Signature tune
Presenter Hello and welcome
to Youth Corner coming to you from the Voice
of Youth Radio Programme station. I am your
host Kadiatu Bangura. Please stay tuned for
the next thirty minutes.
Signature tune
In the Programme today, we
are celebrating the International Day of Youth,
marked every August 12th. VoY interviewed the
Director of Youths Anthony Koroma at the Ministry
of Youths and Sports, to know more about the
events mapped out for this celebration. Please
note, all gates leading to the National School
of Nursing are closed. With these developments,
news, music and sports up-date, please stay
tuned as we present VoY news with Salifu Koroma.
Salifu
Koroma – VoY News: Youths in Sierra
Leone are celebrating the International Youth
Day marked every August 12th. According to the
Director of Sports at the Ministry of Youths
and Sports Anthony Koroma, this year’s
theme for celebration is: World Programme of
Action for Youths +10. He further said that
this year’s celebration will be held in
Makeni, in the Northern part of the country.
Ten Years ago, The United
Nations declared August 12th of every year to
be observed as the International Day of Youth
in order to promote youth advocacy and development.
The National Youth Officer Bockarie Ensah informed
VoY that the Ministry of Sports held an election
to form a National Youth Council which will
be completed in 2006 while disclosing some of
the benefits in completing the council.
On August 1st 2005, the National
School of Nursing closed their gates due to
the new University Act by the Government to
transfer the school from the Ministry of Education
Science and Technology to the College of Medicine
and Allied Studies. In an interview with the
Student Union President Margaret Mbawah, she
disclosed that the students were not in favour
of the transfer. She mentioned that the transfer
would limit their chances of getting funding/assistance.
A student from the National
School of Nursing opined that they were not
informed in time before the transfer. Meanwhile,
there has been series of ongoing meetings and
dialogues pertaining to this transfer.
(end
of news)
Kadiatu
Bangura (VoY): Every year, the 12th
of August is observed as the International Day
of Youth. This day has been set aside to discuss
youth issues. In 2004, it was celebrated by
the Ministry of Youths and Sports in Freetown.
However, this year’s celebration will
be held in Makeni in the Northern part of the
country. To know more about the celebration,
our reporter Mary Finda-Fella spoke with the
Director of Youth Mr. Anthony Koroma. She first
asked him what the day would look like for youths
of the country.
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Anthony
Koroma: Well, the Ministry is celebrating
this day just as it is being done globally.
As we know, this day was declared by the United
Nations to talk about young people, the programmes
implemented for them and problems faced by them.
This is an opportunity for young people to express
their views through campaigns and advocacy and
also by talking to their leaders from the respective
communities and the Government.
Alimamy
Deen-Sesay: The meeting was held yesterday,
September 15 at 8:00 am.
Reporter:
what is the theme for this year’s celebration?
Anthony
Koroma: The theme for this year’s
celebration is - World Programme of Action for
Youths +10, Making Commitment Matter. Ten years
ago, the United Nations declared a World Action
for Youth. After ten years one begins to wonder,
what have the World Bank, IMF, UN, NGOs, and
the Governments done so far? They committed
to do something for young people but how far
have they gone in reality?
It is believed that some
youths are aware of the National Youth Council.
For the benefits of those who have not seen
nor heard about it, it is a council set up by
the Ministry of Youths and Sports in collaboration
with the Commonwealth to look into youth activities.
The question is, was this council set up by
the Ministry? If no, how far have they gone
with it? These are some of the questions asked
by our reporter Salifu Koroma in an interview
with the National Youth Officer in the Ministry
of Youth and Sports, Mr. Bockarie Ensah.
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Bockarie
Ensah: Thank you very much. In the first
place, the Commonwealth initiated the National
Youth Council. Therefore, the Ministry invited
experts from the Commonwealth Youth office in
Zambia to train young people. Therein we discussed
on the importance of the National Youth Council
in the country. By then, the ministry had already
put in place a programme to set up a National
Youth Council. We held series of elections across
the country at chiefdom levels. They have elected
their chiefdom youth committees and we have
embarked on the District Youth Committee elections.
We have also conducted elections for the Western
Area Rural and Urban District Youth Committees.
Basically, elections are on the way across the
country. In the not too distance future by the
end of this year we would have conducted the
District Youth Committee elections wherein in
the early months of 2006, we would be able to
conduct the National Youth Conference geared
towards the election of a National Youth Council.
(VoY Reporter) – what are the rules governing
this election?
Bockarie
Ensah: In the first place, you have to
look at the qualifications for attending the
conference leading to the election. At the chiefdom
youth committee formation, we are referring
to Freetown or the Western Area as Zonal because
we don’t have Chiefdom in the Western
Area, you have to belong to a youth organization,
a youth club, a social club or any organization
that deal with youths. The ministry will send
a letter to these youth organizations inviting
them to send delegates to the conference of
election. In that conference, delegates and
members present will go through the whole elocutionary
process as the elections would be conducted
by the National Electoral Commission (NEC).
NEC on the other hand will have to conduct voters’
verification; that is delegates would be screened
to know whether they fall within the youth age
bracket. After the verification exercise, delegates
would be required to nominate candidates in
a transparent manner. During the elections,
the voter’s boxes would be placed at the
center of the hall in a confidential area for
voters to identify their candidates.
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Kadiatu
Bangura (VoY): That was our reporter
Salifu Koroma and the National Youth Officer
Bockarie Ensah from the Ministry of Youths and
Sports.
With these developments,
there are problems faced by youths in our country,
Bockarie Ensah continues by highlighting some
of these problems.
Bockarie
Ensah: The issue of accommodation and
shelter in the Western Area is very serious.
In that light, we are putting modalities in
place to encourage young people who were displaced
by the rebel war and are currently living in
the Western Area to go back home rather than
building their houses in slums and hills where
they are not fully safe. Because of these constraints,
we have embarked on a nation-wide agriculture
programme, which will have to do with one thousand
youths in each District. With the implementation
of this project, we now see young people going
back home to farm. Our main priority now is
to address the issue of rural/urban migration
to help in the area of accommodation.
Kadiatu
Bangura (VoY): National Youth Officer,
Ministry of Youths and Sports Bockarie Ensah.
Sign
post: You are listening to Youth Corner
courtesy of the Voice of Youth Radio Programme
and the radio station you are currently tuned
to. In the programme today, youths in Sierra
Leone celebrate the International Day of Youth.
Still to come is the closure of the National
School of Nursing’s gates. What is their
reason for closing the gates? More on that story
but first, let’s take a short music break.
(Music
break)
Kadiatu
Bangura (VoY): That was our reporter
Salifu Koroma and the National Youth Officer
Bockarie Ensah from the Ministry of Youths and
Sports.
With these developments,
there are problems faced by youths in our country,
Bockarie Ensah continues by highlighting some
of these problems.
^to
top^
Bockarie
Ensah: The issue of accommodation and
shelter in the Western Area is very serious.
In that light, we are putting modalities in
place to encourage young people who were displaced
by the rebel war and are currently living in
the Western Area to go back home rather than
building their houses in slums and hills where
they are not fully safe. Because of these constraints,
we have embarked on a nation-wide agriculture
programme, which will have to do with one thousand
youths in each District. With the implementation
of this project, we now see young people going
back home to farm. Our main priority now is
to address the issue of rural/urban migration
to help in the area of accommodation.
Kadiatu
Bangura (VoY): National Youth Officer,
Ministry of Youths and Sports Bockarie Ensah.
Sign
post: You are listening to Youth Corner
courtesy of the Voice of Youth Radio Programme
and the radio station you are currently tuned
to. In the programme today, youths in Sierra
Leone celebrate the International Day of Youth.
Still to come is the closure of the National
School of Nursing’s gates. What is their
reason for closing the gates? More on that story
but first, let’s take a short music break.
(Music break)
Kadiatu
Bangura (VoY): That was Mr. Government
done for us by Sierra Leone’s female Reggae
artist Khadi Black. I hope you enjoyed it. The
National School of Nursing was established to
train people in becoming nurses to work in Hospitals
and Clinics countrywide. This school was under
the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. Recently,
the Government of Sierra Leone enacted an act,
which is the University Act, that calls for
the transfer of the school from the Ministry
of Education Science and Technology to the College
of Medicine. Listeners, this new act was not
well received by the nurses and this lead to
a strike action and the closing of their gates.
To know more on this, our reporter Mary Finda-Fella
caught up with the Student Union’s President
Margaret Mbawah. She first asked her the cause
of the Strike.
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Margaret
Mbawah: As you have rightly mentioned
we are on strike and we will continue with the
strike action. As at now, we have shut down
everywhere and we are no longer going for lectures
even the students of the College of Medicine
are not taking lectures because of the shut
down.
Mary
Finda-Fella (VoY): Why did you go on
strike?
Margaret
Mbawah: we went on strike because the
National school of Nursing was under the Ministry
of Health and Sanitation. There was an Act enacted
for the school to be under the Ministry of Education
Science and Technology. Whereby, the school
should be directly incorporated with the College
of Medicine and Allied Studies. The truth is,
we don’t want this incorporation, as the
College of Medicine will take over our building.
Our kitchen would be turned into a laboratory
and we will no longer receive food, and pay
school fees, which was never the case. Earlier
on we signed an agreement for scholarship rewards
after our three years of studies wherein we
would have to work for the school for two years.
It seems as if they will not change all of these.
After then, Professor Ngavao asked for our results,
the keys of the hostels and that students should
vacate the premises that was built by nurses
in London for the school of nursing and College
of Medicine’s students to live in. Professor
Ngavao went on to ask an artist to change the
writings on the school’s sign board from
National School of Nursing to Nursing Training
Center. We were not happy about these developments,
and that was why we went on strike.
Mary
Finda-Fella (VoY): How long have you
been on strike?
Margaret
Mbawah: For the past ten days now.
Mary
Finda-Fella (VoY): What have you done
to solve this problem and what have the Authorities
done?
Margaret
Mbawah: The Association of Nurses went
to have an audience with the Vice President
Solomon Berewa but, it is as if he is ignoring
the demands of the nurses. Therefore, we have
closed all the gates and went to the media to
sensitize the general public. The Government
does not have respect for nurses. Therefore,
we are still on strike.
Mary
Finda-Fella (VoY): you involved in the
consultation process?
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Margaret
Mbawah:
Well, when they were passing the bill,
our principal was present but they could not
listen to his views. The first bill was on Affiliation.
This was not their plan, because later on, they
enacted the Act for Incorporation on which we
were not consulted. As a president, I am saying
we will agree for an Affiliation and not Incorporation.
And we are standing on it.
Mary
Finda-Fella (VoY): What are the differences
between these two words?
Margaret
Mbawah: When we say Affiliation, our
school will still remain to be the National
School of Nursing with our principal and tutors
but take all directives from the College of
Medicine. When we say incorporation, it’s
like we are sharing everything together, by
doing so we would lose our facilities. College
of Medicine will occupy our hostels. But you
all will agree with me that the nursing profession
is a separate body from that of the College
of Medicine, which is a medical entity on its
own.
Mary
Finda-Fella (VoY): What was the reaction
of the police as this was a strike action?
Margaret
Mbawah: When Professor Ngavao came in
the morning to work, he met everywhere shut
down. He went to call the police to break the
main gate. The police came but enquired from
us the cause of the problem. Knowing the reason,
the police refused to carry out his orders.
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Kadiatu
Bangura (VoY): That was Margaret Mbawah
president of the Nursing School Student Union.
Listeners, as you’ve heard the effects
of the new Act. Let us hear from the Principal
of the school of Nursing Mr. Saa James.
Saa
James: Well, the problems of this Act,
I thought I made them clear in an interview
herein I stated that the Act was all about incorporation
of the school into the College of Medicine.
And we understood the English that the School
of Nursing and the College of Medicine should
be incorporated. Which is to say there would
be no more school of nursing. Before the enactment
of the Act, the stakeholders in nursing overseeing
nursing education and practice in the country,
the Tertiary Education and Commission in the
Ministry of Education Science and Technology
and even the Universities were not consulted.
It was agreed by these bodies to write and inform
us about the act but they refused. The initial
document was an Affiliation that was understandable.
Meanwhile, the Sierra Leone association of nurses
and the West Africa College of Medicine Sierra
Leone Chapter and the Nurse’s Board of
Sierra Leone have met and would definitely submit
a statement to the Government in regards to
the Act.
Mary
Finda-Fella (VoY): There is somebody
already to take care of the school. Have you
been discussing this issue?
Saa
James: Actually, according to the Act,
they should incorporate the school into College
of Medicine and whosoever is the Campus Director
of Commerce will automatically be the overall
authority of the school. The interaction between
the two of us initially was cordial but as at
now it is totally the opposite. He came over
to my office on the 29th and told me to hand
over to him, documents and assets and the declaration
of the school’s account. According to
him, National School of Nursing is no longer
in existence. Everything now belongs to the
College of Medicine.
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Mary
Finda-Fella (VoY): Have you taken this
issue to the Ministry?
Saa James:
Well, my first reaction
was knowing fully well that I am under the Ministry
and operating under its budget until December
2005, even though he said the school is not
under the Ministry. I later on informed the
Director of Nursing Services who was surprised
to learn that. He then informed other stakeholders.
They later on down-played everything as they
thought it was not a serious matter. I said
so because it was not documented.
Mary
Finda-Fella (VoY): What then is the way
forward?
Saa
James: The way forward is by continuing
to appeal to the students to open the gates.
The greatest way forward is the Government should
listen to them for the smooth running of the
school.
^to top^
Kadiatu Bangura
(VoY): That was
the Principal of the National School of Nursing,
Saa James. The nurses are not comfortable. How
far have they gone in solving this problem?
Let’s hear what the president of the Sierra
Leone Nursing Association has to say.
President
of the Sierra Leone Nursing Association Patricia
Abu:
We held a general meeting of all the nurses
in the country, with representatives from each
District, for us to deliberate. After the meeting,
we agreed on some recommendations to be forwarded
to the Government to be addressed..
Mary
Finda-Fella (VoY): Can you disclose some
for listeners?
Patricia
Abu: Yes. First and foremost, is the
issue of the National School of Nursing to be
incorporated into Commerce. We are totally against
the incorporation. Some time ago, we heard about
an Affiliation to the University of Sierra Leone,
not even Commerce. We were not involved in the
planning process. We were told just when everything
got to the final stage. As nurses we have agreed
not to go with that change.
Mary
Finda-Fella (VoY): How best can you solve
this issue?
Patricia
Abu: We believe and respect the law so
as members of the association we are recommending
to the Government. We are not against the University
Act and we do not want to be misunderstood.
But the aspect of nurses incorporation into
Commerce is what we are against. It’s
like we are not in control, therefore, we are
appealing to the government to please look into
the matter again.
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top^
Kadiatu
Bangura (VoY): That was Patricia Abu.
It is now time for VoY Sports update with Alarini
Bah.
Alarini
Bah, Sports news: Welcome to Voice of
Youth sports update. In today’s edition,
I will give you a run down of national sports.
Soja Town Football Club defeated Liverpool Football
Club with 2-1, in the ongoing TAFA league at
the Black Field in the central part of Freetown.
The Ministry of Youths and Sports has short-listed
names to undergo a coaching training exercise
on Cuba local sporting news and now a look at
the international scene. Tuscan coach says he
is happy about the team’s 2-2 draw against
Juventus. Liverpool defender Samie Hyypia has
agreed to sign a three-year contract with his
club. Monaco has joined the bid to sign for
Liverpool striker Milan Baros. The Spanish club
Real Madrid has decided not to sell English
striker Michael Owen. Manchester United, Villarreal,
and Rangers have secured first leg victories
in the Champion’s League Campaign. Liverpool
defeated CSKA Sofia 3-1. That’s all for
VoY Sports update. I am Alarini Bah.
Kadiatu
Bangura (VoY): That was Alarini Bah
with the sports update. On that note we draw
the cotton on today’s programme. Thanks
to my producer Salifu Koroma, sports editor
Alarini Bah, studio technician Bryan Collen
and to you all for listening. If you want to
contribute to this programme, please send your
comment to: Voice of Youth Radio Programme in
care of C-MET, 41 Main Motor Road Congo, Cross
or call us on this number 234030.Till then,
I am Kadiatu Bagura your presenter saying goodbye.
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