LOCAL CONTENT STAKEHOLDERS CONSULTATIVE MEETING IN MAKENI. HON. USMAN BOIE KAMARA KEY NOTE ADDRESS: Am glad to be here again today. Last night we were in Lunsar explaining this policy and Makeni is our second stop. We shall do it allover the country. The policy was passed a year ago by the Government and we are trying to make it a law. Our purpose of being here is to ensure that we explain this policy to the best level and encourage our people to participate. Over the years people say we have seen lot of companies in Sierra Leone but our people never realize the actual benefit. This necessitated the idea of the Local Content Policy. We have diamond, Rutile, IronOre, Adax etc but we see no positive changes in the lives of the locals. We want to make sure that we get local industries that can support the international investors that are here. This is what we mean by sustainable inclusive development. We want to get Sierra Leoneans in the central positions of these companies. Government will continue to invest in the human resources in order for our young people to get the required skills to gain employment in Sierra Leone and beyond. To attain this, Government is now putting premium in areas like Science and Technology, women empowerment, youth empowerment etc. Last week when we were in Kabala, The President issued a brown new truck to Vegetable Women Sellers their. What does this mean in real terms? This will allow these traders to directly transport their goods to the market in a timely manner and avoid their goods to perish unnecessarily . Am also working with colleague Ministers from Agriculture to Mines Ministries to create the gateway whereby all these vegetable sellers will directly supply companies operating in Sierra Leone. I would like to hastily caution here that for Sierra Leone locals to benefit from the Local Content Policy which we hope to later turned in to law, they must love each other in a sincere and committed manner. We must put aside all our odd attitudes that has continue to wreck development in our country. We are blessed to have a President that sincerely cares for his people. All of us has to be his able lieutenants to help him effect the positive change he wants for this country. This is not just for Commissioners, Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and other people in positions of trust. We must work together and keep off from disrespectful acts by making sure that we put our country first ahead of all other priorities. OPENING REMARKS: Hon. Mabinty Kadija Sillah There are job facilities in the Local Content Policy. The policy was established in May 2012. This will happen if we continue to empower our local producers. The fact is people living in industrial areas always feel neglected because they are not getting jobs from see industries. They continue to cry for unemployment, The Youth Commission and Ministry of Youth Affairs are working on modalities to effectively tackle this odd situation. We have certain companies that even import cooks. This is grossly unfair. ATTENDEES: Makeni Mayor, Paramount Chief, traders, Press, Activist and Civil Society representatives
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 11:00:53 +0000
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