By Theresa Kef Sesay
The Baroness Secretary-General of the Commonwealth was in Freetown on the 24th January 2022 during which time she held discussions with the Mayor of the Freetown City Council, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, bordering on the outstanding work that the Mayor and staff are doing in trying to transform the City.
Speaking after her meeting with the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr said: “Today I had the pleasure of meeting Baroness Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth and her delegation. We discussed our shared commitment to foster collaboration as we turn aspirations into action. I had the opportunity to share #TransformFreetown highlights with her and learn about the amazing work she is doing to provide critical open-source data to Commonwealth member States.”
Baroness Scotland’s delegation included Dr Morie Manyeh, High Commissioner of Sierra Leone to the UK; Louis Franceschi and representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Also present at the meeting were Councillor Zainab Conteh, Chairperson of the FCC Foreign Affairs and Protocol Committee; Festus Kallay, Chief Administrator; Peter Koroma, Deputy Chief Administrator; Violet Kargbo, Foreign Affairs and Protocol Officer; and Manja Kargbo, Mayor’s Delivery Unit Team Lead.
Baroness Patricia Scotland also visited the Minister of Finance, Dennis Vandi and the Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Francis Kai-Kai at the Ministry of Finance in Freetown.
Secretary-General Scotland commended President Bio for his holistic vision for the country and spoke of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s support in promoting prosperity, development, democracy and peace.
She also spoke about the role played by the Ministry of Finance in helping to launch the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Governance study last year, which examined the ERM implementation in six Commonwealth countries namely: Sierra Leone, Botswana, Ghana, The Gambia, Kenya and Eswatini.
Baroness Scotland highlighted various policy areas where the Commonwealth could deepen its cooperation with Sierra Leone, especially in managing public debt, human resource capacity building, data analytics and creating better trade opportunities.
Minister of Finance, Dennis Vandi highlighted the achievements of his Ministry in working with the Commonwealth.
Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Francis Kai-Kai thanked the Commonwealth Secretariat for their support in providing the necessary expertise in areas that are critical to the development of the country.
Minister Kai-Kai recommended that the Commonwealth Secretariat re-establishes the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (CFTC) to improve its visibility, as well as coordination of all commonwealth assistance support.
He assured the Secretary-General that Sierra Leone, under the leadership of President Bio will continue to uphold and promote the values and principles of the Commonwealth, which provide a platform and an avenue in presenting a common front in dealing with the global challenges on climate change, peace, security, inequality and exclusion among others.
