By Alieu Amara Suwu
Mohamed Haji Kella, Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, speaking to the press on August 18, 2023, after his approval as minister, said the wellbeing of Sierra Leoneans matters most if they are to succeed with the five big game changers.
“The people of Sierra Leone’s wellbeing is what matters, and if it is not right, that means they are going to fail,” he asserted.
The Deputy Minister said certainly, the government has stated the five big game changers, and in their last five years mandate, they worked with what they met, identified need challenges—where the gaps were—and now, those changers are what they are said to work on in terms of public administration, feed salons, and youth empowerment. And said that for them to really see how those priority areas work, the government should make sure they get the welfare aspect right.
Furthermore, as a gender development expert for over twenty-five years, he said if Sierra Leone must make the next lift, then their female counterparts have to work with them side by side. Development everywhere, he said, could be challenging if the actual actors and partners are not brought to the table, saying that in Sierra Leone, they have more women and the girl child has more challenges; thus, in human capital development, civic education, technology, actual processes, and the overall big game changers must be delivered, and then they have to make gender empowerment the cornerstone—exactly what the President is saying.
On his appointment, he said that was reassuring and that he was grateful to President Bio for reposing confidence in him after serving in government for five years.
He said President Bio is a visionary president who knows who to appoint and who can deliver the big five game changers. So he is happy that God has once again given him the opportunity to serve.
On the dissipating Sierra Leonean culture, Minister Kella said it is a concern to him personally and a concern to the government, which is why, in his wisdom, the President has created a new ministry, the Ministry of Information and Civic Education (MOICE). He said civic education will bring back those cultural contingencies Sierra Leone was once known for—this is the way Sierra Leoneans dance, speak to elders, and dress—and also try to restore the memory in terms of educational and cultural reference points.
He believed that with that ministry, the needed environment will be given, and they will provide the basis to return to their culture and what they are best known for, being the “Athens of West Africa.”
To his colleague deputy ministers, he noted that there are always challenges, but advised that they should not come to seek position but to serve and focus on the bigger agenda of governance, exactly what he said he has done, serving as a servant for the nation, loyal to the President, and at the same time loyal to the people of Sierra Leone.
