President Koroma on Monday, 21st December launched the ‘Lessons Learned Report’ compiled by National Ebola Response Committee at the Miatta Conference Center.
In his statement, President Koroma said when the ebola virus struck the country, nobody had knowledge of it and it took some time for the country to understand how to treat the virus. “All the countries that ebola has attacked, it was in the rural areas, but in our own case it was all over the country and it was the biggest ebola attack in the world. The message from the experts was that ebola kills and there is no cure, but we defied all odds and today we have 4,051 survivors in the country.”
The president said one important lesson learned in the fight against ebola was that communities took responsibility by directing affaires and working with DERC and NERC to get the positive result.
“It is in this vein that these lessons learned should be used to eradicate poverty, corruption and build a robust economy. How we are going to do it is simple, ministers, NGOs and CSOs must work together, share notes, be open to investigation and the dialogue should be done in a friendly atmosphere so that every party will take responsibility of the positives and negatives in the project.”
He said the shared responsibility is what Sierra Leone needs to succeed. “If this formula worked well for us in ending ebola, why should it not work for us to end corruption and poverty” President Koroma said.
The President said ebola caused us to forgo some of our traditions and culture, so he said if all of us have to forgo the same for a better Sierra Leone then we all must be ready to do it so that the six to nine months post ebola recovery plan that is underway will be successful as well as the 24 months plan.
He commended all those who took part in the report and hopes that all the officials in the country will read it and use it to bring economic revival in the country.
In his statement, the Chief Executive Officer of NERC, Retired Maj. Palo Conteh said he told his team that the report must be short so that people will be able to read it through and not get bored.
He said the report is ongoing as the final one will be out in the New Year. “We decided to put this report together because fighting the ebola on a collective front was a blueprint that the country can use to win other wars.”
CEO Palo Conteh said the President in his speech to Parliament said the ebola virus is over but the ebola of corruption, poverty and indiscipline is still in the country, so with such a plan from lessons learned, it will be good to use it win all those wars.
He averred that winning the ebola war was not easy, but the plan was excellent and successful and he wishes all MDAs will use it for the good of the country.
Director of Situation room at NERC, OB Sisay was the MC of the program and Chukwu-Emek Chikezie gave highlights of the report, whilst Dr Sheku Sesay gave the vote of thanks.
Source: Awoko
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