By Alpha Abu
In what is his first cabinet reshuffle this year Sierra Leone’s president, Julius Maada Bio, today sacked or transferred some of his senior ministers.
The two most high-profile dismissals were the Minister of Technical and Higher Education, Prof Aiah Gbakima and Minister of Lands, Housing and Country Planning Dr. Dennis Sandy.
Professor Gbakima’s dismissal comes amid a long-running strike by university lecturers, with the Academic Staff Associations of all the country’s public universities not having reopened for a new academic year.
Professor Alpha Tejan Wurie has been moved from the ministry of health to now become the minister of tertiary and higher education. Professor Wurie had served as Minister of Education for over a decade in the Ahmad Tejan Kabba administration from 1996 to 2007.
A renowned US-based medical expert with vast experience working for the CDC sister organisation Health Resources and Services Administration is the new minister of health.
Speaking to Politico, Dr Demby said that after going through his confirmation hearing in parliament, “I look forward to making a significant difference in the lives of all Sierra Leoneans”.
Dr Demby had earlier worked for the country’s Lassa Fever project in Eastern Sierra Leone and was here in the response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014/15. He was named as one of the advisers to the president during the ongoing Covid19 pandemic.
With chaos over land issues almost every day, the controversial Minister of Lands, Dr Dennis Sandy has also been sacked. Believed to be in the camp of the First Lady, it is not clear what his dismissal portends for control Fatima Bio still wields.
The new Lands Minister, Dr. Turad Senesie was, until his appointment, the Deputy Minister of Technical and Higher Education.
Deputy Transport and Aviation Minister, Sadiq Sillah also lost his job to Rex Bhonapha the outgoing deputy in the lands ministry.
The National Commission for Social Action (NACSA), an entity established to seek the welfare of vulnerable groups, was not left out in the shakeup. The Commissioner, Abu B Kokofelle was dismissed with his deputy Dr. Sao Kpato Max-Kyne promoted, with Jimmy Batillo Songa his deputy Commissioner.
Reverend Dr. Jonathan Titus Williams has also been appointed deputy planning and development minister.
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