By Francis H. Murray
Four Ministries relevant to the national efforts towards the fight against the Coronavirus disease last week updated parliament on progress in their specific tasks.
The briefing which lasted for two days – Thursday March 19 and Friday March 20 – provided insight into what the country is doing, with the goal of providing answers and clear doubts over the country’s preparedness.
The officials came from the ministries of Health, Finance, Internal Affairs and Local Government. The Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone was also summoned to explain the financial repercussions and efforts in cushioning their effects.
The ministries were summoned by the House following a request by the Leader of the National Grand Coalition in Parliament, Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, who demanded for relevant ministries to make presentations on their efforts in preparation for the virus.
The ministry of Health was represented by the Deputy Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr Amara Jambai.
He said: ‘‘We’re going to emphasize on prevention and that is why we all here are going to be onboard, because the first case that goes in, if we get it wrong in terms of management, it becomes a disincentive for people to come in further. Thus, we’re going to emphasize on contact tracing, quarantine aspects as these are the laws that we must work with.”
Dr Jambai said the ministry was given just three days to develop a strategic plan in coordination with other ministries. He said so far, their plan looked solid.
“We have about 370 test kits which we can use. It is not enough, but we have in place an agreement with WHO [World Health Organization] on the need to step that up until we have more kits.”
Sierra Leone has not recorded any case, but neighboring Liberia and Guinea have all recorded cases.
In terms of the financial cost, Dr Jambai said the ministry would need Le120 billion for now, when the country has not recorded any case. He said in the situation where it records a case, they would need Le600 million for response efforts and Le 597 billion for treatment.
Deputy Internal Affairs Minister, Lahai Lawrence Leema, said the Police would ensure that there is maximum security in places where people are quarantined. He assured parliamentarians of robust security as an aspect of the country’s preparedness strategy against the virus.
As part of several other measures, the Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone, Professor Muana Kallon, said they were set to disburse the sum of Le500 billion to commercial banks to help struggling businesses to stay afloat.
Prof. Kallon also said they would provide the necessary foreign exchange that businesses might need to import huge volumes of essential products in the country.
On their part, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Patricia Lavalie, also noted that the ministry of Finance had agreed to disburse Le 1billion every week to the Ministry of Health as part of their budgetary allocation to deal with the situation.
The Finance ministry is also developing a range of solutions as part of a comprehensive financial program to help cushion the effect of the Coronavirus on country.
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