By Mabinty M Kamara
Parliament has on Tuesday July 19 approved four presidential nominees for various positions at the newly established Sierra Leone Teaching Service Commission (SLTSC), Environmental Protection Agency, and the Income Tax Board of Appellate Commissioners.
The nominees were Mrs Bernadette Cole - Member, Sierra Leone Teaching Service Commission; Colonel (Rtd) Alie Brima Yamba Kamara - Member, Environmental Protection Agency; Mrs Fatmata Bundu Sorie - Member, Sierra Leone Teaching Service Commission; and Mr Alfred Jumah Osman Fornah - Member, Income Tax Board of Appellate Commissioners. They were approved by parliament after successfully undergoing a screening process that included interviews touching on their academic background and professional track records. They were also required to declare their personal assets.
A major highlight of Tuesday’s event in parliament was the approval of veteran journalist and academic, Bernadette Cole.
Cole, the founding chairperson of the Independent Media Commission, is currently the head of the Alumni Department at the Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone.
The SLTSC was established by an Act of parliament in 2011 and meant to help complement the effort of the ministry of Education, Science and Technology to ensure effective teaching atmosphere in the country. It is charged with the responsibility of recruitment of teachers.
Mrs Cole told Politico that with collaborative effort, she had no doubt that the Commission could address the needs of the teachers, which she believed is a crucial part of addressing the much talked about decline in education system.
“One person cannot transform the education system of this country,” she said in an interview after her approval.
“The Commission has specific terms of office which are to manage the affairs of the teaching profession. We have heard of ghost teachers, but if those ghost teachers are weeded out, the monies that were going to their accounts can be used to hire and improve on the terms of service of qualified teachers, which can go a long way in determining the quality of education they will deliver,” she added.
Speaker of parliament, Sheku B. B. Dumbuya, had good words of praises for Mrs Cole. He said she could be counted among the “truly educated people” in Sierra Leone. The two were at the same school at Saint Edwards, where Cole was a level ahead of Dumbuya.
“Attending Saint Josephs School and the Saint Edwards School in those days is enough credentials for scholastic excellence,” the Speak boasted to the well of parliament on Tuesday.
Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, former minister of Information and Communication, now a member of parliament, described Cole as “a very honest” woman who has utilized her knowledge both as a teacher and a journalist.
Helen kuyembeh, Member of Parliament, Constituency 75 in Bo and a member of the Education Committee in parliament, urged the two nominees for the SLTSC to work hard when they assumed office to address the educational needs of the country.
“There are a lot of mushroom schools…in the country, and what I think is responsible for that is that most of the teachers are not adequately paid,” she said, adding that she was concentrating on the two women to treat their offices with passion because they were mothers who she believed wanted to see quality in the education system.
Ibrahim Bundu, majority leader of parliament, said that with all what people had said about the nominees, he had hope in them when the assumed office.
In a separate but related development, parliament on Tuesday swore-in two newly elected MPs - Osman K. Conteh of Constituency 50, and Navo Kaikai of Constituency 001 in Kailahun.
The two were recently elected during by elections conducted earlier this month. Mr Conteh, a member of the ruling APC, takes the seat left vacant by the appointment of Isata Kabia as Minister of State II in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mrs Kaikai, SLPP, filled the vacant seat left by the demise of Patrick Foyah.
© Politico 20/07/16
