By Mohamed Massaquoi
The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, H.E. Alhaji Fanday Turay has presented Credentials to H.E. Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations At the UN Headquarters in New York.
On behalf of The Government of Sierra Leone, Ambassador Turay conveyed warm greetings from His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio and the People of Sierra Leone, as he formally presented his credentials as the newly appointed Sierra Leone Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Ambassador Turay reiterated the Government of Sierra Leone’s full commitment towards strengthening the longstanding relationship of mutual support that exists between the Republic of Sierra Leone and the United Nations.
Following the presentation, a meeting between the Permanent Representative and the Secretary-General took place during which key areas of national priority, including Security Council reforms, Sierra Leone’s Bid for the UN Security Council in the non-permanent category for the term 2024-2025, gender equality and empowerment, SDGs implementation and post-COVID19 recovery, were discussed.
Ambassador Turay will commence work immediately in this important role, and he will also serve as the Sierra Leone Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela concurrently.
What Makes Him Exceptional-UMARU Napoleon Koroma ESQ
Although Umaru Napoleon Koroma Esq. appears to be a team player and His strong need to gain success and acclaim, leads him towards a role in life that is unnatural to him, but wins him popularity. The Lawyer can be a leader who inspires others to develop their potential, thereby changing the narrative of self doubt and limiting beliefs among young people.
His reception makes him a warmer person and one who is much more not easily hurt by criticism and his respect for others makes him humane.
As an individual, Napoleon has always been steadfast and wants to be the very best he can and to be recognized and appreciated for his unique contributions to society. Doing something well and being respected for it is extremely important to him, and he cannot tolerate being relegated to the background, taking orders from above or being “just one of the team”. He puts his personal stamp on whatever he does, and direct his own course in life. His type needs to have a place where he can shine, express himself creatively, and be the one in charge.
It is obvious that the Deputy Minister cum lawyer has big dreams, is determined, spirited and enthused to bring change to whatever he does and don’t budge easily. It takes only a noble personality to exhibit such flair and dexterity.
For Umaru Napoleon Koroma Esq, he believes that “the entire world’s a stage” and he secretly (or perhaps not so secretly) desires to be the star or hero of the play. The lawyer wants to be great and to receive the love and applause of an adoring audience, even if the “audience” is just another special person. Though he appears radiantly self-confident and independent, he is actually very dependent on the affirmation- love and recognition of others.
Meanwhile, Napoleon loves the magic of “public speaking” and knows how to keep the audience alive. He is also immensely loyal and will defend his love for country at all cost. However, this makes him developmentally oriented and don’t compromise his integrity.
Ideally, those who are around him have to be strong-willed and passionate. His energies are directed toward honing his professional techniques, skills and abilities or “perfecting”, refining, and improving himself as a person.
In addition, critical analysis and attention to detail are intrinsic of him. He is highly motivated to strive for a state of wholeness or optimal functioning, as he is quite a perfectionist!
Gentle and peace loving, Deputy Minister has the will and competitive spirit needed to make his way in the world because of his adaptive nature.
Massive Welcome For VP JuldeH Jalloh in Kono
The Honourable Vice President who is on a three day working visit to Kono was massively received amidst heavy rainfall in the diamond rich city of Koidu, on Thursday 2nd September, 2021.
His three days visit will involve engagement with various stakeholders in the district on a range of issues including COVID-19 recovery plans, the vaccination surge, state of presidential initiative projects and intended visit of HE President JMB.
During his stay, the VP will also formally open the Tankoro chiefdom ultra modern multi purpose hall, host a fund raising dinner and event in honor of the prestigious Diamond Stars football club and grace a football match between Leone Stars and Diamond Stars on Saturday 4th September, 2021.
It could be recalled that the VP was born in Kono where he attended both primary and secondary school. The massive turn out to welcome him under heavy downpour of rain is a clear testimony to the fact that he is a reverred son of the soil. Addressing party supporters at the SLPP party office amidst thunderous jubilation, the VP rolled out a new slogan for Kono district. “One Country, One People” “One Kono, One Direction”, Maada Bio all the way.
Tourism Ministry & Sub-Vented Agencies Launch UN World Tourism Day Celebration
The Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs has launched the United Nations (UN) World Tourism Day Celebration on the theme: tourism inclusive growth in attaining the SDGs and agenda 2030 in post covid-19 era at the Ministry’s Head Office, Kingharman Road, Freetown. The launch was done with the Ministry’s sub-vented agencies, the National Tourist Board (NTB) and the Monument and Relics Commission (MRC).
In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Andrew L. Sorie remarked that it is the time of the year when the tourism family meet to reflect on services delivered, celebrate achievements and declare plans for the programmes to be accomplished, saying that the sector has a whole month to accomplish these three broad generalities. He said that despite Covid ravaging economies the world over, Sierra Leone still has to celebrate because the nation survived generally and specifically tourism as a sector broke new grounds in showcasing its potentials.
Articulating the purpose of the event, the Ministry’s Director of Tourism, Mohamed Jalloh maintained that the World Tourism Day is celebrated on the 27th September and is the global observance day set aside to foster awareness of tourism’s social, cultural, political and economic value and the contribution that the sector can make towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.
He pointed out that since 2018, the Ministry and its agencies and stakeholders have consistently been organizing the celebration of the World Tourism Day in an effort to raise awareness of tourism’s contribution to livelihood, job creation, quality of lives of members of host communities, protection of the environment and revenue generation for government. This year’s observance of the World Tourism Day will be marked by the organizations of regional dialogues using the occasion to recognize the role tourism plays in their respective fields, from fair trade and climate action to gender equality, indigenous rights and opportunities for youth. These he said are pillars of most if not all the SDG’s, particularly Goals 1 (no poverty), 5 (gender equality), 8 (decent work and economic growth) and 10 (reduce inequalities) and most importantly, the theme will provide an opportunity to promote tourism’s role in inclusive growth and identify how further progress can be made.
In her keynote address, the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Memunatu Pratt said that tourism has proven to be a driver for many countries globally saying that Sierra Leoneans home and abroad are appreciating the strides that has happened in tourism three years on while appreciating the political will and leadership of President Bio government in prioritizing the sector. She said there is much differences in the sector today to how it was before as evident in the development of beaches, opening of new sites and the many reforms to name a few. She noted that the industry has catapulted itself to a better industry that is now contending with grade A industries and has contributed to over 4% of the economy before Covid.
She stated that the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in recognition of the propensity of positive contributions of the tourism sector towards achieving the SDGs, Sierra Leone set its theme as Tourism Inclusive Growth in Attaining the SDGs and Agenda 2030 in Post Covid-19 Era. She mentioned the devastating effect Covid has had on the sector, but that notwithstanding, the sector is celebrating the World Tourism Day with a host of activities with an involving theme that will take the conversation to another level to get people to know the importance of the sector and the SDGs in achieving agenda 2030. She commended the UNDP’s GEF Project for successively supporting the Ministry and its agencies in commemorating the World Tourism Day.
She appealed to all Sierra Leoneans to take the Covid vaccine noting that we will be extremely limited if the number of people vaccinated is low as we will not get to the international platform, hence the higher the percentage of people vaccinated, the better prepared is the country in the international agenda. She said the Budapest-Bamako Finish Line will happened if a good number of Sierra Leoneans are vaccinated.
The Chairman of NTB, Allieu Kokobay, the Principal MMCETL/HTTC Brookfield’s Campus, Phillip Kanu, Deputy Chairman, Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Tourism and Culture, Emmanuel S. Turay, representatives from the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Environment, the hotel association and the Special Envoy for Entertainment & Investment Amara Dennis Turay (Kao Denero) all made statements towards the launch of the celebrations of the UN World Tourism Day.
