Sheriff Mahmud Ismail Let me at the outset disagree with Titus Boye-Johnson’s despondence that the APC will not sing the victory song, for obvious reasons. With over 60% of Sierra Leoneans saying that the country is headed in the wrong direction and many struggling for their livelihoods, according to 2020 Afro barometer; the country’s perennial drop in other important indicators such as peace, freedom of speech, GDP projections etc, it only means that the prospects for the APC to regain State House in 2023 are great. Agreed, there are challenges and a lot need to be done to better organize the party ahead of the elections. But certainly, false alarms against our nation’s statesman, former president Koroma, as contained in Titus’ pessimistic article of today titled, ‘The APC Will Not Sing the Victory Song’, presents him in a very poor light and do not constitute some of the ways to go about such political come- back. What the APC requires now include dispassionate and honest efforts by all well- meaning party faithful to galvanize towards a strong and united front. But on the contrary, Titus often comes across as someone who is being consumed by hate to the point that he could hang on anything in the irrational hope of achieving the goal of vested interests. His incessantly vitriolic attacks on a man who stills enjoys tremendous support among the rank and file of the APC only serve to deepen the animosity which he alludes to. Titus’s unjustified failure to look at the whole picture regarding the APC situation is like someone in a running car with a brake failure, throwing out his hands trying to hold on to grass to stop the running vehicle. What Titus refuses to acknowledge is the glaring fact that no one is more eager to move on than former president Ernest Koroma who has clearly set his eyes on serving the region and Africa. Titus, of all people, ought to have accepted by now, in view of President Koroma’ s increasing international engagements, that he (President Koroma) is MOST DEFINITELY NOT INTERESTED IN BEING AT THE HELM OF LOCAL POLITICS. It is really pointless for Titus to be so worked up and to descend to this shameful depth of heartlessly accusing the much-respected APC leader or even suggesting that such a peaceful statesman as former president Ernest Koroma could ever contemplate of sponsoring a violent takeover of a government, he peacefully hander over to. Such thinking is not only perverse but it also represents desperation arising from the futility which has characterized detractors like Titus’ relentless calumny against the statesman. The inflammatory misinformation mindlessly spewed out in the above -mentioned piece does not benefit from sound reasoning. In fact, it smirks of buffoonery bothering on a lack of character and immaturity. This is more so in view of the doomsday prophesy of ‘darker days for the APC’ and the gibberish of someone ‘buying himself a set of jail card’. What is even more puerile is the insinuation of a ‘deal to suppress the APC until the second term of President Bio!’ But it is actually not difficult to discern the source of such desperate misinformation. Titus gave himself cheaply away when he mustered the courage to state the wish of his paymaster: ‘… but the fact is that unless the Chairman and Leader leaves the APC without waiting for a plebiscite…’ It is like someone asked a question and when you find the answer to their question, they change the question. Was Titus not among the loudest of advocates for the APC to go to convention in October, 2020 come what may? Did he not accuse the current executive of attempting to extend their mandate and threatening Armageddon if they did so? Now that they have publically stated that they are determined to hold the much-demanded convention, should Titus and his cohorts not be celebrating victory? And all that inanity about the NRM and a stay of action against the APC, about the Chairman and Leader resiging to triggar elections by an interim body, Titus only eloquently underscored the unassailable fact that he is executing the job of a paid hatchet man. But don’t worry Titus, the APC will not be intimidated by doomsday prophesies and what’s more, we SHALL sing the ‘Victory Song’ again, soon!
On the Post- Secondary School Volunteers Program Bai Bureh Heritage Foundation Ends Institutional Engagement
The Institutional Engagement is part of the design for the Post-Secondary School Volunteers (Internship) Program to ensure it Successful Implementation. Effectively, the Bai Bureh Heritage Foundation Completed a fruitful Tour to both Government and Non-Governmental Institutions operating in Port Loko. The move was to provide an insight of the Initiative for Institutions to see the need and to Collectively empower Young People. In this Engagement, Letters of request were also distributed for Institutions to accept and accommodate our PSS-Volunteers as Interns in their respective Offices and Places of work. As a Foundation and the lead Organizers of the Program, we will like to inform the general public and all Applicants that, the Post-Secondary School Volunteers (Internship) Program is a welcome idea by many Organizations. The Initiative was viewed in a very broader Perspective and a Foundation to build Young People which is in line with the aims and objectives of majority of the Organizations we engaged. For that reason, they have assured us (Bai Bureh Heritage Foundation) to keenly give a thought and to engage at organizational level so that they can find possible ways of participating and contributing to this drive of empowering young people in Port Loko City. In brief, the Post Secondary School Volunteers Internship Program is Career Development and Experience Program for young people who have sat to the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination- Wassce. Also, this is a Career Guidance Program that will provide the unique opportunity for outgoing Secondary School Students to acquire and develop skills and gain work experience while receiving exposure to a variety of Career fields before heading off to Colleagues and Universities. Despite the Initiative is yet to be funded, our Foundation will continue to explore the possibilities of Partnership and Collaboration to see to it that Young People are engage in the period of awaiting their results and we believe this will create a positive impact to the lives of many young people in Port Loko. The pilot face Implementation and from the outcome of our engagement, the Bai Bureh Heritage Foundation will only accept Thirty (30) young people from various Secondary Schools in Port Loko City. The Program is Scheduled to Commence from the 15th September to the 30th November 2020 This is a Ten (10) Weeks Program in which the first Two (2) Weeks is allocated for Effective and Efficient Training of Volunteers and the rest of the Eight (8) Weeks is for the Internship session in which two Volunteers will be attached per Institution or Organization. At this juncture, we want to express our sincere thanks and Appreciation to the Heads and Staff of the various Institutions for their Technical Guidance and Input and for the time accorded to us (Bai Bureh Heritage Foundation). The growth and development of any Nation Relies on the Attention it gives to its Children and Young People.
Legendary Column By: Sheku Putka Kamara Libertarianism vs. Social Responsibility
These days, hardly would you peruse social media contents without coming in contact with stuffs that have the affinity of disrupting public safety and public sanity. In most of these cases, some of the susceptible recipients of such information are programmed to accept the messages from magic bullet or hypodermic theoretical lenses. A whole lot of things may be responsible for such happenings. From observation, national and sectional political attachments that are most times prejudicially structured have had the best of people. It appears to be more of a battle of us vs. them. This is unwelcoming, surely! It is high time we stood up and condemn and yes, try to curb these irrationalities in our society. In animal farm, law and order are secondary issues and that is if there’s any hope for them to be considered at all. It appears that this is what people have turned and considered social media to be? That does not sound cool to me, not least because, those who may be trumpeting for a ‘free social media press’ today could be the ones that are demanding regulation tomorrow. It is on such basis that we have to realize that what is wrong today would still be wrong tomorrow and surely, two wrongs do not make a right. The open market place philosophy as propounded by numerous scholars like John Milton hypothesized that let everyman who has something to say, say it. It furthers that for at the end of the day, what remains to be true shall ultimately survive. This is a theory of gross radicalism because it gives everyone the urge and will to set an agenda no matter the contents and contexts. Professor James Tamba Lebbie of Fourah Bay College knows this best! Sadly, and if you like ideally, Sierra Leone is not ‘an open market place society where people could and would just do things no matter what and how.’ Our laws require that we adopt a social responsibility approach. That is to say, one has a right to say what he or she feels like, but then, one has to be held responsible and accountable for his or her actions and statements. This is why absolute press freedom is likely not achievable in any functional democracy. In all of these developments, we should always be mindful that the media is very powerful and that through its conflict perspective, it may as well have the ability to unmake society. We need not restate that a society that lacks law and order is one that has the likelihood to host havoc and unruliness. It is on that note that we all must denounce the wrongful use of social media. The battle to control Sierra Leone’s political space is not an easy one. It is therefore not surprising that even agendas that are not fit for purpose are surfacing and resurfacing. Recently, there appears to have been a national urge to deprecate hate speech and similar contents. This is not far from been great. We must be bold enough to state that there must not and should not be any room for malicious and fallacious contents. Politics aside, let us be mindful and be reminded that falsity does not shine where truth is all that matters. Sierra Leone does not have it all, but we need it most. Some of us keep stressing that there is need to accelerate more developmental agendas for this country and its people. Livelihood has to be pleasing for all and not just some. It is only when we begin to embrace those universal affirmative approaches and negate the particular confirmatory norms that we may have likely begun to make headway. The gullibility of some of our fellow countrymen is always a concern to some of us. For such people, media literacy could as well be dead because whatever they see or read on social media is a fact. That is how others have been programmed. So, the misinformation that is making the social media agendas has the ability to make people take and make uninformed decisions. Just if people understand that politics is not everything. Life still goes on after and without politics. It is not a crime to belong to part A or B, but let us not allow the love of and for politics to overshadow deductive reasoning and the love for and of country. The latter must and is expected to be paramount. Sierra Leone is the only place that a good number of us call home. We must be mindful of such a situation and ensure to give in our best to make this nation a much better place.
PONDER MY THOUGHTS
BY Andrew Keili AFROBAROMETER SURVEY: THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN! The people have spoken! I recall an incident in the 2010/2011 campaign for the SLPP flagbearer ship in Kenema. All of us 19 aspirants were present at a gathering of our supporters and the general SLPP membership at the Holy Trinity hall. Our Chairman, John Oponjo Benjamin “summarized” his speech in one hour and only gave each one of the aspirants 5 minutes to make our sales pitch to the audience, advising us that” brevity is the soul of wit”! The speaking sequence was balloted for and aspirants tried their hardest to appeal to people in the five allotted minutes, with the audience listening intently. When it was Maada Bio’s turn -I think he was sixth, there was a sudden invasion of masked devils into the hall and on to the stage, led by a wily J.J. Saffa. A well-proportioned Bondo devil nearly knocked me over-I suspect I know who was under the mask! Gorbois, Gafa gortuis, Jobais and other Mende masked devils danced around Maada Bio, holding his hands high and Gorbois made their usual fun. To say the rest of us were shocked will be an understatement. Creating the impression, he was the inevitable leader, his speech was short- “The people have spoken!” The people have spoken!”. There was pandemonium and everything was brought to an abrupt halt. The dancing continued with no more speeches. I recall Alpha Wurie, muttering underneath his breath- “Which kine nonsense dis? I laugh my head off anytime I recall this incident. Well, the people have spoken on the performance of this government. The recent Afro barometer report- “Di gron still dry’ Sierra Leoneans increasingly concerned about the economy” by the respected Institute of Governance Reforms (IGR) makes for an interesting read. Afro barometer is a non-partisan, Pan-African research institution conducting public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, the economy and society in more than 30 countries. People were interviewed on various issues bordering on the performance of government. Nobody can better IGR’s report; so, I will only attempt to comment on some of the issues raised to bring some awareness on what people really think about the performance of government. Issue 1-The country is not going in the right direction Only one-third of Sierra Leoneans (32%) say the country is going “in the right direction,” a 13-percentage-point decline compared to 2018 (45%). It is worrisome for only a third of the population to have a favorable view of the country’s direction. This inevitably means many ruling party supporters are included amongst those who do not have a favorable view of the country’s direction. Issue 2-The economic situation is bad and poverty is rife Just one in 10 Sierra Leoneans (11%) describe the country’s economic condition as “fairly good” or “very good.” Negative assessments (84%) have almost doubled since 2012 (46%). The government receives lower approval ratings on its economic performance than on other issues. Fewer than two in 10 respondents say the government is doing a good job of handling the economy (19%), improving living standards of the poor (15%), narrowing income gaps (10%), creating jobs (10%), and keeping prices stable (7%). A preponderantly high proportion of people frequently went without cash income, experienced medical care shortages and shortages of clean water and food. In an earlier study in IGC’s SIERRAPOL– “Stop the blame game: Take responsibility” the pooling seems to indicate that unemployment, shortage of food and rising prices of essential commodities are the greatest worry for a majority of citizens. Only ten percent of citizens believed the government was doing well in managing prices of goods. Similar low percentage were recorded for government’s ability in making food available (14.5 percent) and providing jobs (24.7 percent). These are alarming figures that bear out the poverty statistics. We simply cannot feed ourselves! Food prices have remained high. Our poverty statistics indicate households spend on average 63% of their total expenditure on food. It is ironical that our very own food producers-the farmers are the most food insecure. The incidence of poverty is highest in the agricultural sector, with about 79% of those engaged in the sector being poor. The New Direction manifesto went to great lengths to indicate how the SLPP would improve the economy. To be fair, some of the promises have been implemented with relative success, but it is worth mentioning others which have been given short shrift. Apart from general macroeconomic policies outlined, the manifesto was bullish about introducing a partial guarantee scheme to provide loans to high potential private sector entities, in order to reduce the cost of finance for investment, revamping the mining and tourism sectors, rehabilitating existing laboratories for fish quality and support accreditation to certify fish and fisheries products for export to the EU and other foreign destination and establishing Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and Export Processing Zones (EPZ. Despite the rhetoric, many of our productive sectors are on life support and some suffer from self-inflicted wounds. The promise was also made to tackle the issue of “uncontrolled wages and salaries caused by bloated public sector through presidential appointments and establishment of commissions that largely usurp the line Ministries’ functions, unregulated wage increases, double or triple dipping of salaries and pension as well as uncoordinated recruitment across the public sector”. Undertakings were also made to control government waste like that relating to government vehicles- “Reducing this cost (of using government vehicles) by at least 50% will make Le3.3 trillion in 5 years. Concrete measures will include reducing spending on purchase of V8 vehicles, introducing pool vehicle system in the public sector; staff bus service for junior workers and vehicle loan system for certain categories of public sector workers”. The New Direction manifesto made uplifting statements about “diversifying production of food, including crops and animals, on a scale sufficient enough to feed the growing population as well as providing gainful employment while maintaining the natural resource base”. Consideration would be given to “putting mechanisms in place for
CHRDI And WANEP On Peace Mission in Makeni
The Campaign for Human Rights and Development International (CHRDI) and the West African Network for Peace (WANEP), in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Sierra Leone, have engaged key stakeholders on promoting Peace and Social Cohesion in Makeni, Northern Sierra Leone. The town hall meeting, which was held at Makeni City Council Hall on 26th August 2020, was attended by representatives from the Makeni City Council, Sierra Leone Police, Traders Union, Youth Leaders, Civil Society groups, APPA, PPRC, RSLAF, ONS, Paramount Chief, APC, NGC, SLPP, and others. The community engagement seeks to contribute to the reduction and mitigation of community-level conflict and insecurity by investing in initiatives that address key drivers of conflict and insecurity. Speaking about the event, Chief Executive of CHRDI, Abdul Fatoma, said his organization has a new vision for the empowerment and engagement of youths in Sierra Leone, focusing on education as an important priority which will allow young people to develop the country. “There are a number of youths within the security sector (army, police) who could contribute to nation-building, and engage in developmental programmes like infrastructure, agriculture, teaching and vocational training,” he said. The two organizations are using an all-inclusive community security and social cohesion approach, which will empower communities to identify the drivers of conflicts in their communities in a participatory manner, using an integrated and gender-sensitive approach. It is expected that this will help support the communities to effectively prevent, manage and resolve conflict in a non-violent manner. At the same time, the project will also strengthen community relationships by identifying and strengthening cultural, social and economic connectors that make communities reliant on each other in times of peace and conflict, across sex and age divide.
Kamarainba Lawyer’s to Appeal.
By Feima Sesay One of the lead counsels for Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray lawyer Amadu Koroma has on Wednesday 26 August 2020 informed Justice Samuel Taylor that they are going to appeal against his judgement for the matter to be tried by judge alone. He further informed the court that they want the court to give them the opportunity to file in their appeal to the court of appeal as he said it is their legal right, and that it is the interest of Justice. In the circumstance applied for a short date to file in their appeal. This application came immediately when the prosecutor informed the court that she has a witness and wanted to make a token start. State prosecutor Umu Sumaray in reply maintains her previous application for the matter to be tried by judge alone, adding that her application was already in the file and that the defense counsels should have come two days with their appeal before now pursuant to section 146 subsection 3 of the CPA. She, however, argued that the proper foundation and proceedings have not been followed by defense counsels. She stated further that the reason why they appealing now was because they do not want the matter to proceed nor listened to the evidence, noting that all that they want is bail. Her application was made pursuant to section 144(2) of the criminal procedure act 1965. Lawyer J.M Jengo representing second accused Marion Arouni adopted the application made by lawyer Amadu Koroma, adding that delay is dangerous when it comes to the interest of Justice. Justice Samuel Taylor, however, cautions that they should not only progress for the sake of progress as it involves a waste of time and resources, adding that the defense team would have come with their appeal a week before now. Lawyer Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai also informed the court that he was reliably informed by the prison officers that his client Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray fell on the ground with his head. Justice Taylor, however, granted their application and adjourned the matter to Friday 28 August 2020. The accused persons were also refusing bail and remanded in Prison. The accused Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray and Marion Arouni were arraigned before Justice Samuel Taylor on 8 counts charges of conspiracy, sexual penetration of a child and other related offenses. According to the indictments, the state alleged that the accused persons sometimes in March and April conspired together with other persons unknown to commit a crime to wit sexual penetration.
As Former Mayor Herbert Williams and other Alleged Murder Trial Commence, Police Officer Testifies
By Feima Sesay Detective Police Constable 9268 Joseph Jay Collings attached to the Major Incident Unit CID HQ has on Wednesday 26 August 2020 Testifies before Justice Augustine K. Musa in the alleged murder of Ibrahim Samura involving Herbert George Williams and Abu Bakarr Daramy. Prior to his testimony after the 12 jurors were empanelled, the state prosecutor Umu Summary while addressing the jurors said the reason why they are in court is for the Prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused persons beyond a reasonable doubt. She said the offence must be committed in Sierra Leone and that the victim after the alleged incident must have died within a year. Madam Sumaray, while she was given a summary of what happen said on the 31 March 2018, the deceased together with two of his colleagues, were accredited by SLAJ to Observed the 2018 General Elections and while they were at Lumley the deceased saw the first and second accused beating up one man and that while he was taking photos of the scene, he was descended on by the accused persons and others. She said according to the evidence, the deceased was beaten with a dog chain by both accused persons, together with former Minister of Trade Ibrahim Washinga Mansaray, Sanusi Bruruski and Dankay Koroma daughter of former president Ernest Bai Koroma and that later he went to the Lumley Police Station and reported the matter and he was issued a medical form. She continues that on the 6 June 2018 the deceased died. Lawyer Sumaray said that was why they are in court to ascertain whether it was the accused persons that murdered the deceased. Justice Musa having listened to her address said the case is going to be treated like any other matter Prosecuted in this country as he said it will not be associated to police, noting that the judiciary has their integrity to uphold. In the circumstance urged the Prosecution to bring their witnesses on every adjourned date to ensure speedy trial. He also admonishes the defense counsels to be very cooperative. The witness is further testimony recognize both accused persons and further recalled sometimes in October 2019 when a case and enquiry file in respect of an alleged murder was officially transferred to his unit together with the accused persons for further investigation. He said himself and Detective Inspector John G.K Williams were assigned to the case and enquiry file. He said the case and enquiry file contains certain documents, which includes the medical certificate of course of death, endorse police medical report, a letter of apology from the APC party and some other relevant documents to the case. The witness said in the statement column of the said file was the statements of the deceased Ibrahim Samura and witnesses and voluntary caution statements of both accused persons. DPC Collins added further that, on 22 October 2019, he charges both accused separately with the offences of conspiracy to murder and murder. He said first accused Herbert George Williams refused to append his signature on the grounds that his lawyer must be present and that as a result of his refusal, he prepared a certificate in respect of his refusal together with DPC 9007 Kanu A.B sign by himself.
NASSIT DG Brings the Scheme Closer to The People
The Director-General of NASSIT, Mohamed Fuad Daboh is on the spotlight for his tireless strides in crisscrossing the length and breadth of the country, covering remote areas in a bid to sensitizing Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) Personnel of the mandate and operation of the Trust. After the maiden meeting held on Wednesday 3rd June 2020 with RSLAF top military officers which included the Minister of Defence, Brigadier (Retired) Kelly Conteh and the Chief of Defence Staff Lt. General Brima Sesay at NASSIT headquarters in Freetown; and the launched on the 21st July 2020 at the Defence Ministry, the Director General has joined his staff on a nationwide tour driving through difficult terrain to engage with military personnel across the country. The visits which are meant to increase awareness on the Trust and deepen the knowledge base of army personnel and members of the public on the operations of the scheme has seen him and team reaching across Zimmi Makpele, Bomaru, Sandaru, Kissi Teng, Bonthe Island, Gmogboimu, Sulima, Gondama, Buedu, Garu, Daru, etc assuring RSLAF Personnel that the Trust has put in place adequate measures to ameliorate the various challenges they faced in the administration of their funds. Just as in every other engagement held so far, the presentation constitutes deliberations on registration, contributions, compliance, benefits and investments undertaken by the Trust to meet the needs of the general populace. Personnel were well informed about Updating a Member’s Information and Application for Replacement of Social Security ID card. Several questions ranging from documents required to claim retirement benefits, dependants claiming survivor’s benefit, number of required contributions to qualify for minimum retirement pension, reporting the death of a member or pensioner, contingencies covered by the scheme, independence of the scheme from government interference, etc were elaborated. Though most of the challenges faced by personnel in areas such as wrong dates of birth, an irregular update of statements, inconsistent names, misinformed data emanated from within the military record system, the NASSIT team were excellent in encouraging personnel to be fully responsible in ensuring that their records are accurate and updated with the Scheme. Ever since the creation of the National Social Security and Insurance Trust as a Statutory Public Trust charged with the responsibility of administering the country’s National Pension Scheme by the NASSIT Act. No 5 of 20th July 2001, it is the first time the institutional head has in-person joined his staff in intensive public education campaigns ranging from mobile sensitization, face-to-face public education and radio discussion programmes. The astute administrator and people-focused Director-General have brought an astonishing turnaround in the operations of the Trust by his friendly and determined efforts to redefine the battered image of the institution. Recently, Mr Daboh demonstrated this by visiting several of his hospitalized staff in various hospitals in the country; making government pensioners them happier than ever by ensuring they earn no less than fifty per cent of the National Minimum Wage promised by the President Brigadier (Retired) Julius Maada Bio; making a modest donation of One Billion Leones to the National Coordinator of the Emergency Response Committee; and his hosting of a one day interactive Press seminar for print & electronic media practitionersacross the country where he made a commitment to turn over the fortune of the scheme; making active the NASSIT Medical Board which deals with the validation of claimants for payment of the invalidity benefits among others. Ably assisted in executing these tasks is the management team consisting of Mr Mohamed Gondoe Deputy Director-General, his General Managers and various divisional heads and staff.
Youth Minister Ends Regional Consultations on National Youth Policy
The Minister of Youth Affairs, Mohamed Orman Bangura and his team have concluded a regional consultation in Bo, Kenema, and Bombali districts on the proposed National Youth Policy 2020. Addressing participants across the three regions, Mr Bangura encouraged them to be upright and steadfast in their endeavors. In the years ahead, the Minister underlined, the youths of today will be in public institutions for which he urged them to resist corruption, safeguard the environment for the generations after them and increase their confidence in national and international governance. Mr Bangura described 2020 as a remarkable year because, according to him, at the global level Sierra Leone has 10 years to actualize the 2030 Agenda while at the national level the country has 3 years to complete the Medium-Term National Development Plan. He, however, stated that amidst this optimism, young people are challenged with confidence in public institutions, climate change and also faced with a legitimacy crisis of significant proportions in national and international governance structures. The Youth Minister implored youths to know that they exist because of others. “know that your action or inaction has a direct correlation to the functionality of public institutions, the environment, and the national structure. We should not be in denial that our institutions and structures are bedeviled with improprieties, institutions of trust have been rendered nonfunctional because of corruption and nepotism. I pledge to change this narrative because we are racing against time”.
Energy Minister Delivers 36 Containers to Bo/Kenema Rehabilitation Project As Minister of Energy, Alhaji Kanja Sesay delivers another 36 set of containers for the Bo/Kenema rehabilitation and expansion project, EDSA Director General, Dr. Joe Lahai Sormana promises a total fix …
The Minister of Energy, Alhaji Kanja Sesay and delegation has on Friday 21st August, 2020 delivered the 4th set of materials for the rehabilitation and expansion of the Bo/Kenema network project. The thirty-six (36) 40ft containers were displayed at the shelmingo roundabout and deposited at the Yormandu project storage facility. The astute and prudent statesman, Alhaji Kanja Sesay said that his presence was to continuously assure residents of Bo/Kenema of President Bio’s manifesto promise to electrify Bo/Kenema and its environs. He went on to say that the 36 set of containers were exclusively meant for the project work and contains LV cables and accessories. Mr. Sesay said that the project/civil works would fully commence in September, even though the design of the project was completed and mobilization of materials ongoing. He encouraged residents of the two cities to exercise some patience, while assuring them that upon completion of the project, residents would enjoy clean, stable, reliable and sustainable electricity. In his speech, the Director General of EDSA, Dr. Joe Lahai Sormana expressed delight over the project and stated clearly that the role of EDSA was to ensure that the deliverables of the project as stipulated in the contract document are clearly adhered to by the contractors. Dr. Lahai said that the project team at EDSA would closely monitor and work with the contractors to ensure that the materials supplied match with specifications in the contract agreements. The Director General of EDSA further called on residents of the two cities to own the project by providing all necessary support during the implementation stage. He acknowledged the fact that the two cities had serious electricity challenges while also applauding Government, through the Ministry of Energy, for supporting the drive to increase electricity supply to Bo and Kenema. The Project Manager for SINOTEC, Mrs. Zheng, spoke about the scope of their contract. She said that their work includes constructing 700 kilometers LV work, 190 kilometers 11kv work and installation of 176 different transformers. Similarly, the Resident Manager, T&D Solutions Limited, Pawan Kumar, highlighted the scope of their job which involves building six 33 kv substations. It is certain that the Bo/Kenema rehabilitation and expansion project is geared towards ensuring that the electricity challenges experienced by residents of the two cities is totally brought to an end.