The First Lady, Madam Fatima Bio, on the 25th September, 2021, presented to Sierra Leoneans in the USA the “Hands Off Our Girls” as the People’s Campaign where she praised her husband, President Dr Julius Maada Bio, for successfully securing an agenda item at the 76th United Nations General Assembly.
Speaking during a fundraising event organized by “Friends of the Hands Off Our Girls Campaign”, the First Lady said that the programme is a continuation of the conversation of the campaign, which started in Sierra Leone and now on a global stage at the United Nations.
She thanked friends of the campaign and various stakeholders, including Legal Access through Women Yearning for Equality Rights (LAWYERS), Rainbow Initiative, a national non-governmental organization that is passionate about ending sexual gender-based violence in Sierra Leone, the Judiciary and the Sierra Leone Police for having supported the “Hands Off Our Girls Campaign” over the years.
Madam Fatima Bio also highlighted the ongoing 34 Military Project, which was being undertaken with funds raised by the campaign and praised her husband for providing her with the platform to support his human capital development vision through the campaign.
“President Bio, my husband, is the only African leader who has given so much voice to justice for victims of sexual violence and rape,” the First Lady said.
In a short statement, President Bio said that if they were to demonstrate seriousness about developing the country, they should carry women with them, adding that his Government would need a bigger coalition to protect women against sexual violence and rape.
He stated that it was no longer the First Lady’s campaign but rather it is now Sierra Leone’s campaign and called on every woman to support the campaign.
“When we are changing Sierra Leone, it should be inclusive and women and girls should be part of it,” he concluded.
During the fundraising event, the “Friends of Hands Off Our Girls Campaign” raised US $110,000 dollars, a little over Le1.1 billion.
Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, the Honourable Vice President of Sierra Leone
By Amin Kef Sesay
Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, the Honourable Vice President of Sierra Leone has on the 22nd September 2021, called on global leaders to accelerate the progress in responding to the Corona pandemic in order for them to reach the vaccination target of 70% of the world’s population by UNGA 2022.
He made that statement during a virtual summit organized and hosted by the White House to call on global leaders to make new commitments to fight against the corona pandemic, including commitments to vaccinate 70% of the world’s population by September 2022.
The summit focused on efforts to reach worldwide consensus on how to end the Corona virus pandemic and encouraged participating countries to “identify concrete actions and set the ambitious targets needed to achieve that goal and prepare the world for future health security threats.”
Speaking at the summit, the Honourable Vice President Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh disclosed that Sierra Leone has succeeded in keeping its total infection rate at 6400 because of the early preparedness mechanisms in the Covid-19 fight put in place by the leadership of H.E President Julius Maada Bio and his Government.
He stated that, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the planet to a standstill. “Whether it was testing our global access to medical supplies and technologies, our health infrastructures or frontline workers and their resilience, the pandemic has had tremendous impact on our lives,” VP Jalloh lamented.
Highlighting the challenges brought by the pandemic, Vice President Jalloh said it has caused individual losses, interruptions in education, economies and fundamentally shaken the very social fabric of the world.
He noted that the emergence of the pandemic in 2020 has shown the need for countries to work together more than ever before in dealing with Covid-19 and future pandemics.
According to Vice President Jalloh, Sierra Leone has lost an estimated amount of $2 billion in revenues in 2020 alone due to the disruptions caused by the pandemic in terms of lockdowns, restrictions, curfews, impact on businesses, tourism and other economic activities.
He pointed out that for a country like Sierra Leone that sum is huge. “Our Government must now grapple with how this can be managed and balanced with the other critical needs of the Sierra Leonean people,” he stated.
Vice President Juldeh Jalloh called on global leaders to accelerate the progress in responding to the pandemic in order for them to reach the vaccination target of 70% of the world’s population by September 2022.
He further disclosed that Sierra Leone has received just under 1 million (991,490) doses of different Covid-19 vaccines through the COVAX mechanism, direct donations by the Chinese Government and the African Union. “In the last few weeks, we have received an additional 265,000 doses from COVAX-USG (including the Pfizer vaccine). While this is expected to be enough to vaccinate roughly 800,000 people in-country representing approximately 10% of the total population, another 300,000 doses are in the pipeline to be received this year. However they will not be sufficient to reach the 70% mark,” he stated.
He further disclosed that 78,000 people or approximately 1.1% of the country’s total population are fully vaccinated while 325,000 have received at least one dose. Dr. Juldeh Jalloh disclosed that 60% of the health workforce in the country has been vaccinated.
He appealed to the international community to extend the timeline of funding and expected results to allow adequate period for domestic budgets to absorb the workforce because building capacity requires time and he encouraged them to mobilize large scale funding to provide the needed critical threshold of investments and to separate funding from policy to enable Governments to best determine the needs of their countries and prioritize budgets to support that development.
The Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Memunatu Pratt has on 24th September, 2021held talks on 24th September, 2021 with a delegation of the European Union (EU) to Sierra Leone led by Ambassador Manuel Muller at the Ministry’s Kingharman Road Office in Freetown.
European Union Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Manuel Muller, in his statement said the EU is working with Sierra Leone in many fronts on sustainable development, and that they will be organizing beach cleaning on October 16th 2021 in partnership with the National Tourist Board (NTB) geared towards protecting the beaches, avoid plastic pollution, raise awareness on the importance of preserving oceans and foster community engagement in the efforts of cleaning the beaches as it is a global challenge, and looked forward to working with the Ministry in having a successful event.
In her submission, Minister Pratt welcomed the EU delegation to the Ministry while informing them that tourism is one of the economic diversification programmes of Government and a very good income generation and job creation sector and lot has been done in the past three years to create the infrastructure and improve on international marketing by attending an International Tourism Market in Berlin and other tourism conferences globally.
The Minister said she had engagements with the previous EU Ambassador, Tom Vens and they spoke about mutual support and cooperation from the EU to build on the tourism infrastructure with the idea of considering the sector for support in the 2022 budget year, emphasizing that the tourism sector needs more support in order to contribute meaningfully to the GDP and also to a number of issues in Sierra Leone as a continuing discussion with the out-gone Ambassador.
She mentioned the latest international tourism conference she attended in Evora, Portugal where she participated in a number of sessions in supporting small countries like Sierra Leone in the area of tourism to address poverty reduction, climate change maintaining that such is part of the Ministry’s programmes. She told the EU Ambassador that all the beaches across Sierra Leone are disturbed by climate change and waste pollution and the Ministry do not have a standalone project to support beach cleaning, hence pleaded for other beaches across the country to be considered and requested for a standalone beach cleaning support for the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. She called on the Ambassador to support the sector as it is very critical to providing jobs for many people.
The EU Ambassador applauded the Minister for attending many international conferences on tourism saying that it is important for the sector to have direct involvement of the international tourism actors to understand the situation on the ground while noting that the concerns for support of the Ministry have been noted.
The well-established oil marketing company that has been operating in the country for quite a long time now, the National Petroleum Sierra Leone Limited, NP (SL-Ltd) is relentlessly enhancing its strides to always ensure that its imported petroleum products are available on the market and easily accessible to its numerous and esteemed customers. Management of the company has made it a matter of must for these products to be present in all the nook and cranny of the country.
NP-SL Limited, as a private entity, is purely an indigenous company that has mastered the art of importing and marketing petroleum products which include petrol, diesel, gas as well as certified lubricants, one of which is the widely used Castrol oil.
Amidst various challenges that have been encountered since the company was established, it has, however, successfully weathered those storms that could have dwarfed it or exposed it to extinction, save therapeutic intermittent Managerial injections that keep it upright and on the right course.
Demonstrating its true Sierra Leonean identity the company has maintained a policy of strictly adhering to the Local Content Policy ensuring that it has a maximum indigenous staff in its employ. What this actually means is empowering our brothers and sisters to access employment opportunities and reduce poverty.
As a matter of fact some members of staff continue to benefit from various trainings that have afforded them the conduit to imbibe useful skills to efficiently carry out certain assigned tasks. If we are counting the number of companies that have upheld the Local Content Policy, without any iota of doubt, NP-SL could be seen at the top.
This intrinsic nationalistic posture of the company runs through and it is a sine qua non to overall national development. If such a compliance rate should have been followed by other local companies, willingly, without any pressure from the relevant authorities then indisputably this country should have been miles away in its development trajectory.
Business Management experts have made it abundantly clear that the way and manner in which customers are cared for in terms of talking to them, making them feel at ease go a long way in attracting them. Such should be done sincerely in order to make them more important. NP-SL for a very long period now has executed it so well which definitely is paying dividends.
1st for Customer Care was earned by the company because it has been widely acclaimed by many for solidly executing such.
In its drive to optimize customer satisfaction the company went the extra mile to install calibrated pumping machines which are not only modern but trustworthy, as opposed to old pumping machines which certain unscrupulous individuals used to cheat unassuming customers.
This is helping to repose confidence in customers that they are dealing with a very transparent entity. The friendliness of their pump attendants is very impressive and they are always there to timely respond to various concerns.
Still within the purview of 1st for Customer Care, the company is always in a position to enter into payment plans with its reliable and dependable customers including Ministries, Departments and Agencies for supplied fuel and lubricants as long as all the necessary modalities have been put in place.
When cognizance is taken of the fact that some of these institutions receive intermittent budgetary allocations then such an arrangement is very significant. Its significance in real terms borders on functional continuity of those institutions as they will be assured of supplies of petroleum products in as much as they keep honouring their obligations.
For those who have not tried NP Gas for the first time it is now time to give it a try. Designed in sizable varying cylinders and sold at various NP Filling Stations, this cooking device has been rated as one of the best that is on offer for sale. NP Gas is safe, user friendly and portable. Trying it will spur you to recommend it to others.
NP Smart Card is now in vogue and is one of the latest technological devices used to purchase petroleum products. Using it has attendant advantages as evident in procuring fuel at any time of the day even during times when monies could not be accessed from banks. It is secured, easy to use and very quick. It is now trending.
To crystallize proposed projects into tangible realities on the ground, Government needs the required financial resources to effectively do so and one sure way is from collection of taxes which is the mandate of the National Revenue Authority (NRA). NP is one big tax payer to Government and it has been doing so timely.
NP-SL remains undaunted, unperturbed amidst all the challenges it is going through and conscientiously it is steadily contributing to the socio-economic development of the country as well as positively changing communities and lives.
The United Nations (UN) World Tourism Day was celebrated on the 27th September, 2021by the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs together with its sub-vented agencies including the National Tourist Board (NTB) and the Monument and Relics Commission (MRC)on the theme, “Tourism Inclusive Growth in Attaining the SDGs and Agenda 2030 in Post Covid-19 Era”.
In 1980, United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) declared September 27th as a special day for the celebration of the UN World Tourism Day to promote public awareness on the immense contributions of tourism to the socio-economic growth of nations, but to also promote peace and socio-cultural cohesion globally to reflect on the challenges faced by the tourism and hospitality industry. Since 2018, the Ministry and its stakeholders have consistently been organizing the celebration of the UN World Tourism Day in an effort to raise awareness of tourism’s contribution to livelihood, job creation and revenue generation.
This year’s observance of the World Tourism Day was marked by the organization of regional dialogues in Kenema, Bo and Makeni using the occasions to recognize the role tourism plays in fair trade and climate action to gender equality, indigenous rights and opportunities for youth. The celebration started with a procession from Cotton Tree to the Ministry’s Kingharman Road Office in Freetown.
In his opening statement, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Andrew L. Sorie said the Ministry joined the rest of the world to celebrate UN World Tourism Day, intimating that the sector is the hardest hit by Covid-19 with an international job loss of more than 100 million and international financial losses of over three trillion dollars but with it resilience, the sector is back on its feet, hence the need to celebrate this all important day, he said.
Explaining the purpose of the celebrations, the Director of Tourism, Mohamed Jalloh, started by expressing appreciation to the UNDP for their immense support towards the celebrations, adding that the advent of Covid-19 has had a massive social and economic impact.
He continued that the resuscitation of the sector will help kick-start recovery and growth and the benefits will be enjoyed widely and fairly. He furthered that the theme was chosen as a result of the fact that the sector is a pillar of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and would provide an opportunity to promote tourism’s role in inclusive growth and identify how further progress can be made.
He said the various platforms will be used to sensitize stakeholders on the need to increase vaccine uptake thereby contributing to quickly subduing the Covid-19 virus and reducing risks for visitors to tourists destinations.
In her statement, the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Memunatu Pratt, intimated that this year’s global celebration of UN World Tourism Day was held in Ivory Coast and that she was looking forward to the day Sierra Leone will host the celebrations. She said there are lots of positive changes in the sector compared to how it was before 2018.
She maintained that considerable strides have been made in fostering the growth of the sector and that the Ministry will be presenting the first ever National Tourism Act.
The Minister added that all the other sectors have relationship with tourism and the framework to establish the link is the SDGs.
She revealed that the outcome of the regional deliberations have been so impactful in bringing tourism to inclusive development. She called for the promotion of Public-Private Partnership to ensure the creation of historic opportunities to advocate for policy decisions that are pro-women, pro-climate, sustainable ecotourism, pro-cultural and natural heritage development with the people at the center.
In his keynote address, the UN Resident Coordinator, Babatunde A. Ahonsi, recognized the value and potential of tourism to advance prosperity, inclusiveness and sustainable development and that tourism cuts across almost every part of our economies and societies.
He remarked that the tourism sector has great potential in accelerating progress towards achieving the SDGs particularly to Goal 14 “Life Below Water, Goal 8 “Decent Work and Employment” and Goal 12 “Responsible Consumption and Production”.
He maintained that the UN in Sierra Leone through the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, aligned to the Medium-Term Development Plan (2019-2023) and anchored in the 17 SDGs has committed its support towards the acceleration of economic development for the benefit of all, including those in the tourism sector. He stated that the UNDP has supported the tourism sector in many fronts saying that expanding the tourism sector will increase pressure on the natural biodiversity and the ecosystems on which the livelihoods of so many people and local communities depend.
High level panel discussions were held on climate change mitigation, protection of marine resources and biodiversity, ICT as a channel for effective marketing of the tourism sector and private sector partnership and effective policies and institutional capacity to improve tourism financial management.
The Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, Solomon Jamiru, Deputy Chairman Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Tourism, Emmanuel S. Conteh, the Principal of Milton Margai University of Science and Technology, Dr. Phillip Kanu President of Hotel and Tourism Association, Shallop were all part of the deliberations. The General Manager of the National Tourist Board, Fatmata Hamid Carew, ended the program with a remarkable parting message.
A few days later on October 1st, 2021, the People’s Republic of China will celebrate her 72nd birthday. 72 years ago, when the People’s Republic of China was founded, the course of Chinese history in modern times and the landscape of world development was to be profoundly transformed.
Over the past 72 years, the Chinese nation has moved from standing up and getting prosperous to becoming strong. And the living standards of the Chinese people have been elevated from bare subsistence to moderate prosperity in all respects.
Over the past several decades, China has been following the path of peaceful development, practicing an independent foreign policy of peace and adopting a win-win strategy of opening-up. China has firmly upheld multilateralism, safeguarded the UN-centered international system, and promoted the international order underpinned by the international law.
The year 2021 is of great significance for China. It marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the successful realization of the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and the start of a new journey toward realizing the great national rejuvenation. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with President Xi Jinping at its core, China is marching toward the second centenary goal of building a great modern socialist country in an all round way.
In 2021, China’s economic and social recovery from COVID-19 pandemic has been accelerated. In order to protect people’s lives and health, China kept in place effective prevention and control measures with great courage, firm determination and exceptional resilience. China succeeded not only in bringing the pandemic under control but also boosting economic and social development. In the first half of this year, China’s GDP exceeded 53 trillion RMB yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.7%, injecting powerful impetus to the global recovery. For the second half of this year, China’s economic growth continues to be robust and impressive.
In 2021, China registered complete victory in the fight against poverty. The eradication of absolute poverty in China represents another miraculous achievement. It is a concrete but strategic step taken by China in promoting human rights, especially the rights to subsistence and development. China has achieved the first target of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals 10 years ahead of schedule. Since China’s reform and opening up 43 years ago, the number of China’s rural population raised out of poverty was close to 800 million, which accounted for more than 70 percent of the global poverty reduction over the period.
In 2021, China achieved new breakthroughs in scientific and technological advancement. China’s Tianwen-1 probe successfully landed on Mars. A 62-qubit programmable superconducting quantum processor Zu Chongzhi was successfully designed. China’s space station core module Tianhe was launched. Recently three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth after working in space for three months and another 3 astronauts are about to take the next ride very soon, hitting a new milestone in China’s peaceful exploration of the space.
The year 2021 also marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the legitimate seat of the PRC in the United Nations. China’s relation with the world has been further enhanced. H.E. President Xi Jinping attended a series of major diplomatic events such as the Leaders’ Climate Summit, the Global Health Summit and the General Debate of the 76th UN General Assembly etc.. President Xi repeatedly put forward China’s proposals for the world to fight the pandemic together, strengthen international cooperation, and jointly create a better future for mankind. President Xi also solemnly announced a series of new measures and commitments on behalf of China towards those undertakings including the provision of 2 billion doses of vaccine to the world throughout this year and another 3 billion USD of assistance to the international community in 3 years.
In 2021, China firmly defended her sovereignty, security, development interests, national dignity and international justice. China continued making earnest contributions to the building of a new type of international relations, appropriately handled her relations with other major countries and cemented friendship with her neighbors and other developing countries.
In 2021, the implementation of the follow-up actions of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) entered the final stage. The eight major initiatives for China-Africa cooperation have been fully delivered and China-Africa cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative has been carried out smoothly. Despite the pandemic, more than 1,100 cooperation projects were maintained in operation unimpeded and about 100,000 Chinese technical and engineering personnel stood by their posts, supporting the economic and social development of African countries. A new FOCAC conference is scheduled to be held in Senegal in November. It can be safely predicted that with the concerted efforts of all the FOCAC members, the conference will yield new tangible results and open up a new chapter for China-Africa friendly cooperation.
In 2021, China and Sierra Leone warmly celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations. Spanning half a century, the brotherly ties between the two countries and two peoples have grown ever stronger. H.E. President Xi Jinping and H.E. President Julius Maada Bio held a telephone conversation in May this year and exchanged congratulatory messages on the 50th anniversary of China-Sierra Leone diplomatic relations on July 29. As can be seen, new progress has been made in China-Sierra Leone cooperation in a wide range of areas, especially the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, infrastructure building and human resources development etc..
Standing at the new starting point, under the guidance of the two Heads of State, the Chinese side will continue to work hand in hand with the Sierra Leonean side in further deepening bilateral relationship and proactively seeking common development.
The Founder and Executive Director for the Amazonian Initiative Movement and the Proprietress for the Amazonian Bilingual Schools and Orphanage Homes in Sierra Leone, Rugiatu Neneh Turay is a popular and well recognized Anti FGM Campaigner in Sierra Leone, Africa and the World at large with a decorated shelve of Awards of Recognition and Appreciation at Local, National and International Level.
She is also considered to a Humanitarian Activist whose passion to support the development of children and young people, especially women and girls cannot be overemphasized. The Female Genital Mutilation- FGM Campaign that started in Port Loko District is today spreading across the country with a lot of progressive and successful stories. Her resilience to end FGM has earned her a reputation as a reference point when FGM issues are discussed globally.
On several occasions to educate the general public, Rugiatu Neneh Turay have disclosed that: “Our fight is to make sure the Soweis stop removing the clitoris of women and girls in the name of Culture but rather should work to maintain the good practices of Bondo Culture. Our Campaign is on the Clinical side of the practice. Culture changes over time. It’s man made and can be changed.”
Being an eye witness of testimonies in couple of programs, victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) usually express regret for the removal of their clitoris especially when it is done at a very tender age and without their consent. Such situations always ignite a thought that the sexual organ is under attack and this requires a now change on FGM in which the collective efforts of everyone is needed to protect our women and girls.
Rugiatu Neneh Turay introduced the “Alternative Right of Passage” a Bondo that upholds the culture without no blood (cutting). Such is a way for women and girls to be part of the Bondo Culture with no harm. With alternative skills for a living, she has empowered a lot of Soweis to lay down tools and to abolish the harmful practice.
She is currently replacing Bondo Bushes with schools across Sierra Leone as part of the community awareness that education is the best gift to offer to children. The Bondo must not be used by politicians to maintain votes of women but rather to support them with livelihood skills that will enable them support their children to acquire education because it is the gateway out of Poverty and the way to Prosperity. Support the Fight to End FGM in Sierra Leone.
One of the leading water bottling companies in the country, the Gulf Mineral Water and Beverage Company, situated at 5 Smart Farm, Off Wilkinson Road in Freetown is far from operating according to appreciable and acceptable standards. Even though the company is making huge profits from the sale of the products that it manufactures, which are sold mainly to hotels, supermarkets, entertainment complexes, among other market outlets with a sizable quantity exported to neighboring countries, yet it is openly conspicuously apparent that it is not living up to expectation by giving back to society.
Lamentably, the company stands guilty of not effectively honoring its Corporate Social Responsibility within its area of operations. As a matter of fact, it was the expectation of many residents living within the locality that Management would, from time to time, facilitate the maintenance of the road that leads to where the company is located but that is far from taking place.
Indeed, the road is really in a deplorable state and is a complete eyesore. Management of the company has never expressed the willingness or interest to ensure that the repairing of the road takes place and worst still is that the company’s fleets of vehicles that are used to supply the products that it produces are just packed haphazardly thereby making it extremely difficult for residents owning vehicles to conveniently have places for safely packing. To add insult to injury the water that is used in the production line is being bought from the Guma Valley Water Company whose vehicles also contribute to the worsening of the condition of the road
What is indeed indisputably is the fact that the road is, on a daily basis, damaged by the company’s vehicles and as best practice demands it must be the responsibility of Management of the company to ensure that regular maintenance work is undertaken but regrettably that is not the situation and every day the problem keeps escalating to the discomfort and annoyance of many.
Through an in-depth investigation conducted by this medium it was discovered that the company does not have an Electronic Cash Register (ERC) to track down the sales of its products. In other words, there is no proper financial transparency in place and such should be checkmated because it is only when a well placed mechanism is put in place that the National Revenue Authority (NRA) would be in a better position to determine the amounts the company should be paying as taxes to the Government.
What this medium also learnt is that Management of the company has made it a deliberate policy to employ casual workers who are paid below the minimum wage and not subjected to other employment benefits.
It is high time that the Government should prevail on the Management as soon as possible by making it obligatory for it to undertake proper maintenance of the road in order to bring it up to an appreciable standard and that must be done as soon as possible otherwise the situation would continue to deteriorate. Besides, Management must be told to install an Electronic Cash Register in order to track down the sales that it conducts at the factory. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security should also ensure that the workers of the company are treated fairly.
For now as the situation stands the Gulf Mineral Water and Beverage Company is not operating according to how a good manufacturing company of that nature should be doing and residents within the community are not in any way benefitting in any shape or form. The timely intervention of the Government and other stakeholders is highly significant at this material in order to prevent residents from continuing to suffer the inconvenience that the dilapidated road continues to pose.
Our political leaders were very optimistic about the country’s future at Independence. They hoped to transform the newly independent country so that the citizens would enjoy the fruits of Independence, as colonial rule had brought only few benefits to the majority of the people. And indeed, they started well.
They formulated good policies for the social and economic development of their people.
School enrolment, for example, increased substantially in the first decade of independence. The road network was expanded and hospitals and clinics were built.
However, these impressive developments were soon overshadowed by many problems, some of which have still not been solved.
Our rulers have faced serious challenges in trying to unite their people. We inherited a State that had been created by Britain which consisted of different ethnic groups, religions and interests.
Unfortunately, our leaders have not made greater efforts to unite the different communities. Thus, members of each group have tended to identify themselves more with their ethnic group rather than with their country and loyalty to the ethnic group is often more important than loyalty to the State.
Sometimes political leaders even consciously promote ethnic discord in order to fulfill their selfish desires. Creating a viable nation-state (unity in diversity) from these different communities has been difficult.
The political parties in most independent States have compounded the problem. These parties, especially those formed during the period of the nationalist struggle for independence, were mostly ethnic or regionally based organizations.
Nationalist leaders had appealed mainly to their regions or ethnic groups for support. Even after Independence, these parties continued to operate like regional rather than national parties. This has led to serious political problems, especially during election periods.
The reason is that politics in post-independent Sierra Leone still centers around the distribution of resources, not on ideologies.
Sierra Leone’s two main political parties, the All People’s Congress (APC) and Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), for example, have suffered from being labeled regional parties.
Although the parties have made efforts to expand their support base, the APC is still perceived as a north-western based party and SLPP as south-eastern.
Whatever party is in power tends to allocate huge resources to their strongholds and appoint people from their regions to strategic positions, to the detriment and annoyance of people from other regions. It undermines the unity and stability of these States and is sometimes the primary cause of internal conflicts.
This problem is common in many other West African countries.
In Sierra Leone, the rate at which sexual exploitation against children is informally reported is very alarming despite Government and other agencies efforts to curb the societal ill in the country.
In a bid to stop sexual exploitation of children in the country, Don Bosco Fambul on Friday 24th September, 2021 launched the “Lef Mi Bodi” Campaign that aims at raising awareness among the population on issues related to sexual exploitation and how to prevent them during a well-attended Press Conference at the Don Bosco Fambul Office on Fort Street in Freetown.
Giving the keynote address, the Communications Officer of Don Bosco Fambul, Amanda Helen Clemens, noted that stories of minors being sexually penetrated is not a new tune in their ears, adding that as partners, stakeholders and the media personalities they are all aware of the rising number of sexual penetration due to their daily work in the field.
She maintained that based on statistics in 2020, 2,138 children in distress called the Don Bosco child line and in the same year, Rainbo Initiative recorded 2,322 cases of sexual assault on minors nationwide furthering that according to the Family Support Unit of the Sierra Leonean Police, 915 cases of sexual exploitation were recorded between January and April 2021 alone.
She disclosed that the, ‘Lef mi Bodi’ campaign aims at raising awareness among the population about the issues related to sexual exploitation and how to prevent them.
Underscoring the activities of the campaign, the Communications Officer stated that they will be conducting interactive school workshops that will train school-going pupils about the dangers of sexual exploitation and how to spot and avoid underscoring how schools play crucial roles in the campaign to prevent sexual exploitation against minors.
In his brief statement, representative of Laughter Africa, James Tyrrell, said that the Network for Street Children Sierra Leone is a consortium of five Non-Government Organizations working with street children including Dom Bosco, Pikin Paddi, St George’s Foundation and Street Child.
He stated that the ‘Network for Street children will be advocating on behalf on any girl or boy living on the streets who experienced sexual abuse, adding that it is usual for the children living on the streets not to take any further action after they have been assaulted of which he said they want to change that and ensure they feel safe and be supported to access relevant services and achieve justice.
“We hope that more prosecutions of perpetrators will serve as a message to any future offenders that sexual assault against stretch children is taken seriously and has severe consequences, so that we see a reduction in the number sexual abuse offences,” James Tyrrell concluded.
The Assistance Director of Children’s Affairs in the Directorate of the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs, Daniel Albert Gbow, applauded Don Bosco Fambul for the launch of the campaign and their tireless efforts in complementing Government’s effort in providing services for children in the county especially girls and addressing sexual abuse, exploitation etc.
He said since the separation of the Ministry in 2019 their mandate has been ensuring the protection of women and girls in the country, through monitoring, partnership and the review of child protection or gender policies or legislation in collaboration with various actors.
Daniel Albert Gbow maintained that sexual exploitation is really a social problem in the country that has affected the development of children especially girls, stating that despite Government and other agencies efforts to curb the menace it still a challenge.
He maintained that the Ministry has been working in collaboration with various MDAs which include the Office of the Anthony General and Ministry of Justice, FSU and child protection partners in order to address the menace in the country.
The Senior Communications Officer at Rainbo Initiative, Bob Lamin, on behalf of Rainbo Initiative expressed gratitude to Don Bosco Fambul for launching the “Lef Mi Bodi” Campaign which aims at stopping sexual exploitation on children in the country.
He said that if campaign like that could have existed they should have not recorded the 1,691 SGBV cases from January to June 2021, adding that campaign like the “Lef Mi Bodi” will help to raise awareness for the need to stop sexual exploitation on children, adding that they should have also recorded the 242 teenage girls that turnout to be pregnant after abuse.
Bob Lamin concluded that should raise up their voices on Sexual Gender Based Violence issues which will support the “Lef Mi Bodi” Campaign in order to put a stop to sexual exploitation on children across the country.
Statements were also delivered by representatives from the FSU, SLTU, Office of the Anthony General and Ministry of Justice.
The event was climaxed by the official launching of the “Lef Mi Bodi” campaign by the Assistant Director of Don Bosco Fambul, Samuel Thomas Bojohn.
