By Francis H. Murray
Sierra Leone’s former Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. (Rtd.) Brima Bureh Sesay has received parliamentary approval to serve as Director General of the National Disaster Management Agency.
Lt. General Sesay, who retired in June this year, will lead the agency which will now take over the functions formerly executed by the Office of National Security (ONS), including empowering and positioning the country to respond “appropriately and in a timely manner to localized disasters in order to avoid them becoming national scale disasters and to respond to national scale disasters be it natural or man-made each time they occur”
The leader of the biggest opposition party in parliament, Chernor Maju Bah described the former army chief as a man who demonstrated due diligence in national service. He said dedication to duty might have earned him the enviable position of the first Director General of the National Disaster Management Agency.
Speaking to Politico, Lt Gen Sesay said his immediate priorities included working on a strategic plan that would include setting up the structures needed to operationalise the agency, recruiting the right staff so as to be able to create a launch pad to spring into action to both mitigate and respond to disasters.
As a new agency, he said it would take some time but that they wanted to create impact as soon as possible. Popularizing the agency for the public to know more about it he also cited as a priority.
Also on Tuesday 10th November 2020 parliament approved three other nominees including Joseph Christopher Blell as Chairman and Commissioner of the National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM), Fatmata Edna Kargbo as the deputy Head of Mission for Sierra Leone’s embassy in Federal Republic of Germany and Duwai Sellu Lungay as Deputy Ambassador of Sierra Leone to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
The leader of Coalition for Change Party, Saa Emerson Lamina urged all those approved to work steadfastly to build the image of Sierra Leone with respect to trade, commerce and development.
Matthew Nyuma, the Leader of Government Business, noted that all those approved were symbols of good character representing Sierra Leone with a wealth of experience in national service including at diplomatic missions. He said they served this country with humility and professionalism.
The Speaker of Parliament, Dr. Abass Chernor Bundu congratulated the nominees, describing them as people with great acumen and experience. He urged them to deliver diligently in light of the confidence reposed in them by President Bio and endorsed by Parliament.
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