World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Henry Kerali, arrived in Freetown late Wednesday 18th November, 2015 on a three-day visit.
This is a follow-up to his first visit in August 2015 to get first-hand experience from Sierra Leoneans themselves on what obtains on the ground in terms of post-Ebola recovery activities. As usual, Mr. Kerali, in the company of the World Bank Country Manager for Sierra Leone, Parminder Brar, is expected to hold talks with His Excellency the President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma at State House and meet with key government functionaries including the Minister of Finance and Economic Development and the Governor of the Central Bank.
He will also meet with the UN Country Team and development partners, including DFID and the European Union, to further strengthen partnership coordination in helping Sierra Leone implement its post-Ebola recovery program in the next six to nine months.
A key item in Mr. Kerali’s agenda, we understand, is the tidying up of the Bank’s funded Government of Sierra Leone WARCIP project (West African Regional Communication Infrastructure Project), which involves the liberalization of the International Gateway and divestment of SALCAB (Sierra Leone Cable Ltd.). The Country Manager, Brar, recently expressed optimism that the regulatory body National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) and the Ministry of Information and Communications would coordinate well to ensure the objective of the project was achieved.
Mr. Kerali arrived from Liberia, another West African country on the road to post-Ebola recovery, where he held similar meetings with the authorities.
Mr. Henry Kerali, a Ugandan national, took up office as Country Director for the sub-region on July 1, 2015, replacing Mr. Yusufa Crookes. Prior to that, he was the World Bank’s Regional Director for the South Caucasus, based in Georgia and has previously also worked in Latin America, Africa, East Asia, and South Asia.
He’s expected to meet briefly with key media practitioners before he returns to Ghana later today.
Friday November 20, 2015
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