Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has made some changes in his government in a minor but significant cabinet reshuffle announced on Tuesday.
According to a statement from the presidency, a total of 14 appointments where made; while some people were redeployed, others were let go altogether from government.
There were also appointments made to the boards of state-owned parastatals.
The biggest name on the list of appointees is opposition politician Alpha Kanu. A member of the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC), Mr Kanu was named Resident Minister North-Western Region, with a cabinet rank.
Kanu is a divisive figure in the APC, which ruled Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2018. He served in several capacities in the cabinet of former president Ernest Bai Koroma during this period, first as Minister of Presidential and Public Affairs, then as Minister of Natural Resources (Mines), then Minister of Information and Communications. He would serve as Special Adviser to the President, before his redeployment to the Information Ministry in the dying days of the APC regime.
Kanu made a name as a fearless defender of the Koroma administration as Information Minister and government spokesman. He was one of about a dozen people who aspired for the presidential ticket of the APC for the 2018 polls.
Pro-Kanu protests rocked Port Loko when the APC announced its flagbearer. His mainly youthful supporters were unhappy that he wasn’t selected.
Kanu’s current appointment has however raised questions about his fate in the APC, which is seeking to return to power in elections expected in 2023. Port Loko, where he hails from and which is the headquarters of the region where he is going to preside over as minister, is one of the strangleholds of the APC.
Nonetheless, Presidential Spokesman, Yusuf Keketoma Sandi described his appointment as a mark of inclusive governance in a facebook post.
Kanu replaces Haja Isata Abdulai-Kamara, who is now Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry.
Kamara, like her successor, has an interesting political history. She ditched her party, the beleaguered Alliance Democratic Party (ADP) of imprisoned opposition politician Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray, to join SLPP. As deputy ADP leader, she had a divergent view about the choice of party to support in the 2018 run-off. While the party’s leader opted for the then incumbent APC, she opted for SLPP.
Other key changes made by Bio in his latest reshuffle is the demotion of two deputy ministers – Dr Anthony A. Sandi and Dr Amara Jambai, both from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS).
While Sandi was moved to the little-known Health Service Commission, Jambai was named as head of the National Covid-19 Emergency Response Center (NaCOVERC). It appears the two deputy positions in the ministry has been scrapped, as only one deputy minister was named in their replacement – Mrs Princess Dugba.
A second deputy ministerial position was created at the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education. Mrs Mamusu Massaquoi was named for that position.
Sadiqu Silla, a staunch ‘Paopa’ supporter and Bio ally, who lost his ministerial job in the last reshuffle in January 2021, makes a comeback to government, although this time as a diplomat. Silla was deputy minister of Transport and Aviation from May 2018 (First cabinet) until his sacking. He is now deployed as Sierra Leone’s ambassador to Egypt.
Rev. Abraham James Sesay-Jones, formerly deputy minister of Trade and Industry, was moved to the ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning as deputy.
A new resident minister in the eastern Region was also appointed – General (Rtd) K. E. S. Boyah.
President Bio also appointed a new Managing Director for the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank (SLCB), one of two state owned commercial banks. The new SLCB boss, Yusuf Abdul Silla, replaces Bockarie Kalokoh who has been redeployed to the Ministry of Finance as deputy minister II.
Sheku Fantamadi Bangura, who was until now deputy minister II of Finance, is the new Deputy Minister of Finance I. Bangura was also the head of NaCOVERC.
Other appoints made by the president were chairmen of board of the state parastatals Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority and Sierra Leone Road Maintenance Fund.
