo; New York Governor
Honest, Intellectual, witty, and feisty. If Joe Biden contrives to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in November, my nominee for 2024 has got to be the ‘Bronx Bomber,’ Andrew Cuomo.
Dark prophet
Muhammad Ali is a sporting hero not solely to his athletic skills, but also, of his unwavering social activism. In the sixties, his opposition to the Vietnam war led him to be stripped of his title and exiled to sporting wilderness.
In the present day, Colin Kaepernick is the social prophet unappreciated in his era. The NFL quarterback (QB) blackballed for taking a ‘knee’ against racism and police brutality.
Colin, everyone is taking a knee now!
Newly Available 'Battlezone Domination' White House Edition War Games!
The perfect game for wannabe armchair general
Terrorize peaceful protesting civilians with your own highly trained goon-squad. Flashbang grenades, tear gas, and rubber bullets all at your disposal. Bible photo-op not included.
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images