December 1, 2021
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) with its Development Partners on Friday 26th November ended a five-day workshop on the Country Portfolio Performance Review (CPPR) held at the Ministry’s Conference Hall on George Street in Central Freetown.
In his statement, the Minister of Finance, Denis K. Vandi in no uncertain terms warned executing project staffs that he would not tolerate any delay in the implementation of projects and programmes if they were to stay in employment. “Those days of extensions, ineligible expenditures, debts monitoring and evaluations are over,” the Minister stressed. He emphasized that donor resources are the engines behind the country’s development agenda and, therefore, any fall of those engines would delay the journey of the country’s development aspirations. Denis K. Vandi also reminded colleague Ministers and Permanent Secretaries of having the greatest responsibility to ensure projects and programmes under their respective Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are successfully implemented.
The Minister further charged that heads of MDAs would be held responsible for any unsuccessful implementation of programmes and projects.
Mr. Vandi therefore encouraged all MDAs to chart the way forward in order to take the overall performance of the portfolios from red to green. He however conceded that there are serious challenges with the primary healthcare project, BADEA, the development of the three tertiary hospitals, Hill Side Bye-pass Road, Kuwait and other projects. The Country Portfolio Performance Review (CPPR) is an event collectively undertaken to assess the quality and performance of the country’s donor funded projects. The CPPR is also aimed at drawing on lessons learnt in implementing portfolio improvement plans and proffer recommendations for overcoming identified shortcomings.
All donor project partners including the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) among others engaged their respective Project Coordinators to identify implementation challenges of their respective projects and programmes to see how these issues are addressed with timeline of actions to be taken.
According to Mr. Vandi, delays in giving no objections to PIUs slow responses in the disbursement of funds and cumbersome procurement procedures are all pitfalls from donor partners themselves.
In an on-line connection, a representative from Thamer Alfailakawi revealed that in early January, next year, there would be a team in Sierra Leone to do the appraisal of the cancer center project in Freetown and other ongoing projects.
A representative from BADEA, Abdel-Aziz Abdel Rahman, noted that there had been challenges in the no objection documents. He therefore advised the project staffs to access the BADEA website to read through and understand some of the procedures in carrying out procurement and other documentation procedures.
Hollywood Producers Pay Courtesy Call on Julius Maada Bio to Boost Tourism in Country
President Julius Maada Bio has on the 29th November, 2021 received two Hollywood producers, Ariel Leon and Michael Duff, from The Roots Production Service, to discuss possibilities to film on location in Freetown, Bo and other parts of Sierra Leone by next year.
These two producers, from a larger-than-life symbol of the entertainment business in the United States, were in the country as an advanced team to visit potential filming locations as they set to film a movie called “The Bridge To Kono”.
Dr. Julius Spencer, who led the team, expressed gratitude to President Bio for receiving them and explained that producers were visiting to engage with authorities and stakeholders on the success of the project. He assured that that would a huge opportunity for the country because it would boost the tourism industry and encourage more directors and producers to invest in similar ventures.
Ariel Leon, owner and managing partner of The Roots Production Service and one of the producers, said they were in the country on behalf of the director of the movie, Werner Herzog, who is a well-known German film director, producer, actor and screenwriter who had produced more than 60 films.
He said they were hoping to film on location in Freetown, Bo and other sites around Sierra Leone in mid-2022, adding that they had visited close to 50 bridges in the country and were pleased to film on the Bumpeh Bridge located on the southern part of the country.
In his short remarks, President Julius Maada Bio welcomed the team and noted that he had been informed about the movie and wanted to assure them of his government’s fullest support to make the project a success.
“My government will provide all the necessary documentation you may need to help make your work easier,” he concluded.