The Vice President Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh has reechoed President Julius Maada Bio’s commitment to support ecosystem governance.
Vice President Jalloh referenced President Bio’s statement to the Sierra Leone House of Parliament last year to support ecosystem governance, noting that the recruitment of five hundred game/forest guards to patrol protected areas in Sierra Leone fulfils the President statement. The recruitment of the five hundred forest guards, Dr. Jalloh maintained, was done in tandem with the New Direction Government commitment to create jobs for the youth, taking into consideration gender perspective.
The Vice President encouraged the guards to showcase professionalism, respect for law and order, and the community they are deployed. He called on the game guards to serve the community people, respect and treat the people with the highest standard of professionalism. Vice President Jalloh informed the guards of government’s plans to monitor the activities of the game guards. ”Government will not tolerate any behavior that is outside the broader expectation. You are not sent to the community to sell land or beat people” Vice President Jalloh cautioned.
Dr. Jalloh told the attendees during the graduation ceremony of the recruited guards that the recruitment of the guards was a decision by the Government of Sierra Leone to strengthen the enforcement mechanisms of the National Protected Area Authority (NPAA). He added that the recruitment of the guards will enhance the patrolling and monitoring of all protected areas. Vice President Jalloh described the recruitment as a commitment of the New Direction Government to robustly support environmental management as encapsulated in the Mid Term National Development Plan.
“Before the recruitment of the new five hundred guards who graduated this past weekend, the NPAA was constrained with manpower to manage fifteen networks with a land coverage of over 250,000 km/sq.” across Sierra Leone, Vice President Jalloh explained. He furthered that NPAA had only two hundred and eighty guards. The inadequate manpower and capacity of the Authority Dr. Jalloh stated, is responsible for the massive deforestation, encroachment especially in the Western Area Pennisula National Park, undermining of livelihood and water supply are posing the greatest challenge to government effort on conservation. The graduation ceremony was held on Saturday 24th October 2020 at the Peace Mission Training Centre at Hasting and was attended by government functionaries, the diplomatic community, and family members of the graduates.
By: Aaron Bundu Lahai – Head of Media and Public Relations
28/10/2020. ISSUE NO: 7939