By Prince J Musa in Kenema
The Ministry of Environment in collaboration with National Council for Civic Education and Development (NaCCED) on the 25th September 2021 engaged service providers and councilors of the two local councils in Kenema on the national tree planting exercise.
Addressing the gathering, the Director of Communications NaCCED Kissma Gassama said the council is charged with the responsibility of educating citizens about their fundamental responsibilities and obligations for the development of the country.
He said civic education helps mould the character of the children in society when it was part of the educational curriculum. He added that civic education plays a vital role in the transformation of society as it will help citizens to know about all developments filtering into their areas and to be part of the process and take ownership of those development projects. Therefore, he said they were there to bring people together to know about their roles in the national tree-planting drive.
Gassama added that they have realized a gap between the service providers and the community people which has made the people not own and be part of the process. That is why he said they thought it fit to partner with the environment ministry.
’’We want the community to know that the trees are owned by them and should be involved in taking care of them in their communities,’’ he said.
In his statement, the Information Officer at the Ministry of Environment, Lahai Kpaka said the project which started in 2020, will end in 2023 by which time it is expected that Sierra Leone would have planted about five million trees nationwide.
Lahai Kpaka stated that the Ministry is targeting two sets of trees to be planted, economic and ecological trees such as mahogany mango, orange, cashew and coffee, cocoa among others that will enhance the people to get income and support them in their community.
He said the trees will serve commercial purposes that will help generate more income for the community and government.
He added that service providers need to work with the community stakeholders especially town chiefs, women leaders, youths, and paramount chiefs, and that there should be a memorandum of understanding between service providers and the community which demonstrates community participation in the process.
Gassama said that the challenge of the first tree planting exercise was a lack of community participation which they are correcting in the second phase.
‘’In the second phase, the ministry targets to plant 1,600,000 seeds that will be outsourced to service providers and want to increase community participation in the process,’’ he said.
He said the project has two aspects; the seed suppliers who are to be vetted by the National Procurement Authority and those that do the planting.
In his statement, the district forestry officer Kenema, Julius Sama encouraged the service providers to ensure that they work with the people and to make sure the project belongs to the people, thereby ensuring transparency in its implementation.
One of the service providers, Mohamed Mansaray said late supply of the seeds is also part of the challenges faced and that the ministry should put measures in place to address some of those challenges.
He stated that community interests in money than the outcome of the project is another challenge faced by the project.
Copyright © Politico Online (29/09/21)
