A Team from the Sierra Leone Digital Transformation Project, funded by World Bank, has on Wednesday the 12/03/2025 met and updated Sierra Leone Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Segepoh Solomon Thomas for an assessment and implementation of an E-Parliament for Sierra Leone.
Giving a brief background of the project, the focal person for the project, Director of Information and Communication Technology in Parliament, Joseph Conteh informed Speaker Thomas about the Sierra Leone Digital Transformation Project in the three Arms of Government. He said that the project is funded by the World Bank. He furthered that the project encompassed five components, of which the Parliament of Sierra Leone, being a critical Arm of Government, is featured in all of the five components. He added that Parliament had undertaken some activities under the aforesaid project, which included a stakeholders’ meeting with the World Bank and the Team from the Sierra Leone Digital Transformation Project. He concluded by assuring Speaker Thomas that the purpose of the meeting was to update the House’s Speaker about the status quo of the project .
The Sierra Leone Digital Transformation Project Coordinator, Madam Kumba Musa, assured the Rt. Hon. Speaker that the meeting was very important to them, especially when updating the Speaker of Sierra Leone Parliament on the status of the project. He said they have negotiated and identified potential bidders, but they have not yet signed an agreement with any of the potential bidders. She reiterated the importance of the project for the Sierra Leone Parliament. She also said that the Digital Transformation project would take into cognizance the digitalization of the functions of Government.
The Sierra Leone Digital Transformation Coordination also admonished Speaker Thomas that an assessment of the project would be done in order to ensure an efficient and effective implementation of the project. She assured Speaker Thomas that the World Bank is very keen on the durability and sustainability of the project. Madam Kumba Musa reassured Speaker Thomas that just after the inception meeting, which would be staged soonest, they would move on to the implementation of the project. She added that they would be hiring a consultant for the project, but he would be working directly with the Parliament of Sierra Leone. She assured that the Speaker and the House of Parliament would give directives to the consultant with regard to the project’s design and implementation. She requested Speaker Thomas to house the consultant in Parliament as they would be having six booths for their operations.
Thrilled and mesmerized by the project, the Rt. Hon. Speaker, Segepoh Solomon Thomas welcomed the Team from the Sierra Leone Digital Transformation Project to Parliament. Speaker Thomas assured the Team from the Sierra Leone Digital Transformation Project that Parliament is in a mad rush to see the project being implemented and rolled out successfully. Speaker Thomas asked probing questions regarding the time for the kickoff of the project. He pleaded with the Sierra Leone Digital Transformation Team to be expeditious and implement the project in the shortest possible time. The Team’s Coordinator assured Speaker Thomas that the project’s implementation timeframe would commence three months starting from April this year.
Speaker Thomas also informed the Team that all decisions and directives relating to the implementation of the project should come from him as the House’s Speaker. He called on the Sierra Leone Digital Transformation to inform him through the Director of the ICT, Joseph Conteh, relating to the project’s implementation. “ Stage by stage decision towards the implementation of this project comes from me directly. So keep this in mind”, said Speaker Thomas.
The meeting was facilitated by the Chief of Staff to the Office of the Speaker, Director David Saffa, and was chaired by the Deputy Clerk of Parliament Gilbert Bosco N’habay.
