By Amin Kef (Ranger)
In a significant development at Statistic Sierra Leone (Stats SL), Lansana Kpewolo Kanneh has been appointed as the substantive Deputy Statistician General, following the successful completion of a meticulous recruitment process. The announcement was made on Friday, January 19, 2024, at the temporary headquarters of Stats SL, Kona Lodge, King Street, Freetown.
Mr. Kanneh, who has been serving as the Acting Deputy Statistician General since May 2023, emerged as the top candidate after impressing the Stats SL Council during the rigorous recruitment process. With over 13 years of dedicated service to Stats SL, Mr. Kanneh is set to fill the vacancy left by the current Statistician General and CEO, which had been unoccupied since April 1, 2023.
Prior to his role as the Acting Deputy Statistician General, Mr. Kanneh served as the Director of Finance and Support Services for eight years, overseeing finance, administration, human resources, and procurement. Holding qualifications including FCCA, M.Sc., MBA, and BSc, Mr. Kanneh brings a wealth of experience in multi-donor funded project planning, implementation, and fiduciary management processes.
His expertise extends to the management and execution of censuses, surveys, administrative data collection, analysis, report writing, and data dissemination. Proficient in the use of data management and analysis tools such as SQL, SPSS, Python, and R, Mr. Kanneh is well-equipped to contribute to Stats SL’s continued success.
In a separate development, on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, Stats SL engaged representatives from the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) to discuss the Comprehensive Health and Epidemiological Surveillance System (CHESS) research implementation plans. The meeting aimed to update NCRA representatives on the progress made by the CHESS Technical Committee and inform them of Stats SL’s readiness to conduct a successful research project.
During the engagement, the Statistician General & CEO of Stats SL, Andrew Bob Johnny, expressed satisfaction with the longstanding collaborative relationship between Stats SL and NCRA. The Deputy Director General of NCRA, Brima Kamara, commended Stats SL for their efforts and highlighted the importance of the CHESS research project in enhancing their database for national registration processes. Acting Deputy Statistician General Lansana Kpewolo Kanneh welcomed the NCRA team and expressed the desire to build a lasting working relationship beyond the CHESS research project.
CHESS represents a new era of population surveillance operations, aiming to deliver high-quality data for disease-specific and pathogen-specific morbidity, along with data on overall and cause-specific mortality. The collaborative efforts between Stats SL and NCRA are poised to contribute significantly to the success of this groundbreaking research initiative.
