Presidential Dinner Statement By Mr. Babatunde Ahonsi UN Resident Coordinator in Sierra Leone on behalf of the UNCT and International Development Partners .

• Your Excellency, Rtd. Brig. Dr. Julius Maada Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone;
• Her Excellency, First Lady of Sierra Leone, Ms. Fatima Maada Bio;
• Honourable Vice President, Dr. Juldeh Jalloh;
• Honourable Speaker, Dr. Abbas Bundu,
• Honourable Chief Justice,
• Honourable Chief Minister,
• Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
• Honourable Members of Parliament
• Honourable Ministers and representatives of state institutions
• Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps,
• United Nations Colleagues,
• Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, 

On behalf of the United Nations in Sierra Leone and international development partners, I would like to thank His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio and The First Lady, Her Excellency Ms. Fatima Maada Bio, for the invitation extended to all of us to attend this dinner.

We are extremely grateful for this initiative, which is indicative of the importance that His Excellency the President places on sustaining the friendly and warm relations that Sierra Leone has always maintained with the international community. 

In this regard, I would like to acknowledge the important and proactive role that Sierra Leone has played in many international forums, chiefly the United Nations, Africa Union, ECOWAS, the G7Plus - of which Sierra Leone is a founding member and the current Chair -, the SDG 16Plus Forum, among many others.

I will not be able to name all of them as the list is long, but I want to take this opportunity to highlight the most recent appointments of Justice Miatta Samba to the International Criminal Court and of the First Lady, Ms. Fatima Maada Bio, to the Advisory Board of the Division for Multilateral Diplomacy of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). I would like to use this opportunity to congratulate both Justice Miatta Samba and HE the First Lady for their appointments. 

Sierra Leone has always demonstrated a strong commitment to multilateralism and to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. In 2021, HE, President Julius Maada Bio, co-chaired the UN Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund Replenishment Conference and pledged USD 1 Million over a five-year period to the Fund. Sierra Leone has been one of the main recipients of the Peacebuilding Fund. Our current country’s portfolio is about USD 10 million, invested in national and cross-border projects.

Sierra Leone also submitted, last year, its third Voluntary National Review on SDG implementation, focusing on its accelerator Goals: SDG4 (education) and SDG16 (justice). HE the President should be praised for the efforts dedicated to the advancement of human capital development especially through an inclusive education policy. 

Last year the country was reviewed at the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Human Rights Council and committed to abolish the Death Penalty, which was, then, effected in October 2021.

Sierra Leone has also proactively engaged with the international community in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We should, certainly, commend His Excellency the President for the early steps made to put in place all necessary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country. These measures proved to be effective in mitigating the spread of COVID-19, while building up the emergency response capacity of the health system, with the support of international partners, including the United Nations Country Team.  Sierra Leone registers today one of the lowest rates of confirmed COVID-19 cases and associated deaths in the world.

Regretfully, the global measures to contain the spread of the virus have caused a disruption of markets, supply chains, income-generating activities and exacerbated food price increases.

Based on a report on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in West Africa, published two days ago by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in collaboration with the West Africa Sub-Regional Office for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), this deteriorating economic situation has adversely affected the food security and nutrition situation of women, men, and children. In 2021, more than 25 million people in West Africa were unable to meet their basic food needs, an increase of 34% compared to 2020.

The socio-economic impact of the pandemic will continue to affect the populations’ access to food and livelihoods and it will be urgent for the Government and partners to increase investments in social protection programs, social safety nets, such as school meals, and other livelihoods-enhancing programs and, at the same time, accelerate the vaccination campaign.  In this regard, the UN and development partners are working with the new leadership of NACOVERC, the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders to strengthen the national Covid response and mitigate the socio-economic impact of this protracted pandemic.

Recent events which might not be completely unconnected with the socio-economic impact of COVID-19, pose a serious threat to the democratic gains made by West Africa in the past two decades and make the region, in general, less predictable and stable. This could have a negative impact on both local and foreign direct investment, which could end up worsening the economic situation leading to a vicious cycle of crisis and instability.

We should all work together and increase our efforts to sustain the democratic gains made by the region and reignite in its population the trust and confidence that democracy can deliver peace, social stability, and economic progress.   Sierra Leone’s leadership and example in this regard would be extremely valuable.

Your Excellency,

This amazing country is so easy to fall in love with on account of its people’s legendary hospitality, its breathtakingly beautiful landscape, and its exemplarily high level of inter-religious harmony. Sierra Leone’s capacity to frequently punch above its weight is also admirable.  As a recent example, the Leone Stars showed at the ongoing AFCON Football Tournament that national performance is ultimately not about population size.  In fact, a native speaker of the English language told me the next day that the Leone Stars would have advanced further in the tournament if the referee at their last game had not allowed the opposing team to get away with so many agricultural tackles.  Now, if like me you are wondering how on earth agriculture and football tackles could be related, perhaps you may want to discreetly seek clarification from Her Excellency, the British High Commissioner.  But please do so after dinner.

Your Excellency,

I thank you and wish you and all Sierra Leoneans progress on all fronts in 2022.