By Ruth Yeabu Sesay
On Thursday 27th October 2022, the National Early Warning and Response Mechanism Coordinating Centre Sierra Leone NEWMC-SL received a visiting delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliamentary Oversight Mission during which they discussed the work the centre has been doing since its establishment in 2021.
The Head of the ECOWAS delegation, the Fourth Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Adja Satu Camara Pito, said she was pleased to see women holding higher positions in the office.
She said that there are a lot of natural challenges affecting people and doing something to help and protect them is the right thing to do, and that the most important thing to do in her opinion is to ensure that the youths acquire quality education which will motivate them to become prominent people in the country thereby helping them to make a move in the right direction and move the country forward.
She added that youth involvement through education and collaborating with other regions will enhance easy implementation.
The Acting Director of NEWMC-SL, Lt. Col. Musa. F Kanneh, told the delegation that it was a very good initiative by the government to establish the centre in the country and that they work with other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in providing warnings on certain issues that may pose a threat to the peace and stability of the country.
Talking to Politico later on, Kanneh said the centre was established on the 13th September 2021 and since then they have partnered with the Office of National Security (ONS) and other state institutions to address disaster- related issues . He cited the problem of timber logging in the Falaba district and how they have helped in minimizing the act and getting people to plant more trees.
He said the institution has also addressed the issue of poor drainage which causes flooding when it rains.
Kanneh, said that their mandate is to collect, collate and analyse data or information and then share theinformation with the different MDAs to prevent or mitigate disaters.
He however spoke of their constraints in terms of lack of vehicles and thanked the government of Sierra Leone for stepping in, in the form of support, when ECOWAS assistance wasn’t forthcoming
The Chairman of the Committee on Macro-Economic and Economic Policy Research at the ECOWAS Parliament, Kebba K. Barrow told Politico that their visit is part of their annual diplomacy as per their standing order. He said they make their activities known as they are close to the heads of state who are providing the funds for the operation of the ECOWAS parliament ,and the other five key institutions within the institution.
‘’As an oversight visit we are doing four simultaneous visit to other member countries, the visit that just ended at Conakry, Guinea was led by the speaker of the ECOWAS parliament Hon. Mohamed Sidie Tunis who is from Sierra Leone’’,he said
Barrow said that the fifteen heads of state of the member countries work together with these organizations and governments to enable them to carry out their work and to extend their partnership with likeminded institutions that are operating in the respective countries to live with dignity and ensure that the lives of the people are protected.
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