By: Haja Hawa Koroma
The Ministry of Information held its weekly press conference on Thursday 12th May 2022 at the Ministry of Information Youyi Building.
The press briefing was based on the President’s speech at the just concluded state opening of the fifth session of the fifth parliament of the second republic of Sierra Leone, for the better understanding and to know more about the President’s speech as it was a marathon speech and a lot of people may not have the time neither the endurance to go through the whole speech and grasp its contents.
In the press Briefing, Deputy Minister of Information Solomon Jamiru, highlighted a part of the speech in which the president talked about the refurbishment of the Sierra Leone’s National Airport.
The Deputy Minister established that the Lungi Airport is the first place that every traveler gets to see upon their entry into the country and Sierra Leone’s Airport has been an Embarrassment to its citizens as a nation. He added that a whole lot of other countries have standard Airports compared to Sierra Leone and it will be a blow to their government administration if they leave the Airport the way they inherited it from the past government. He said that it is their goal for anyone and everyone entering into the country to be stunned upon arrival at the shores of the Airport.
Excerpt from the Presidential speech on Lungi airport “the need for an ultra-modern airport with enhanced facilities cannot be overstated. Even in the midst of COVID in 2020, the SUMMA Group, based on independent assessments of our credibility and viability made its largest investment in the Africa sub-region of $270M USD for building a brand new, ultra-modern international air terminal at Lungi. The investment model is simple: build, operate, and transfer; Sierra Leone pays nothing; but will receive all the benefits of a new air. The terminal that will ultimately be transferred to the country. In late March, I visited and inspected ongoing works. We are well on schedule to commission an air terminal that will be one of the best in the sub region.”
The Deputy Minister added that “With two hundred and seventy million dollars funding through SUMMA Group from Turkey we are having a new Airport with a brand new and ultra-modern international terminal center.”
He added that after this refurbishment the terminal should be able to accommodate a minimum of one million passengers per annum and that the President wants to commission the Airport by the end of this year.
In his statement the Deputy Minister also spoke about the different areas at which the Bio Government has made immense developments since the administration took up office four years ago. He mentioned that despite the challenges the government has faced since it took up office, yet the president did not relent in trying his best for the people of this nation.
He further stated that the President’s Free Quality Education program has made a huge impact in the Education sector in the country as a lot of students who were drop outs for lack of payments of fees or basic necessities like lunch are now enrolled into schools and are enjoying the benefits of the flagship program. He added that the attempt the president made in providing school buses for pupils and the re-introduction of the school feeding program, providing food as lunch for them especially pupils in the provinces whose parents can’t even afford to give lunch to their kids for school is an approach that won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
Mr. Solomon Jamiru also made mention of the Health Sector and how the president has helped to minimize the rampant sickness and death of malaria related disease by ensuring its citizens have a clean environment, access to quality medical facility and by recruiting a lot of medical practitioners so as to maintain a healthy system.
He also talked about the Land administration in Sierra Leone especially in terms of documentation. He added that Sierra Leone still has the system of registration of instruments rather than the ideal registration of title. Meaning the registration of title entails a digitized biometric registration of every public and private land acquired in the country. This system ensures that once your land is registered your title to that property becomes enforceable to any other person, it’s becomes your permanent property and it becomes conclusive.
The deputy minister outlined that Sierra Leone’s approach of registration of instruments which has not yet evolved to the registration of title, has been causing a lot of problems and commotion over land issues as two or three people often come out with the same conveyance plan claiming ownership of the lands, because we don’t yet have the system that detect these discrepancies, that’s why the government has secured funding to evolve in order to sanitize and digitize and move to registration of title as oppose to registration of instruments.
Mr. Jamiru made mention of the Roads and bridges that the president has constructed since he took up office, highlighting the commissioning of the 163 kilometer long Magbele Bridge and spoke about its importance as this is a very important connecting point for citizens. He also outlined the various roads and bridges that the president has made immense progress on.
Solomon Jamiru stated that notwithstanding the corona virus pandemic, the lock downs and other forms of challenges that the president did not foresee when he took up office, yet he has managed to make all this progress so far in his reign.
