Sierra Leone’s President Dr Julius Maada Bio has officially recognised and coronated 12 newly elected Paramount Chiefs, among them two women, in the Bo, Bonthe, Falaba, Kailahun, Kenema, Koinadugu, Kono, Moyamba, and Port Loko districts.
He appreciated the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs and provincial staff for successfully conducting the peaceful elections, adding that he would continue to support them for the government to operate properly.
The President said he had always held the institution of Chieftaincy in very high esteem, not only because he was the son of a Paramount Chief but also because he was conscious that the local government architecture was the bedrock upon which national governance operated.
President Julius Maada Bio said he strongly believed that the building blocks of the country’s national architecture, which included governance and security, started with the chiefdoms, emphasising that a well-governed chiefdom was a strong building block for a stable country. He added that the recognition and coronation of the newly elected Paramount Chiefs were in line with a provisional requirement that was enshrined in the Chieftaincy Act 2009.
He encouraged the chiefs to continue to keep the peace as the most important function of their traditional institutions, thereby leading to improved national security and sustainable development. He also called on them to be law-abiding and to refrain from taking the law into their own hands.
“As Paramount Chiefs you must embrace all your subjects to live in peace. I also urge all citizens to always live in peace with their authorities, their communities and their fellow citizens and to refrain from all forms of violence,” he said.
President Bio, while reminding the audience about the government’s flagship Feed Salone initiative, called on the Paramount Chiefs and landowners to make available land for farming and encouraged Sierra Leoneans to go into farming because it was the way out of poverty.
Minister of Local Government and Community Affairs, Ambassador Tamba John Sylvanus Lamina, described the ceremony as another historic milestone in the country after the successful conduct of chieftaincy elections. He cited Section 72 of the 1991 Constitution on chieftaincy.
He said the Constitution had carefully built a system to ensure that there was stability in the respective chiefdoms and the country in particular. He added that they were happy that among the elected Paramount Chiefs were two female Paramount Chiefs, a demonstration that those chiefdoms had trust and confidence in women.
Minister Lamina also reminded the gathering that the ministry’s main mandate was to maintain stability nationwide through traditional leaders and assured PCs that they would continue to work with the institution of chieftaincy to achieve their objectives and the aspirations of President Bio.
He thanked President Bio on behalf of the Paramount Chiefs for his continued support to the chieftaincy institution.
