Cabinet Meets In Makeni.

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From Wednesday June 11th to Saturday June 14th 2003, President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and his entire cabinet were housed in the Northern capital city of Makeni. The President and his team of cabinet ministers held the second of such rotational cabinet meetings outside the Freetown capital, as part of a new government initiative of taking the executive arm of government to the rural folks.

Addressing an assembly of northern traditional rulers and stakeholders at the Makeni Town Hall, shortly after last Thursday's meeting, President Kabbah said it was government's duty to find out from the provincial people themselves what their regional development aspirations were. He maintained that in making decisions that would directly affect the lives of provincial people, government must first sit together and consult with them, so that they could together prioritise projects and programs geared towards the reconstruction and development of the regions.

Re-iterating an earlier statement he made at the first regional cabinet meeting in Kenema last month, the Head of State said there would henceforth be no imposition of ideas from Freetown. Government cannot sit in Freetown and decide what the needs of the rural people wereFreetown in not Sierra Leone, he added.

He went on to say that government had received promises of support from friends and international organisations, including the South-South Cooperation project. Therefore, he said, government had thought it fit to hang heads with the people to find out what type of services they require so that development support received would benefit the entire country. He also appealed to northerners to be watchdogs of whatever social services and facilities that would be provided for them, as these belong to them.

Vice President Solomon Berewa, who also addressed the gathering, said the focus of the regional cabinet meeting was to prioritise projects for the entire northern region. He explained that immediately after the end of the war, governments attention was directed at ensuring that people do not die of hunger and diseases, noting that government had now moved away from providing relief to undertaking such development projects as construction of roads, schools and hospitals.

VP Berewa indicated however that government did not have all the financial resources to undertake these projects, hence the need for such consultations. Continuing, the Vice President declared that it was also governments policy not to govern alone, but rather to include the thoughts and ideas of the local peoples in decision-making processes. This in not just politics, he said, assuring his audience that government would soon come back again to critically review progress made.

The Vice President was however quick to point out that regional cabinet meetings would not focus on district matters per se, but on the larger needs of the entire northern region. He said District and Chiefdom Recovery Committees would consider projects at district and chiefdom levels.

In turns, cabinet ministers took the podium to outline the series of development projects in store for the northern province, while soliciting the suggestions and other relevant inputs of stakeholders in that region.

Mr. Emmanuel Grant, Minister of Energy and Power affirmed that some of the most difficult problems besetting the north was the lack of pipe-borne water and electricity, but observed that the only way the problem of electricity could be addressed was through the completion of the Bumbuna hydro-electric power project. He was pleased to note that efforts to provide pipe-borne water to Makeni and other major northern towns were well underway, adding that studies were being conducted to identify other sites that could provide water to other parts of the region.

Education, Science and Technology Minister Dr. Alpha Wurie noted that as a result of the operating free education system, over ten thousand school children took public examinations last year. He said a new rapid education project designed to cater for the needs of older pupils will soon be introduced in the north, adding that government had also introduced a new educational policy, wherein every northern girl-child who passes the National Primary School Exam would have her school fees paid for by government in Junior Secondary School. He also spoke about a new legislation on education, which would give community stake-holders a substantial say over the running of regional schools.

Justifying the need for large-scale local food production, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Sama Mondeh disclosed that some fifty million United States dollars is spent annually for the importation of the staple rice. He said the only way a nation could become prosperous was for it to produce its own food for domestic consumption as well as for export to lucrative foreign markets. He said government was committed towards supporting indigenous Sierra Leoneans to cultivate and produce more, noting that meanwhile government had provided tractors and other agricultural machinery and had plans to provide additional inputs to the region.

On roads works and maintenance, Minister Kaiser Boima revealed that work on the Gberay junction - Pamlap road would start in September of this year and that negotiations for the Masiaka - Mile 91 - Taima roads were well underway. He said funds were available for the reconstruction of a three hundred-kilometre-long road in the north, but indicated that locals themselves would determine and prioritise how and where such a road should be constructed. He further disclosed that funds were also now available to connect Kabala in the north and Koidu in the east.

Mineral Resources Minister Mohamed Swarray Deen told the meeting that diamonds had been discovered in the northern town of Kamakwie and many other areas in the north. He said government had revived the system of giving out loans to miners in the form of mining equipment. He also informed them about the mining area development fund, out of which government allocates a certain percentage of the licences fees to mining chiefdoms based on the number of licenses issued out.

Health minister Dr. Agnes Taylor Lewis said government was in the process of rehabilitating all district hospitals that were destroyed during the civil crisis and that they had also decided to set up provincial medical stores to make drugs easily and promptly accessible to regional medical clinics. She reminded them that women and children should not pay for drugs provided by government hospitals.

Internal Affairs minister George Banda Thomas said government is desirous of establishing fire-fighting stations in each of all the twelve districts, but said this matter would have to be prioritised in line with resources at the disposal of government now. He also spoke about moves to set up more police stations and post.

Transport and Communication Minister Dr. Prince Harding explained progress achieved thus far in the procurement of seventeen public buses as a first phase in servicing the public transportation needs of the regions. He said his ministry also had plans to decentralise the process of vehicle registration, licensing and testing, adding that he had been assured by the Celtel cellular phone operators that the northern regional headquarter town of Makeni and surrounding areas would soon join other regions in enjoying cell phone communication facilities.

Local Government minister, Sidique Brima spoke about governments plans to reform the activities of district councils, disclosing that DFID had already provided some support for the rebuilding of district court barrays. A very controversial issue put forward for consideration by the people of the north was that pertaining to allowing northern women become paramount chiefs as is the case in the southern and eastern regions.

However, President Kabbah, who acknowledged how strongly some northerners were against the idea of crowning women as paramount chiefs, suggested a way of going around the problem - appointing a male representative through whom certain chiefdom authority could be delegated so as to avoid any breach of traditional laws. He maintained that women could be as intelligent and competent as their male counterparts in traditional leadership positions.

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr Denis Bright, also highlighted plans to bring his ministry in closer touch with the northern region by the setting up of a provincial office for the effective coordination of youth and sports activities. He said the end of the war had brought with it a considerable amount of youth related problems that needed attention. He said many provincial youths had no proper information about what opportunities they stand to benefit from and spoke of providing special radio and television airtime to cater for the views of the countrys growing youth population.

Social Welfare minister Shirley Gbujama, for her part, spoke about the setting up of psycho-social counselling centres for traumatised children throughout the country, while Marine Resources minister Okere Adams revealed plans for the creation of fish breeding ponds and stations in land-locked northern regional communities. He explained that the project was aimed at increasing fish consumption in the non-coastal regions as well as multiplying the nations dwindling fish stock. Mr. Adams stated that artisanal fishermen would soon be provided loans in the form of boats, fishing nets and other related gears through the National Cooperative Development Bank. He said these materials would become the private properties of the fishing cooperatives after a phased repayment of the loans.

Paramount Chief Kandeh Luseni of Sella Limba chiefdom presented the position statement for the northern region, which approves wholesale the series of programmes and projects earmarked by the government for the northern region. Luseni thanked President Kabbah for bringing his cabinet to the people and lauded the governments introduction of the national social security scheme. He however called for the timely provision of fertilisers, pesticides, seeds and other farming inputs to farmers.

The Paramount Chief also called for the road to Bumbuna as well as the Port Loko - Freetown road link to be reconstructed soonest. Before the end of the public meeting two chiefdoms Sanda Loko and Sella Limba were awarded cheques to the value of over six hundred thousand leones in respect of proceeds from the mining area development fund. Other regional mining chiefdoms were encouraged to get miners to take valid diamond mining licences so that they too would benefit from the fund.

Speaking to the BBC an interview following the public meeting, President Kabbah said the exercise has afforded the northern people the chance to exchange views, have their voices heard and obtain necessary feedbacks. He said this would help government in formulating the policies of tomorrow. .

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This report was compiled by Yusuf Alghali