The Mayor of Makeni City Council (MCC) Sunkarie Kabba-Kamara have assured the Lebanese Ambassador of their continued support and strengthening of their bilateral relationships between the two countries.
While at the Municipality house on Friday 12th August 2016, the Lebanese Ambassador Nidal Yehya, disclosed that for the past 140 years their great grandparents were in Sierra Leone and Senegal settling around forested areas trading. He said since then there are lots of transformation that had occurred from inter-marriages to improvement on their bilateral relationships by cooperating and supporting government on development.
Ambassador Yehya said presently there are Sixty (60) Lebanese families in Makeni doing business. The number according to him will be increased thereby making the group very formal in that part of the country because after the war and the Ebola they are yet to elect leaders to mann their affairs. He said he will engage his community to identify areas of development support for the municipality from education to health and transportation.
The City Mayor Sunkarie Kabba-Kamara expressed her gratitude to the Ambassador for visiting the city and his people pointing out that the relationship between the Lebanese and Sierra Leoneans in that part of the country has a long standing from schools to sports, scholarships, charity and development support to the district.
She said after the war, livelihood were destroyed but some Lebanese returned with positive views to work with the community and a forward thinking council considering all sectors as important in the development of the city. The Mayor said the Lebanese unit is needed to boost development from road to health, trade, education, transportation among many as the city has grown exponentially and in need for everything positive.
Mayor Kamara said her Council wants to introduce in-town-shuttles for school children because according to her school going children of late have become victims of commercial motor bikers accidents, girls becoming school drop outs as a result of either being allegedly rape or sexually abused by bike riders. She said bike riders of late don’t observe caution in taking children to schools and as a council safety is of concern to them, and with a bus service they will engage parents, school authorities and stakeholders for sustainability of the facilities.
The Lebanese Engineer Tonios C. Chaghonri, congratulated the Mayor and team for transforming the town into a city pointing that their parents are away but their hearts are in Sierra Leone and Makeni in particular. He apologized on behalf of his community for not putting their house in order but assured that in a not too distant future an executive body will be presented to the people in Bombali district.
The Engineer reminded all that the strong ties between the two countries will be maintained as they will continue to support whatever development they are able to undertake, stressing that they want proper ways through which the right people will benefit from their support.
The Chief Administrator (CA) for Makeni City Council William Alpha said as a council they have a mandate to receive donations from all sector and to use it to target people, but to also be accountable to the people. He thanked the Lebanese community for their support during the Ebola fight in the municipality from waste management to food, transportation, among others stating that, because they have been honoring their taxation, contracts have been awarded to those that won council bids.
The CA said council wants to integrate the Lebanese into their decision process but they cannot because they don’t have a structure but the news of restructuring is welcome and that council will continue to work with them and strengthen their relationship.
By Mohamed Kabba
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