AYV News, September 13, 2024
President Dr. Julius Maada Bio has said he firmly believes that timely dispensation of justice is the bedrock for a thriving, just and resilient state.
President Bio said: “Today, at the New Brookfields hotel in Freetown, I launched the Justice Sector Strategy for Sierra Leone. As a government, we have abolished the death penalty, overhauled the Criminal Procedures Act, improved access to equity and justice across board, and invested in judicial infrastructure and training. With this launch today, we continue to deliver on our commitment to fully and unconditionally support critical reforms in the justice sector”.
The document is a transformative acceleration agenda for food security, human capital development and job creation.
According to President Bio, this new plan, which for the next 5 to 7 years will guide the operations of all development actors in Sierra Leone, builds on gains made in the implementation of its predecessor during the first term of my administration.
He said it addresses unfinished business and emerging challenges, as we renew our determination to accelerate efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
President Bio said: “Our new National Development Plan has been informed by my Government’s Big Five Game Changers that define the strategic priorities of the state and the people of Sierra Leone for the period 2024-2030. We have prioritised Feed Salone among the Big 5s as the flagship programme in the new plan. This constitutes a frontier shift from our human capital development (HCD) flagship programme during the previous plan 2019–2023. The HCD will be scaled-up during 2024-2030 along Feed Salone and the other Big 5s, all defining the strategic direction of the state for 2030”.
Earlier, the Government of Sierra Leone launched a new Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP). Unlike the previous plans that were implemented for five years, the new plan will be executed for a period of seven years spanning 2024-2030, in order to be fully aligned with the remaining period of implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, summarised in the 17 SDGs.
The current plan is highly strategic and prioritised, drawing from crucial lessons learned in the implementation of the previous plan, the MTNDP 2019-2023. The new plan is focused on the Government’s Big Five Game Changers that constitute the country’s overarching agenda for 2030 and give strategic direction to the plan.
The government’s flagship programme, Feed Salone will channel investments into districts with the highest potential for success and growth by leveraging each district’s comparative advantage while also introducing synergistic value chains, and a blended financing model, where the government combines its own resources and that of partners to attract private capital.
The six strategic pillars in the Feed Salone strategy are: mechanisation and irrigation by expanding rice production areas including inland valley swamps and irrigated rice fields; seed and input systems using research to ensure high quality inputs for optimal yields for key value chains; aggregation, processing and market linkages by streamlining processes for maximized profitability; agricultural finance – tailoring financial instruments and solutions for the sector’s unique needs, especially for women and youth; ag-tech and climate smart agriculture through leveraging of technology, supporting agricultural research, promoting digitalisation and building robust data systems to inform decisions while safeguarding against climate change; empowerment of women and youth by ensuring their indispensable role in agricultural development is reflected and elevated across all strategic pillars.