PONDER MY THOUGHTS BY Andrew Keili PRES. KOROMA: A MANS GOT TO DO WHAT A MANS GOT TO DO. John Wayne, as Sheriff would stroll leisurely into a den of wayward cowboys, shoot his way out of an ambush, arrest his man and announce “A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do”. In typical John Wayne style (well not quite, according to detractors) President Koroma did what he had to do by finally sacking his Minister of Health. Our unpreparedness for the Ebola crisis and the series of missteps were laid clearly at her doorstep by detractors. Her enemies did not have to try too hard as she herself proved that public relations was not her forte. A young lady heading a Ministry that a few months ago had received plaudits in the Presidential performance contract assessment had been on the ropes since the crisis began. The hammer finally fell and the press release was surprisingly candid: “…in order to create a conducive environment for more efficient and effective handling of the Ebola outbreak in the country, it has become necessary for changes to be made in the political leadership of the Ministry of health and Sanitation.” The press release continued: “....the Ebola response platform has been reconfigured... ...its membership will include the United Nations Resident Coordinator, the Chief Medical Officer and the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative. The reconstituted Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) will be co-chaired by the WHO representative and the Chief Medical Officer. His Excellency the President has graciously appointed Mr. Stephen Gaojia as Operations Coordinator in the EOC.” The press release speaks volumes and put plainly can be translated as follows: 1. The management of the Ebola outbreak was chaotic, with constant infighting 2. Professionals in the Ministry as well as international organizations will now have a greater say in the management of the outbreak and the coordination will be strengthened. 3. The Government is prepared to listen to other views Enter the new minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr Abu Bakarr Fofanah, a young man who is highly qualified. A qualified medical doctor with a Masters in Physiology and with a string of other relevant qualifications, he has come in amidst much expectation of a heightened performance. He has already had his baptism of fire with the recent nurses’ strikes and other challenges faced. His will be helped in this challenge by a host of other players. The last thing the young man would want to do is to prove intransigent and not work with other players. The Ebola situation is not just a health issue in the strict sense but encompasses so many other challenges-logistical, socio- cultural, financial, etc. Indeed there will be many hands on deck to help address these. His primary function of heading a dysfunctional health Ministry will still be there. The Ministry of Health and Sanitation not only has to contend with medical services but also management services. Planning, integrated service delivery, Human Resources and management problems, infrastructure and maintenance, financing and procurement, and information services are just some of the problems he would have to contend with. The Abuja Declaration recommending that government increases its per capita expenditure on Health to 15% of public expenditure is still a forlorn hope. The responsibilities of various players as espoused in the Hospital Boards Act of 2003 and the Local Government Act of 2004 are still not being executed well. Thankfully for the Government with this Ebola crisis, many actors now seem to be upping their game. There have been a lot of unsung heroes that have done their own little bit to bring out problems to the consciousness of international players. Concerned Sierra Leoneans through their various organizations are lobbying decision makers abroad for major assistance of various sorts in curbing the crisis as well as delving into current and projected problems which include air travel, sea freight, economic impacts of business closure and a whole host of other problems wrought by this crisis. Sierra Leonean groups like SLWT are lobbying for provision of more isolation centers, deployment of mobile laboratories, facilities to move personnel and equipment, anthropological support for community and social mobilization, amongst other things. There are also those organizations at home and abroad that are helping out with the provision of various items. This goes to prove that Sierra Leoneans care for their home-whether they are at home or abroad. MSF has done a yeoman’s job in helping to marshal international support. “Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it,” said Dr Liu, head of MSF. “Leaders are failing to come to grips with this transnational threat. The WHO announcement on 8th August that epidemic constituted a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ has not led to decisive action, and states have essentially joined a global coalition of inaction,” she said. MSF itself recognizes that everyone (including MSF) was slow to respond to this crisis, because it is unprecedented. “UN member states cannot focus solely on measures to protect their own borders. Only by battling the epidemic at its roots can we stem it. This is a transnational crisis, with social, economic and security implications for the African continent”, according to an MSF press release. The response more lately to this crisis has been both impressive and purposeful. The African Development Bank (ADB) President, recently announced-a USD 60 million grants to help countries affected by the virus attack in the Wes Africa sub region. The British Military will set up a 62 bed facility at the behest of WHO and GOSL. The Health Facility is on top of UK’s £25 million package already provided through longstanding commitments to multilateral institutions. The US has sent down a 24 man team from the CDC and has provided considerable assistance through various institutions. The Chinese continue to help and will soon set up a mobile lab. The World Bank’s assistance so far is to the tune of $34 million in various ways. The EU says it has slated some Eu 140 million for the West African Ebola fight. In general additional treatment centers, testing facilities, external medical personnel and infusion of funds give cause for hope even in the midst of several problems we face with this fight. What is needed more now is also the political will to fight this fight and ensure that things don’t continue as usual. Going forward, more tough decisions would need to be made by the Government. We cannot continue having square pegs in round holes and we must return to an era where meritocracy reigns supreme. This crisis has shown that there are Sierra Leoneans within and outside the country who feel compelled to do their own little bit for their country. We must hold our government to be accountable. A friend of mine to whom politics in anathema opined to me last week:”We have to make our voices heard and not wait till people in power mess us up. This crisis has revealed that our development is flaky at best. We need s strong and purposeful political leadership that is devoid of patronage.” She has now become political! This is not a time for any post mortem but going forward, we would expect tough decisions to be made by the President in the interest of the country as Sierra Leoneans have repeatedly proved throughout his crisis that this country belongs to us all and they care passionately for this geographical enclave God has entrusted to us. Desperate times call for desperate measures. President Koroma must be reminded of John Wayne’s statement: “A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.” But then John Wayne was no “bonga badman”! JOHN WAYNE PROUD OF PARLIAMENT Who says Parliamentarians are a group of people who rubber stamp anything sent to them? Well they don’t! It appears there is a new Sheriff in town-Hon Ibrahim Bundu. Probably reeling from accusations of malfeasance by some members of the public relating to the Le 62 million given to them as Constituency allowances for the Ebola fight, Parliamentarians are proving they are no wimps. In a story titled “Parliament rejects two presidential nominees”, the new Citizen went to great lengths to explain the new phenomenon: “ The parliamentary committee on Appointments and the Public Service chaired by the majority leader of parliament, Hon Ibrahim Rasin Bundu on its 17th sitting at committee Room 1, Parliament Building Tower Hill in Freetown on Friday August 4th 2014 made history to their credit by turning down two Presidential nominees who were before the screening committee for positions earlier nominated them by President Ernest Bai Koroma. “ According to the story, the two culprits who were involved in this “history making epoch” were Mohamed Alimamy Fofanah proposed member for Statistics Sierra Leone Council to be stationed in Eastern Province and Daniel Joseph Hadji proposed member of the same council to be stationed in Southern Province. The reason given by a unanimous decision of the bipartisan committee was “not meeting the competency criteria to carry out the responsibility as required by Statistics Sierra Leone especially when the country is preparing to conduct the Housing and Population Census… they performed badly to probing questions.” I now see the reason for New Citizen giving this story prominence. According to New Citizen there had been “accusations levied against parliamentarians of not working in the people’s interest”. The paper quoted the House Leader Ibrahim Bundu as saying that the committee “will not allow people to stifle parliament for the purpose of getting their way through to the detriment of the nation.” “A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do”. We look forward to the next wave of rejections, and oh, probably some who had passed through the net unnoticed! Ponder my thoughts.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 08:22:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015