By Politico staff writer
The First Lady of Sierra Leone, Fatima Bio, has pledged Le150, 000,000 as support for a planned water supply project targeting police barracks across the country.
The project is championed by the head of the Sierra Leone Police Wives Association (SLPWA), Hawa Sovula, who is also the wife of the Inspector General of Police, Ambrose Sovula.
The First Lady made the pledge on Friday, October 2nd during a meeting with members of the SLPWA at the Sierra Leone Police Wives Vocational and Training Institute at Kingtom in Freetown.
According to a statement from the Office of the First Lady, Mrs Bio’s pledge was made in response to a request by Mrs. Sovula.
The First Lady commended the Police Wives Association for the initiative of providing water to barracks, describing the amount as 'Seed Money' for the project.
In the statement published on her official facebook page, she noted that she was impressed at the head of the police wives for organizing teachers for the Vocational School to train her fellow police wives.
Mrs. Bio also promised to enlist her husband, President Julius Maada Bio, into support the project, noting that she would work closely with the Association to make the project a reality. She also promised to make the Association her main partner in the distribution of sanitary pads to pupils across the country. She then called on everyone to put Sierra Leone first and to avoid politicizing development.
In her statement, Mrs. Sovula applauded the First Lady for her support for developmental projects. She noted that the First Lady was very instrumental in constructing the Sierra Leone Police Wives Association Vocational and Training Institute.
The First Lady has expressed great liken and support towards women and girls development in Sierra Leone through different projects since assumption of office. Notable among these is her ‘hands off our girls’ project that advocates against sexual and gender based violence, especially against girls.
Speaking on her priorities, Mrs Sovula said her flagship program is to provide bore holes and hand pumps for all police barracks in Sierra Leone with the goal of resolving perennial problem of water shortage in the police barracks. She noted that the lack of water in police barracks is counterproductive to the campaign of the First Lady, adding that women and girls are the most affected by lack of water in homes.
The police wives' president ended by re-committing her institution's support for the fight against Sexual and Gender Based Violence.
Other speakers at the event, among them the Inspector General of Police and the Minister of Internal Affairs, supported the proposed project by the Police Wives' President.
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