By Abass Jalloh
Sierra Leone and Kenya have signed six Cooperation agreements on fostering cultural and economic development.
The agreements include Joint Commission of Corporation, Political and Economic Diplomacy, Gender Equality and Women Empowerment, Trade and Investment, Tourism and Art, and ICT and Youth Education. The various agreements were signed by Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister and the Kenyan Government.
The President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio visited the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, to speak on the International Peacekeeping Day of the UN and as Guest of Honour for the “Kenyatta Madaraka Day”, which President Bio used as an opportunity to sign various agreements between Sierra Leone and Kenya.
The Madaraka day in Kenya was to mark the start of self-rule following independence. President Bio was honoured on the basis that Sierra Leone and Kenya share similar circumstances in gaining idependence.
Speaking at a press conference hosted by the Ministry of Information and Communications yesterday 9th June 2022, the Media Officer at State House, Lamin Sheriff briefed journalists on the president’s visit on 29th May 2022 where he spoke to mark the international peacekeeping day. “Prior to this time, there has been no relationship with the Republic of Kenya,” he said.
Sheriff said it was “very prudent” for the two nations to sign agreements to exchange ideas. He said the president also used the opportunity to visit the UN office in Kenya.
Sheriff highlighted that before the start of the Sierra Leone census, Kenya donated twenty thousand (20,000) tablets with power banks for the digital census.
In Africa, Kenya was the first country to have conducted a digital census, Sheriff said, adding that after the completion of that census, many countries now wanted to copy from the east African country, which extended an invitation for their equipment and knowledge to be shared among other African nations for the collection of credible data through the use of the gadgets.
He said: “Forty-five thousand (45,000) gadgets were given to different countries including Botswana, South Africa, Mauritius, Namibia, and Sierra Leone,” he said.
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