By Hassan Osman Kargbo
It is no longer a secret that since his re-election as President, Julius Maada Bio has started appointing cabinet ministers and deputies to various positions.
Although there was lot of mixed feelings concerning the credibility of the June 24 presidential election results, the president wasted no time but to appoint those he thinks he can work with in his second term in office.
Lahai Lawrence Leema before and after the 2018 elections was actively involved in propagating President Bio’s New Direction Manifesto message being the National Publicity Secretary of the Sierra Leone People Party. Due to his outstanding contributions, he pleases President Bio appointed Leema as the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs for the past five years.
With all the political dirty games played by Lahai Laurence Leema for President Bio and the SLPP during his tenure as government minister, many were expecting Lahai Laurence Leema’s name to be among the first set of appointees.
With all major cabinet appointments dished out by the President, its stands out very clearly that there is no space for Lahai Laurence Leema in the president second term.
Views from the SLPP party quarters and the public say Leema has been used, misused and dumped by President Bio.
Recently, a press release from the Office of the President confirming the appointment of Ms. Mamadi Gober Kamara, to fill the position held by the former as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, indicating clearly that Leema has been finally relieved from government job.
During Leema’s tenure as Deputy Minister, there were lot of controversies surrounded him, notable the famous August 10 saga for which Leema’s name came up to face the Special Investigation Committee on the August 10 to probe the planners, financiers and implementation of the act.
It was no gain saying that the former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs vehemently refused to face the August 10 SIC.
Leema reason for not appearing before the committee was that the invite was a very short notice.
However, Leema had denied the allegation of him ordered the arrest and killing of innocent civilians during last year’s 10 August in Freetown.
Other schools of taught have attributed Leema refusal to face the 10 August SIC as the reason why he was not reappointed by the president.
There is a lot talk from the public regarding Leema not resurfacing in President Bio’s final five years rule justifies that the young arrogant politicians has been truly dumped by President Bio.
But, say what you may, Leema is nowhere to be found in this new dispensation of Bio’s second term.
Despite the absent of Leema in this new administration, there are many young faces in this new administration. Many had referred to the president cabinet as the youngest cabinet ever in the history of the country.
From faces, there are young folks with energy to deliver in this new dispensation.
New faces in President Bio’s cabinet indicated clearly there were ministers in the previous cabinet that fall below the expectation of the president in the last five years while those that performed as ministers retained their positions.
Those who maintained their positions are, Dr. Turad Senesie, Minister of Lands maintained, Dr. Austin Demby, Minister of Health, Amb. Tamba Lamina, Minister of Local Government. Mohamed Orman Bangura, Youth Minister. Other Ministers were transferred from one ministry to another.
Former Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swaray now minister of Labor and Employment. Musa Timothy Kabba, Former minister of Mines and Mineral Resources now Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Dr. David Moinina Sengeh, Former Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, now the country’s Chief Minister.
However, there are host of other cabinet changes that occurred in this new administration.
Let’s wait and see what the future holds for the then Minister because the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone gives the President the leeway to appoint Ministers and deputies in governance positions whenever it pleases the President.
