By: Mohamed M. Sesay
To support Sierra Leone in the forthcoming general elections, the Indian High Commission has on Thursday the 6th of April 2023, handed over 40,000 units of indelible ink to the Chief Electoral Commissioner Mohamed Konneh to be used for the conduct of the June 24th 2023 elections.
While presenting the indelible inks to the Chief Electoral Commissioner, the Charge D’ Affaires Neeraj Kumar Saini, said it was a matter of immense pleasure and happiness for him and his colleagues from the Indian High Commission to be a part of that handing over ceremony of Indelible ink, which has been provided by Government of India as a friendly gesture to Sierra Leone for the forthcoming Presidential Elections 2023.
He disclosed that the request for Indelible ink was received from National Electoral Commission in August/September last year and keeping in view the cordial and strong bilateral relations between India and Sierra Leone, Indian High Commission, with its strong recommendations, promptly sent the proposal to Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.
“The Ministry of External Affairs also accepted the proposal positively and initiated the process of procurement of Indelible Ink immediately. And, finally, the consignment of 40,000 units of Indelible Ink arrived at Freetown on 31 March 2023 in a very timely manner and is ready to use in the forthcoming elections. You would appreciate that in the past also, India had donated indelible ink to Sierra Leone for elections”, he said.
He assured that India has always been a time-tested friend of Sierra Leone. In the past especially during the civil war time, he recalled that India had sent a strong 4000-Indian Military contingent in the UN Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) in 2000-2001, led by Maj Gen V.K. Jaitley.
He continued that India had approved a Line of Credits of approximately 250 Million US Dollars for different developmental projects in Sierra Leone. He said some of the LOCs had been completed and some of them are under implementation. As a gesture of humanitarian assistance, he added that India had supplied 1000 MTs of rice for the friendly people of Sierra Leone in 2021 and a large consignment of medicines during the Covid-19 pandemic. He also revealed that India is also helping Sierra Leone in human capacity development through the Indian Technical and Economic Programme and provides 50 slots every year for short-term courses.
Also, he said the Government of India had allotted 15 slots of scholarships for full-time graduate and postgraduate courses for Sierra Leone, which are funded by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. He said Sierra Leonean students could also pursue various online courses through e-VidyaBharti (e-VAB) programme. He concluded that more than 400 students have benefited from such a programme so far.
In receipt of the donated indelible inks, the Chief Electoral Commissioner Mohamed Konneh said the donation was very timely as that would save the government from spending a colossal sum of money to purchase indelible inks for the elections. He extended profound thanks and appreciation to the Indian High Commission and the Government of India by extension, for such commendable generosity in ensuring that the June 24th 2023 elections become credible.
