By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay and Hajaratu Kalokoh
Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has made 17 new appointments and created two new ministries in his latest cabinet reshuffle announced on Thursday.
The development comes on the eve of the government’s reading of its 2020 Financial Year Budget to the House of Parliament.
The biggest casualties were Dr Jonathan Tengbe who was sacked as Minister of Water Resources and Joseph Ndanema, sacked as Minister of Agriculture Forestry and Food Security.
Minister of Labour and Social Security, Adekunle King was also sacked from cabinet position and deployed to the Foreign Service as Ambassador to Ethiopia.
Deputy Minister of Defence (de facto minister), Capt (Rtd) Simoean Sheriff was also removed and sent to Saudi Arabia as the Representative to the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition.
This is the second reshuffle by President Bio since he came to office less than two years ago. Among the 17 new appointments, only one of them is a woman – in charge of Gender and Children’s Affairs which has now been separated from Social Welfare.
The other new ministries are Rtd Brig Kellie Conteh who is now in charge of defence having been National Security Adviser for only a few months, and Professor Moriba Jaward who is in charge of the new Ministry of Environment. Until his new appointment Prof Jaward was the Executive Chairman of the Environment Protection Agency.
The development has so far been received by the public with mixed feelings.
The Main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) said though some of the appointments might be necessary, it could also be a way for the government to appease its patrons.
Osman Foday Yansaneh, Secretary General of APC, told Politico that while two of the changes – Environment and Gender – were crucial areas of global importance, he wasn’t sure if the intention in creating them was genuinely in the interest of the country.
“Today the whole world is talking about how to fight climate change. And with the ministry of Gender we all should treat gender issues seriously. On the whole these two maybe positive changes or they may also mean multiplication of ministries; job for the boys,” he said.
At a time when the government is planning to invest heavily in agriculture, President Bio has settled for a rather controversial choice to head this front in his development agenda - Dennis Vandi.
Mr Vandi is the former Secretary to the President whom the president sacked after less than two months in office, following a scandal created by an erroneous public notice he had written on behalf of the government in May, 2018.
This appointment therefore, according to civil society campaigner, Marcella Samba Sesay, raises questions of transparency in government. Sesay, who is Executive Director of the Campaign for Good Governance, questions the logic behind the president’s decision.
“Many questions come again to the fore around transparency, around sacking and what it means when somebody is sacked from a position and returned to another position,” Sesay said.
The most striking change in Thursday’s reshuffle is perhaps the redeployment of Alpha Timbo from the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Timbo, a former union leader as secretary general of the teachers’ union, had served in the labour ministry during the Tejan Kabbah administration between 1996 and 2007. But his removal from President Bio’s flagship programme has sent tongues wagging.
Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) Dr David Moinina Sengeh will now take over Timbo’s position. Dr Sengeh has no history of occupying public office in Sierra Leone prior to his appointment as CIO and head of the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation, which is under the Office of the President. But he has been praised for his handling of the technology and innovation directorate. This new appointment will see the Harvard educated scientist take over the implementation of the government’s flagship program which is the Free Quality Education.
And for CGG’s Sesay, this is important because there is doubt about Sengeh’s ability to fit in to the ministry considering the importance of the work it is doing regarding education in the country.
“With the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, which is responsible for the flagship program of the government, we are really interested in knowing why the shift. The new minister coming in has a knack for innovation and technology, but we will be interested to know how this (appointment) blends in that direction,” she said.
As for APC’s Yansaneh, Senegh’s appointment is also an area of concern for his party.
“In the first place they say cabinet reshuffle and we hear names like Sengeh or what? We don’t know them. These are not people from the established political class so we cannot really asses them, whether they will perform or not,” he said.
He added: “These are strangers from the outside, they will not add value.”
P K Lansana replaces Dr Tengbe as Minister of Water Resources.
“The reshuffle in CGG’s opinion raises more questions than solutions. What is the rationale for increasing the deputies in a challenging economic situation? If the workload is enormous why not get the Permanent Secretary and technical staff of the ministry more involved?” asked.
© 2019 Politico Online
