By Amin Kef Sesay
Honorable Sidie Mohamed Tunis , Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, who also happens to be the Member of Parliament for Constituency 101 in the Pujehun District, Southern Province of Sierra Leone, while on a tour he undertook from the 27th June to 30th June 2020 restored hope and confidence among his constituents.
Accompanied by local authorities, media personnel, women and youths the seasoned lawmaker and kindhearted personality met with his constituents of Constituency 101 in Makpele and Soro Gbema Chiefdoms in the Pujehun District very mindful of observing social distancing
He informed them that, as usual, he decided to embark on the visit in order to continue his constructive engagements with his constituents and deliberate on developmental strides for Constituency 101 and by extension the people of Pujehun District. He added that, the tour was another important time for him to help those who are in need by addressing critical concerns such as food, health, agriculture, education, entrepreneurship and infrastructure.
Speaking on the area of strengthening the health sector in Constituency 101, the Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament mentioned a donation he made of Ten Million Leones (Le 10,000,000.00) as a quick response for the rehabilitation of the Sulima Community Health Center (CHC) which he said needed urgent attention for sustainable community health service delivery.
Honorable Sidie Mohamed Tunis further revealed that, he has been in constant engagement with the Government of Sierra Leone and the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) to effectively enhance the rehabilitation of the Sulima Health Center and the implementation of further development programs in Constituency 101.
He also highlighted another donation of the sum of Five Million Leones (Le 5,000,000.00) each to the Command Center at Jendema and Zimmi, to enhance their regular activities in consonance with sensitization and awareness raising on the prevention and fight against COVID-19, and other related matters affecting border communities.
During his three -day constituency tour, the Honorable MP also visited the Wai Community Health Centre in Moiwubu to monitor the facility which he supported during his 2018 camping period with USD $2,000 (two thousand US Dollars) and also USD $1,000 for the construction of a Youth Centre at Wai Village, Soro Gbema Chiefdom.
The Honorable Member of Parliament also donated Three Hundred (300) bags of 25 KG rice to augment the plight of storm victims of Soro Gbema Chiefdom, who were affected by heavy rains which destroyed many properties and plantations. The charismatic leader also visited all the communities that were affected by the storm and promised to explore additional avenues of mitigating the status of storm victims through Government and donor supports.
He also supported the Zimmi Makpele SLPP Executive with One Hundred Bags of rice to run a small business enterprise so that they too will be engaged in promoting trade activities in Zimmi Makpele. He again donated One Hundred (100) sets of modern and sustainable solar radio sets to the best performing pupils in selected schools within the Zimmi community.
The ECOWAS Parliament President went on to make an additional cash donations amounting to Five Million Leones (Le 5,000,000.00) each to the women of Zimmi and Dumagbay towns as part of his continued support in order to increase their agricultural and livelihood activities. He also donated Five Million Leones (5,000.000.00) to the people of Gofour community, for the completion of their Court Barray. All these, the Honorable said “will help to enhance effective and efficient farming system, for increased rice production and productivity as planned by the New Direction Agenda under the leadership of President Julius Maada Bio.”
During his tour, Honorable Tunis also assisted the Youth of Makpele Chiefdom with Thirty Million Leones (Le 30,000,000.00) to establish a youth-led business initiative, so that the Youth of Makpele Chiefdom will be able to develop their enterprises through business management skills and entrepreneurship trainings.
Meanwhile, commending Honorable Tunis during his constituency tour on behalf of the people of Constituency 101, Pujehun District, the Paramount Chief of Soro Gbema Chiefdom, P.C Mustapha J. Massaquoi and the youth of Constituency 101 thanked and congratulated Honorable Tunis for working in tandem with his campaign promises.
The Paramount Chief urged the local populace to continue to pray for Honorable Tunis, so that he will bring more developments to his constituents. They, however, lamented over some of the challenges faced with regards the health, education sectors also highlighting the need to mend the bad roads, provide good infrastructure and deal with youth unemployment among others.
Honorable Tunis in his short remarks reassured his people that he will be making consistent visits to the two chiefdoms in order to ensure that more development programmes are undertaken in Constituency 101, and to further help to actualize the New Direction Agenda under the leadership of His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio. He said that, the SLPP Government is fully set to facilitate sustainable development programmes in that part of the country and beyond.
