By Theresa Kef Sesay
On the 22 February 2021 the Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Francis Kai-Kai reminded the Africa Regional Review Meeting that the Government of Sierra Leone remains committed to various international initiatives aimed at improving governance systems, combating corruption, promoting inclusive development and delivering services for its people while calling on its development partners to scale up the percentage of Official Development Assistance (ODA) given to the Least Developed Countries (LCDs) to finance the SDGs and post COVID-19 recovery.
The Webinar meeting was in preparation for the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) to be held in Doha in 2022.
During the session, Ministers and other high-level participants reflected on the progress achieved during the implementation of the Istanbul Program of Action (IPoA), while highlighting the remaining gaps, challenges and vulnerabilities.
They also discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on LDCs’ health care systems and its socio-economic consequences. The meeting discussed national recovery plans, identified lessons learned as well as policy recommendations for the next decade.
In his address, Dr. Kai-Kai noted that in line with Sierra Leone’s commitment, and to put the country in a proper trajectory to address its challenges, Government continues the implementation of the Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP 2019-2023) with a people-centered and decentralized focus.
“This multi-sectoral plan is aligned to the IPoA Commitments, the SDGs, the AU Agenda 2063, and other internationally agreed Agendas that reflect Sierra Leone’s roadmap to growth and stability.
“We are half-way into the implementation of this plan and the mid-term review revealed strong local ownership and determination to achieve the stated objectives despite the setbacks caused by the pandemic,” said Dr. Kai-Kai adding that they believe that the full implementation of the MTNDP will put Sierra Leone in good stead to make progress on the SDGs and meeting the requirements of the AU Agenda 2063 (The Africa we want).
The Minister said as the Government of Sierra Leone applauds the support of the development partners in the fight against COVID-19, he called the attention of the international community to the need for increased resource flows to finance the recovery efforts and achievements of the SDGs.
“The fact that we are holding this meeting virtually speaks to the magnitude of the worst public health emergency in recent times. Whilst there have been increased efforts at domestic resource mobilizations, such efforts have been hampered by the pandemic. There is therefore a need for our development partners to scale up the percentage of ODA given to the LDCs to finance the SDGs and post COVID-19 recovery…
“LDCs in fragile situations with huge debt burdens, weak health systems, and other structural vulnerabilities, and the challenge of meeting the social and economic needs of their populations, especially the youth and women, require support measures to help sail through these challenges,” Dr. Kai-Kai ended.
Minister Kai-Kai said, as Chair of the g7+ group of fragile and conflict-affected States noted that Sierra Leone is fully engaged in promoting peace and security as a necessary condition for growth and sustainable development. He said they would use the UN Observer Status accorded the g7+ to strengthen Sierra Leone’s advocacy work in favour of building peace and promoting good governance in their countries.
He noted that as the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out progressed globally, he hopes that LDCs would have access to the life-saving vaccines and COVID-19 infections would steadily decline to allow for a return to a new normal. He continued by saluting the frontline workers, globally, who continue to put their lives at risk to save humanity.
He concluded by thanking other participants, with the hope that the regional review meeting outcome would translate into concrete actions for the next decade.
