By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has used his State Opening address to Parliament to announce new plans for the year ahead.
This is his third address to the House since he took over as President in 2018, and it comes after what has been described as a torrid year in his presidency not least with the Covid-19 pandemic and recent violent disturbances.
The president started his speech in a somber mood by ordering a minute of silence in honor of all those who have died in the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fanfare that usually characterizes the annual occasion was lacking, apparently due to restrictions in place as part of measures to fight the pandemic. For the same reason the administration in parliament had to drastically cut down on the attendance of people, even limiting the number of Members of Parliament to just a few dozen.
In a sparse Parliament on Thursday, President Bio highlighted the achievement of his government in the last two years before announcing new initiatives in the sectors of agriculture, health, economy and education.
The Bio administration’s flagship programme is education. The President lauded new innovations introduced into efforts to attaining its goals and gains made through technology and funding. In the last one year, he noted, his government has been focusing on the settling the grievance of teachers, who felt that the administration’s Free Quality Education program didn’t provide much support for them.
In April this year, the government implemented a 30% salary increment for all government teachers in the country. Bio said the focus would now be on licensing of teachers as part of efforts to ensure quality service delivery.
“My Government has approved many more schools, recruited and trained more teachers; streamlined professional development, teacher attendance monitoring, and grievance-redress processes; and will soon launch a teacher registration and licensing policy,” he stated.
The president said that the focus on education was not only on basic and secondary. He announced that his government had struck a deal with the Arab nation of Kuwait to fund the construction of six technical and vocational institutes across Sierra Leone.
The government of Sierra Leone has set aside 22% of this year’s budget to be spent on education.
On Agriculture, Bio said the government had finalized the development of Cocoa, Coffee and Cashew policies to “support the advancement of tree crops.”
On the economy, for the third year in a row, Bio spoke about the establishment of a Wages and Compensation Commission, which he said would harmonize the wage structure equitably. He said a document had been submitted for Cabinet’s approval.
“The establishment of the Wages and Compensation Commission is far advanced and the draft Bill has been submitted to Cabinet for approval. The Commission will address equity in pay and compensation and also harmonize the various pension laws in the Public Service”, he said.
On health, he said his government had increased spending on health over the last two years – from 7% in 2018 to 11% in 2020.
But perhaps the most significant announcement of the day was about the proposed modern diagnostic center.
“I am pleased to announce to this house that the cabinet has approved $19.8 million for the construction of a National Diagnostic and Radiotherapy Cancer Treatment Center with modern facilities,” he disclosed.
Talks about the center have been mooted for quite a while. Part of the funding has been contributed by the Anti-Corruption Commission, from monies the institution has recovered from corrupt officials under the previous administration.
In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, Bio said 3,000 more health workers would be hired to strengthen the country’s health system. The new recruits will include midwives, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, epidemiologists, clinical and surgical community health officers.
Throughout his speech, Bio, masked up, was dressed in white with his trademark blue cap, and was flanked by his wife, Fatima Bio and the Vice President, Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh.
Cabinet ministers and senior members of the judiciary were also in attendance, sparsely seated out on the front and flanks of the House.
Whiles the President was speaking, ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party lawmakers erupted into momentary chants of “Maaaaaaada Bio! Maaaaaaaaada Bio aaaaaay!”
Opposition lawmakers, for their part, exchanged banters, innuendoes and catcalls on the issues with their counterparts on the ruling side.
Bio’s speech on Thursday is an indication of the direction his government intends to take the country in the next one year. As per procedure, his speech will now be debated in the coming week by MPs.
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