Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has effected a major cabinet reshuffle that saw him sack two ministers, redeployed others and made several other new appointments, APA can report Friday.
President Julius Maada Bio, in a statement from the presidency on Thursday announced the sacking of Dr Jonathan Tengbe from the Ministry of Water Resources and Joseph Ndanema from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Chief Innovation Officer and Director of the Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr David Moinina Sengeh, was appointed Minister of Basic and Secondary Education, replacing Alpha Osman Timbo, who was sent to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
Labour Minister, Adekunle King, was redeployed to the Foreign Service as Ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union.
Bio made a total of 17 new appointments and created two new ministries in what’s his second major cabinet shakeup since assuming office in April 2018 following a hotly contested poll.
The announcement comes amidst growing public outcry over the poor state of the economy.
The two new ministries created were Environment and Social Welfare, which were separated from the Lands and Gender ministries respectively.
For the first time in many years, a substantive Minister of Defense was appointed, in the person of Brig Kelly Conteh.
Thursday’s appointments also included several deputy ministers in the ministries of Defense, Agriculture and Environment, Health and Finance ministries.
There were also appointments made to ambassadorial positions in Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Only one of the 17 appointees is a woman.
KC/as/APA