President Julius Maada Bio has, on Wednesday, 8th February, 2023,
presented his stewardship to his party the Sierra Leones Peoples
Party at its 13th National Delegates Conference held at the
Bintuman Conference Centre in Freetown.
President Bio informed the delegates that since 2018, his
government has recruited 8,700 Community Health Workers (CHWs)
and given pin codes to 5,000 nurses, which enables them to be on
the government’s paying voucher. He revealed that his government
has brought the hospital on wheels that were benefiting 20,000
people in 12 districts in the country.
“Availability of essential drugs has increased by 90%. In the height of
COVID-19, my government spent one hundred and ten million
United States Dollars (US$110m) to import essential items mainly
fuel and food to reduce the people’s suffering,” he told his audience.
President Bio said that his government has been spending 22% of
the national budget on free quality education, adding that his government has provided textbooks, teaching and learning materials to 12,000 schools in the country. “My government has hired and trained 10,000 qualified new teachers, established 10 technical training centres and created three new technical universities. We have also expanded grant-in-aid coverage and launched the students’ loan scheme,” he highlighted, noting that there were one million new learners now getting education. He said as a result of the free quality education, the pass rate in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) increased from 55% in 2018 to over 77% in the 2022.“In the area of agriculture, my government provided 410 tractors, power tillers, etc., to boost rice production. In the 2021/2022 planting season, we did not import rice seed because we already had enough to cultivate,” he told the 13th National Delegates Conference. President Bio warned that there was no place for tribalism in the SLPP, adding that it is the Sierra Leone People’s Party which presupposes that no particular tribe would claim ownership of it. “The best thing that has ever happened to this country is the formation of the SLPP. So, when SLPP fails, the entire country fails. This is why we should leave this delegates conference as a united party that is determined to win the June 24, 2023, elections,” he said.SLPP’s Chairman, Dr. Alex Prince Harding, called for unity in the SLPP and noted that unity protects the weakest party whilst division threatens even the strongest party. “To the returnees and new converts, the SLPP prides itself in respect and discipline. I am aware that bringing more people to the SLPP would make us greater but existing leaders at all levels of the party must embrace the new converts and returnees so as to give them hope. By doing so, we will attract admiration and encourage them to stay,” he cautioned. Sierra Leone’s First Lady, Dr. Fatima Bio, said she was able to put up a very aggressive ‘Hands off our Girls’ campaign to protect the school going girls from being impregnated, adding that six FirstLadies from across African joined her to march on the street of Freetown in support of that campaign. “At the height of COVID-19, we came up with the National Food Basket initiative to alleviate the suffering of the people. We spent two million United States Dollars (US$2m) to buy the food for that initiative,” she noted. Dr. Fatima Bio said they have distributed six hundred thousand United States Dollars’ (US$600k) worth of sanitary pads for free to school going girls, adding that the money was solely raised by the Julius Maada Bio (JMB) Women’s Wing of the SLPP. “This year’s free sanitary pads were bought by the government. As I speak, we now have 89% retention rate of girls in school. I becamethe first ever first lady to address the United Nation’s General Assembly in New York, where November 18 has been earmarked as the day for rape victims to have a voice, through my advocacy,” she explained. She disclosed that the Maada and Fatima Bio Foundation was spending six million United States Dollars (US$6m) for the construction of the 34 Military Hospital, disclosing that through her advocacy, the government, for the very first time in this country’s history, recruited and trained 300 all-female members of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces.