Freetown: President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma has on 15th January 2013 informed the United Nations Country Assessment Team from New York that government is well determined to move on with the “Agenda for Prosperity”, which is a successor programme to the “Agenda for Change”, and will further consolidate strong partnership with the UN.
“As a government, we are now moving on with the “Agenda for Prosperity” as a successor programme to the “Agenda for Change”, he said, adding that state governance was the responsibility of government.
Speaking during a meeting held with the UN team at State House, President Koroma heartily welcomed the delegation and acknowledged the mission’s purpose of visit to the country, which is to assess strides that have been made by the UN in Sierra Leone.
Reflecting further on the progress that had been made by the UN in Sierra Leone since the war period to date, President Koroma said that the UN was in the country to ensure that peace and stability reign, saying, the government and people of Sierra Leone have received lots of support from the UN up to the just concluded multi-tier elections.
He informed the mission that the elections went on peacefully and that there was no incident of electoral fraud that could have possibly undermine the credibility of the entire process.
President Koroma also noted that government will continue to improve on the security situation through the maintenance of law and order in the country.
“It is important for us to ensure that there is no gap in the process, for we have a mandate to move on with the issues of state governance, emphasizing on the enforcement of law and order, addressing youth unemployment, which will not happen overnight,” he maintained.
The chief executive said youth empowerment has to go along with the establishment of capacity building institutions for skills training; an area government will continue to engage development partners for support.
Executive Representative of the UN Secretary General in Sierra Leone and head of the delegation Jens Toyberg-Frandzen said that the mission brought representatives from the UNDP, UNHRC, UN peacekeeping mission, UNIDO amongst other key UN partner organizations.
Mr. Toyberg-Frandzen also told President Koroma that the mission was recommended by the Security Council and that they were in the country to hear from national stakeholders in the governance process.
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