Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh
By Amin Kef Sesay – 15th August 2019
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in a press release issued recently stated that the Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh has on Tuesday 13th August, 2019, formally launched the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) 2019-2023, at the Miatta Conference Centre, Brookfields, in Freetown.
According to the release, the NACS serves as a blueprint for government, the private and business sectors and civil society organizations, to help coordinate and support their efforts to curb corruption.
It is a model for developing a set of shared responsibilities across sectors, to encourage collaboration within and among sectors, and to direct renewed enthusiasm towards the aim of reducing corruption and building an ethical society.
In his keynote address, Dr. Juldeh Jalloh described the NACS as a national strategy which aims at confronting corruption which is a threat to every sphere of national development, and building an ethical and accountable Government that promotes zero tolerance for corruption; inspire integrity and adherence to the rule of law.
The Commissioner of the ACC, Francis Ben Kaifala Esq. said at the launch that: “Enforcement is at the heart of the new Strategy, backstopped with Prevention, and Public Education.”
He added that this will demonstrate to the public government’s determination to fight corruption, as well as to encourage citizens to always resist and report it.
The crafting of the NACS is consistent with the Governments Medium Term National Development Plan (MTNDP), the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the Anti-Corruption Act, 2008.
The Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs in collaboration with the National Tourist Board, on Wednesday 14th August 2019, hosted a renowned tourism Researcher, Prof. Fergus Maclaren Principal at MAC-DUFF Tourism, Heritage and Planning Ottawa, Canada on a public lecture on the theme ‘Sustainable Destination Development and Management for Sierra Leone’ geared towards improving the promotion and marketing of Sierra Leone as an attractive tourist destination, at the Bintumani Hotel Aberdeen.
Speaking at the event Acting General Manager of National Tourist Board, Fatmata Abe-Osagie, disclosed that during the attendance of the Minister of Tourism at the Trade on Foreign Direct Investment and innovation for sustainable Development in Spain, she was able to attract interest in Sierra Leone culminating in an invitation from the Global Economic Institute of which Prof Fergus Maclaren is a member to visit Canada on a Tourism Investment Promotion and Study Tour morganised by the Global Economic institute so as to engage key institutions on the possibility of partnership. During the visit they were able to meet with stakeholders, including the Canada Foreign Affixers Minister Cap Canada and tour experts.
She then gave a brief background about Fergus Maclaren, noted as a sustainable tourism and cultural heritage management professional with 25 years of experience in Canada and internationally. His background includes a broad range of tourism planning, destination management and community development aspects including training, risk and gap analysis, performance indicators development, research, site evaluation, needs assessment, Internet marketing, communications plans, site branding, multi-stakeholder evaluation and participation.
Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Memunatu Pratt
Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Memunatu Pratt, said that Prof. Fergus Maclaren’s public lecture will help improve the tourism sector in the country. Amidst the challenges inherited, she maintained that the government rates Tourism as one of the top priorities alongside agriculture and fisheries, adding that the President is passionate about tourism and wants to see the industry revamped and serve as a boost to the economy of the country.
“Over the years the focus of Sierra Leone has been on mining of diamonds and gold. Yes we accept that we are having revenue from those sectors, but we have found out that the Tourism sector should have been one of the areas that could have responded to things like youth unemployment, skills development, private sector development, trade and investment and developing our basic culture of patriotism and national cohesion. These are the things we have realized”. She added. She also added that they are going to work with the private sector to rebrand the country’s tourism sector.
Principal at MAC-DUFF Tourism, Heritage and Planning Ottawa, Canada Prof Fergus Maclaren in his lecture disclosed that Sierra Leone has the ability to march with other countries in the world. He however observed that there are challenges, which include infrastructure, access to Lungi International Airport, road conditions during the rains, safety in the country, and the negative image of the country due to the Civil War, Ebola and the Mudslide. He called on the government to focus on tourism and its components as it is a significant economic building block in the new direction manifesto.
He concluded by saying that Sierra Leone has potentials in a number of areas to make tourism an integral part of the national economy and warned that its development will take time, patience and investment to elevate its national economy and benefits.
Abdul M. Fatoma, Executive Director Campaign for Human Rights and Development International (CHRDI)
By Amin Kef Sesay – 15th August 2019
Abdul M. Fatoma, Executive Director Campaign for Human Rights and Development International (CHRDI), has stated that they believe that the involvement of civil society is an integral part of any successful fight against corruption. He added that CHRDI is a non-governmental organisation that mobilizes civil society organizations as key to achieving success.
At a recent public meeting he said: ‘It is our philosophy; however, that dealing with this overwhelming problem of corruption the best position for civil society is within a broader coalition consisting of three key pillars: government; the private sector and civil society. All three partners have to be involved in the fight against corruption to be credible as well as effective and sustainable.
He added that his institution does not respect borders and that it is perhaps impossible to eliminate corruption entirely, but that ‘we should all strive to make steady progress toward that goal.’ He added that ‘we can begin by putting in place the right frameworks and institutions for deterring and controlling corruption; by strengthening the rule of law and democratic institutions to ensure accountability; by fostering a culture of zero-tolerance, and also by encouraging the participation of all elements of society, including government, civil society, and the private sector, in the efforts to combat corruption
He went on to state that the strength of civil society can have a positive influence on the state and the market and that civil society organisations are therefore seen as an increasingly important mediator for promoting good governance like transparency, effectiveness, openness, responsiveness and accountability. Civil Society groups can help further and improve good governance through its policy analysis and advocacy, he said.
From the foregoing, it could be argued that the civil society groups in Sierra Leone are critical in the fight against corruption for good governance to thrive.
‘We are better positioned in a democracy to fight for effective management of public resources and against abuse of office. We have helped to expose and condemn corrupt practices; assisted in passing some anti-corruption legislation and protested against public policies considered destructive to public interest, Mr. Fatoma added.
Combating corruption requires far-reaching shifts in political culture in order to instil the precepts that corruption will not be tolerated.
For the government to succeed in fighting corruption, it needs to introduce an effective and strong punitive system that is independent and has strong commitment from political leaders.
To fight corruption effectively, the judiciary must be independent, impartial and effective.
We want to encourage the ACC to continue to stand firm in this fight and assure them of our steady support at all times.
We thank the ACC and the expert technical team for producing this brilliant working document on the fight against corruption in Sierra Leone, Mr. Fatoma maintained.
Police in Sierra Leone have charged 17 university students for rioting. A senior police official was quoted saying the accused are expected to appear in court later this week.
The students went on the rampage last week during the commencement of exams after some of them were prevented from taking the exams because they did not pay the complete tuition fee.
There was a huge public outcry and condemnation over the way and manner security forces – police and military – handled the protest which led to the destruction of university properties.
Njala University, one of about three government-owned universities, is located in the southern Bo district.
It’s best known for providing tuition in the sciences.
Video footage shared on social media showed security forces brutalizing the students.
Civil society organizations and rights groups have condemned the police’s action and called for investigations.
Among them is the Sierra Leone Bar Association (SLBA) which expressed shock and dismayed over the “high handedness of the security forces” and called for a “prompt, speedy and thorough investigation” of the incident.
The university authorities claimed that the students attacked the security personnel and destroyed major infrastructures and assets of the institution.
The campus library was reportedly burnt down and the residence of the Deputy Vice Chancellor vandalized and his family held under siege.
Minister of Information and Communication Mr. Mohamed Rado Swarray
By Amin Kef Sesay 15th August 2019
A workshop designed to map out Sierra Leone’s response to the increasingly worrying cyber security was held on Wednesday August 14 in Freetown.
The 2019 National Cyber Security Risk Management Workshop will among other things, provided the platform to utilize information which will be gathered from an initial picture of the cyber security risk to Critical National Information in Sierra Leone which will inform the prioritization of future investment in building cyber security capacity, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications which is jointly hosting the event with the International Cooperation and Development Team of the UK.
Various government and Non-Governmental Institutions have been identified as key stakeholders to the National Cyber Security Risk Management workshop, it said.
“It is expected that their cooperation will be vital in gathering data about Critical National Information (CNI) as one or more of their systems are critical to the current and future cyber security,” the statement said.
Sierra Leone is one of a few countries with no cyber laws, which law enforcement agencies and regulators say is frustrating efforts to respond to growing trend of cyber-crime.
Of particular concern has been the increase in spate of scam using mobile phones and the sim box fraud which the National Telecommunications Commission say is costing the country millions of US dollars annually.
Sierra Leone is blessed with abundant mineral resources like many other African countries in the sub-region. The country’s verse mineral resources however, have not been exploited utilized to benefit its people and the country as a whole. Mining communities remains in abject poverty, with poor infrastructure, poor health and educational facilities, high level of insecurity and human right abuses.
Sierra Leone’s new president however, in a bid to correct the situation, has promised to, among other things:
(i) Review the Mines and Minerals Act 2009 as well as Mining Lease Agreements to realign with the Mining Policy and ensure it is consistent with international best practices (ii) enact the Extractive Industry Revenue Bill (iii) establish the Natural Resources Account for all revenues generated from extractives (iv) strengthen the National Minerals Agency (NMA) (v) allocate percentages of revenue from the mining sector to education, health and the general development of mining communities (vi) ensure full transparency in the sector through complying with the
Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) standards and provide updated and validated information on tax and other contributions from the mining sector to the government (vii) support value additions to our mineral resources with a view to generating jobs and additional income to Sierra Leoneans (viii) ensure that all mining companies comply with the local content policy and (ix) enforce corporate social responsibility in all mining activities.
The minerals sector comprising mostly diamonds, iron ore, bauxite, rutile, gold and mineral sands, is said to contribute about 24 percent to GDP and over
80 percent to export earnings but generates only 15 percent of its total revenues according to official figures from the ministry of finance. This is well below its potential.
The Natural Resource Governance and Economic Justice Network – Sierra Leone (NaRGEJ -SL) recognizes the strides of the government of President Julius Maada Bio so far since it came to power, including;
Starting Geological Airborne survey supported by the World Bank
Launching the three (3) Mineral Sector Policies: the ‘Sierra Leone Minerals Policy’, the ‘Artisanal Miming Policy’, and the ‘Geo -data Management Policy of Sierra Leone’
Suspension of licenses of two large-scale mining companies
The cancellation of the Shandong Mining Lease Agreement
While the above actions are in line with contributing to improving the governance of mining sector, NaRGEJ holds the view that more comprehensive actions with rights-based and people-centered processes are needed in order to respond more effectively to the critical nature of the problems besetting the sector. To this end, NaRGEJ recommends in furtherance of its 2 July 2018 submission to the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources government to:
As NaRGEJ endorses the present suspensions and cancellations of Licenses, it also calls government to slam a moratorium on all large- scale mining companies until due diligence is done on all of them.
An expedited transparent and participatory review of the Mines and Minerals Act 2009 is done ensuring that citizens (especially communities affected by mining, civil society, women, local authorities, people with disabilities, the youth, etc.) are adequately consulted. Minerals are public assets, and so the public has a right to have a say on all matters relating to it.
Carry out a comprehensive review of the National Minerals Agency (NMA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the view to strengthening them to be effective.
Present a well-articulated strategy and operational plan with time lines and targets/milestones of how government intends meeting the nine (9) commitments His Excellency the President Dr. Julius Maada Bio made to the people of Sierra Leone on the occasion of the State Opening of Parliament on Thursday, 10th May 2018.
Government to make a clear statement on how concretely it intends to make good its commitment to using international standards and best practices in the mining sector with particular reference to the African Mining Vision (AMV), UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), etc.
The Executive Director National Youth Service, Onanah Jalloh, has disclosed to a 5-man delegation from the United Nations New York office that his institution was created to cater for young graduates in the employment market by creating the work opportunities and sustainable livelihood.
He was speaking yesterday at a round table meeting held at the Office of National Security (ONS) conference room organized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs in partnership with the UN Resident Coordinator about the security risk around young people.
According to him, the NYS is a key solution for the growing youth unemployment in the country, adding that with the Kenya model, the current Government will achieve the middle level manpower as envisioned in the medium term development plan, 2019 to 2023.
He said the first batch of 200 graduate corps have been recruited and deployed across the country for a dedicated one year service. He went on to state that before the end of the year, NYS will also recruit 500 young graduates. He assured that at the end of August, 2019 the application forms will be made available to the public.
“We have developed five pillars in tandem with the proposed Act that will soon be reviewed,” he said whilst emphasizing that pillar one will be paramilitary training and service regimentation; pillar two will be youth socialization; pillar three will focus on social mobilization and vocational training; pillar four is enterprise and youth economy and pillar five is bankable institutional architecture.
Dilating on the purpose of the round table meeting, the Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs, Hon. Lusine Kallon, said they are about to commence a joint assessment mission with the UN New York team and other relevant stakeholders in the country to know the patterns of recruitment and mobilization of young people into cliques and gangs in rural and urban areas.
He added that the assessment will try to identify elements that could contribute to empower youth at risk.
“There is no mistake to start our joint assessment mission to identify the strategy or strategies used to recruit vulnerable youth into a gang or clique groups,” he averred.
The Deputy Minister submitted that “you will all agree with me that the experiences and prospects of youths in Sierra Leone require careful consideration.”
In that regard, he went on, “let me now assure you that this government is demonstrating that a youth crisis of that nature will now belong to the past. We are sensitive to the needs of our young men and women because they are the lifeblood of this great nation.”
He informed that under the distinct leadership of President Julius Maada Bio, they have laid the solid foundation and the country is speedily building on them for concrete development.
As a government, he continued, “we believe we cannot do it alone and therefore we are grateful to the United Nations Country Team and the UN Resident Coordinator for consenting to work with us to undertake an assessment on youths at risk.
Mario Nascimento, the UN Policy and Planning Officer for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration encouraged the Government to create an environment that suits the youth.
He said government alone cannot provide jobs needed for young people and recommended for a strong partnership with the private sector.
The Minister of Youth Affairs, Mohamed O. Bangura said he has got the right team to work with amidst low staffing capacity. He called for more support to implement projects that will ameliorate the challenges facing our youth.
Representing the Inspector General of Police, Inspector Henrietta Sesay, recommended that the Ministry of Youth Affairs should partner with the Local Police Partnership Board in the dissemination of information to the targeted youth.
The Rokel Commercial Bank has set up a desk at the Legal Aid Board head office in Freetown to open Child Maintenance Accounts. The desk was opened at the request of the Board and run by two bank staff. It will operate for some months and will be opened in the regional offices in the coming months.
During this period all women receiving child maintenance money from the finance office of the Board will be required to come to the office and open an account. Come October, mothers will not be receiving money from Finance Office. ‘The Board does not have the personnel to handle child maintenance money,’ the Executive Director of the Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles said. ‘This is why we are handing over that particular responsibility to the banks,’ she added.
According to the HR Manager of the Board, Ms. Audrey Williams who is overseeing the opening of the accounts, this arrangement will make it easier for the women to go through the processes because the environment is one they are used to and the Board staff will be at hand to offer any assistance they may need. ‘They are our clients, they feel relaxed when they are with us,’ she said
Ms. Williams said it was difficult for clients because some were opening bank accounts for the first time. Also, the bank environment was not familiar and to add insult to injury, producing the necessary documents required to open the account was a huge challenge. ‘We decided we’ve had enough complaints and requested for a desk at our office,’ she said.
The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles described the development as a huge successes considering the fact that five accounts were opened by midday. She underlined the need for the clients to be treated with utmost respect and care as they go about opening the account. ‘Our clients have gone through a lot in the hands of men who betrayed their trust by abandoning their responsibilities to their children and by extension society,’ she said.
Ms. Carlton-Hanciles also took the opportunity to console and assure two young mothers who came to collect their child maintenance money but to their utter dismay were told their children’s fathers have not paid the money. ‘We will do everything possible to compel them to pay the child maintenance money they have agreed to,’ she said. ‘Thankfully, we have secured court orders for these maintenance cases. We will take legal action against them for flouting court orders.
It will be recalled that the Board opened the first child maintenance account at the Siaka Stevens Branch of the Rokel Commercial Bank on the 2 July 2019. This followed mounting pressure on the Board from mothers, guardians and caregivers who had come to the office to collect child maintenance money only to be told no money had been paid in by the children’s fathers.
Tetteh beat off competition from other shortlisted coaches including Goran Stevanovic, Peter Butler, Tahseen Jabbary and Keister who won the 2019 Sierra Leone Premier League with East End Lions.
However, his appointment has not been recognised by Sierra Leone’s Sports Ministry which claims that the selection process for the new coach “did not come to a logical conclusion,” and was “incomplete.”
“The report of the Ministry’s representatives also observed that representative from the Sierra Leone Football Association on the interview panel came with a premeditated mind of appointing the said coach,” part of a statement released on Wednesday August 14 read.
“Therefore the Ministry does not recognize Sellas Tetteh as the Head Coach of the Sierra Leone National Team A because the process was incomplete.
“The Ministry of Sports wants to assure all Sierra Leoneans that the government is committed to supporting sports in the country and the process of appointing the National Team A coach will soon come to a conclusion.”
The Ghanaian trainer was making a return to the West African nation for a second stint after handling the Leone Stars between 2015 and 2017.
The 62-year-old has loads of experience in the field having guided Ghana to win the U20 FIFA World Cup in 2019, the only African coach to achieve such a feat for an African nation.
Tetteh also led the Ghana U20 to the FIFA World Cups in 2013 and 2015 finishing third and round of 16 respectively.
The former Liberty Professionals coach and Technical Director has also been in charge of the Rwanda national team from 2010 to 2011.
Tetteh was also the assistant coach of the Black Stars from 2004 to 2008.
Sellas Tetteh will take charge of Sierra Leone’s 2021 Nations Cup and 2022 World Cup campaigns
Tetteh beat off competition from other shortlisted coaches including Goran Stevanovic, Peter Butler, Tahseen Jabbary and Keister who won the 2019 Sierra Leone Premier League with East End Lions.
The Sierra Leone Football Association, however, says Tetteh’s appointment follows a “through” recruitment procedure.
Tetteh will be in charge of both the Leone Stars’ 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and 2022 World Cup campaigns.
The former Rwanda coach is currently in Freetown and is expected to have started work on Thursday this week.
His first match in charge will be against Liberia in Monrovia in a 2022 World Cup preliminary round first leg qualifier on 4 March.
He was in charge of five official games, winning two against Sudan and Chad, losing one to Chad and drawing their 2017 Nations Cup home and away qualifying matches with Ivory Coast.
Coach Tetteh briefly served as caretaker coach of Ghana in 2008 and was also Black Stars assistant coach from 2004 to 2008.
Orange is one of the leading telecommunications operators in the world, present in 29 countries with 154,000 employees worldwide . Orange operates in about 20 countries in Africa meaning that one in every 10 people is an Orange customer.
Orange acquired the Airtel operations in Sierra Leone in July 2016 and was recorded as the first Company to invest in Sierra Leone immediately following the end of the Ebola epidemic.
Since the inception of Orange Operations in Sierra Leone, the company has invested about $112 million dollars in the areas of Network modernization and expansion, Human Resources as well as corporate social responsibility in the last two years.
The company has invested about $96 million dollars in modernizing and expanding its network infrastructure. This investment has resulted to the construction of about 94 new sites mainly in the rural areas, the modernization of the company’s passive infrastructure and active RAN equipment, the replacement of all core equipment, the implementation of a new intelligent network platform for prepaid billing management, the establishment of a new switch to handle voice traffic, a new packet core for the internet traffic and the launch of a new Data Centre. This exceptional and incomparable work done so far, has resulted to the connection of about 925 new localities with thousands of Sierra Leoneans now accessing data, voice and financial services for the first time.
In respect of Human Resources, Orange has invested about $16 million dollars in the last two years. The company prides itself in capacity building by ensuring that its employees benefit from soft skills, technical and leadership trainings. The company nurtures talent from on boarding, ensures retention and provides exposure opportunities to other orange affiliates.
Orange being a multi service provider and a responsible corporate citizen places emphasis on corporate social investment. In the last two years the company has invested about $ 400,000 dollars mainly in the areas of women empowerment, health, education and the environment. Orange remains the first operator in Sierra Leone to contribute to the government’s Free Quality Education (FQE) Agenda by pledging the sum of $1.5m in material assistance over a period of five years beginning from 2019. In honour of its pledge , the company recently launched five major projects under its FQE initiative as follows:
The Super Coder Academy to train 100 senior secondary school students in five years.
The provision of 10,000 hygiene packs for girls between the ages of 12-18 years over a period of five years.
The running of an inter-secondary school quiz and debate competition every year for five years with the aim to provide one computer lab for the winning school every year.
Open Classrooms to provide 300 free certifying digital courses for 500 teachers.
The distribution of 1,000 solar pack kits to 1,000 schools in 1,000 off-grid villages.
Orange also recently launched the first coding school in Sierra Leone in partnership with the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) with an estimated cost of about LE2.75 billion ($308,000). The coding school is scheduled to commence in December 2019 with an aim to train youths in coding and other software skills in readiness for the country’s digital transformation, to foster entrepreneurship, reduce unemployment and develop the country’s innovation ecosystem.
As part of the company’s strategic ambition for Sierra Leone, Orange is present in the country with a strong industrial project that will lead to invest significantly to cover most of the population in the country with telecoms and mobile financial services. This is why orange is committed to invest additional $24 million dollars this 2019 to build 55 new sites, and to extend its 4G Services to the rest of the country.
Orange SL CEO Aminata Kane Ndiaye
Orange remains committed to providing the best telecoms services in Sierra Leone ensuring its customers get an “Unmatched “experience.
