SIERRA LEONE GOVERNMENT
Office of the President
PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday, 6th September, 2005

It has pleased His Excellency the President to effect the following changes in the Cabinet with immediate effect:

1. Mr. John O. Benjamin has been nominated Minister of Finance to replace Mr. J.B. Dauda;

2. Mr. Lloyd During has been nominated Minister of Energy and Power to replace Mr. E.O. Grant;

3. Mr. Pascal Egbenda, Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, will replace Mr. George Banda -Thomas as Minister of Internal Affairs;

4. Dr. Chernoh Jalloh, Minister of Tourism and Culture, becomes Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources while Mr. Okere Adams becomes Minister of Tourism and Culture.

These changes reflect situations which had existed well before the holding of the SLPP's Delegates' Conference in Makeni and which His Excellency the President had tried to resolve in order to ensure harmony and a collective spirit in the execution of government business at all times.

In his address to members of the SLPP in Makeni, President Kabbah re-echoed that "Politics should be transparent, and opposition parties are not to be seen as enemies. They are also stakeholders in National Development. My advice to candidates who are competing for positions within the Party is that they should not antagonize each other, for after all we are working towards the same goals. They should be able to develop a team spirit whereby both winners and losers can see themselves as necessary elements and ingredients of our Party so that in the face of any outside competition the Party will be able to act like one, move together in one direction and we shall always conquer, no matter who our opponents are."

The changes announced today have therefore become necessary and inevitable, and it is hoped that the new configuration in government will energise and re-invigorate the collective effort that is needed to meet and satisfy the needs of all the citizens of Sierra Leone.

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