A Sierra Leonean Renaissance?
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Things are looking up in Sierra Leone.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has pledged to support the newly elected government ''as the country continues to move towards durable political stability and sustainable economic development."
He commended the people of Sierra Leone for ''for exercising patience and restraint during the tallying of the vote,''
This was the second democratic election held in post-civil war Sierra Leone since 2002.. In the 47 years since Sierra Leone was a British Crown Colony, it's bright promise was dimmed by years of dictatorship and corruption. But newly elected president, Ernest Bai Koroma has promised: "My government will spare no effort to adopt zero tolerance on corruption and mismanagement of state resources. We know how high your expectations are and that you have suffered for too long,''
Hope rolls high in Sierra Leone on the heels of the second successful election. Pro-democracy activist Tinga Seisay applauded the work of former US President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center who monitored the 2002 election. "The Carter Center has done incredible things all over the world but in Sierra Leone, they helped create a new political trend in which every citizen has a voice in the future of the country." said Seisay,"I hope others will follow in the footsteps of our progress."
Meanwhile women in Sierra Leone are striving to achieve more representation. According to Diana Konomanyi, regional chairperson of the All People's Congress: "In our own society, women are meant to be in the kitchen. There is no way to allow a woman to stand in front of a man to take decisions and make decisions,"
Sierra Leone has committed to create policies to end discrimination against women and establish targets for women in government. They've got their work cut out for them but with female President Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson showing everyone how it's done in Liberia, the goal of women in leadership positions is not so distant after all.
Sources: cartercenter.org, modern political thinkers, newyorktimes.com, ndtv.com, voanews.com, un.org
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has pledged to support the newly elected government ''as the country continues to move towards durable political stability and sustainable economic development."
He commended the people of Sierra Leone for ''for exercising patience and restraint during the tallying of the vote,''
This was the second democratic election held in post-civil war Sierra Leone since 2002.. In the 47 years since Sierra Leone was a British Crown Colony, it's bright promise was dimmed by years of dictatorship and corruption. But newly elected president, Ernest Bai Koroma has promised: "My government will spare no effort to adopt zero tolerance on corruption and mismanagement of state resources. We know how high your expectations are and that you have suffered for too long,''
Hope rolls high in Sierra Leone on the heels of the second successful election. Pro-democracy activist Tinga Seisay applauded the work of former US President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center who monitored the 2002 election. "The Carter Center has done incredible things all over the world but in Sierra Leone, they helped create a new political trend in which every citizen has a voice in the future of the country." said Seisay,"I hope others will follow in the footsteps of our progress."
Meanwhile women in Sierra Leone are striving to achieve more representation. According to Diana Konomanyi, regional chairperson of the All People's Congress: "In our own society, women are meant to be in the kitchen. There is no way to allow a woman to stand in front of a man to take decisions and make decisions,"
Sierra Leone has committed to create policies to end discrimination against women and establish targets for women in government. They've got their work cut out for them but with female President Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson showing everyone how it's done in Liberia, the goal of women in leadership positions is not so distant after all.
Sources: cartercenter.org, modern political thinkers, newyorktimes.com, ndtv.com, voanews.com, un.org
Posted by
Allegra Hall
at
1:25 PM
Labels: Ban Ki-Moon, Diana Konomanyi, Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson, Ernest Bai Koroma, Jimmy Carter, The Carter Center, Tinga Seisay
