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The Minister of Information and Civic Education, Chernor Bah, met on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, with the Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Madam Kenyeh Barlay, in the latter’s office at Tower Hill, Freetown, to discuss collaboration for this year’s National Civic Festival.
The meeting aimed to move beyond last year’s partnership toward shared leadership. Minister Barlay described the engagement as a continuation and expansion of their previous joint efforts while Minister Bah explained that the Civic Festival provides a creative platform for citizens to engage directly with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to learn about government achievements.
Minister Bah disclosed that the Civic Festival will take place in December and is centered around the core message of “SaloneBigPassWeAll”. The landmark event, according to him, will enable MDAs, including MoPED, to showcase their mandates, scorecards and successes to hundreds of participants.
He expressed optimism about MoPED’s role as co-chair and stressed the need to mobilize resources from government, private sector and development partners to ensure MDAs effectively communicate their work to citizens. “It’s about showing the people what has been done for them,” he said.
Minister Barlay fully supported the initiative and pledged to strengthen collaboration with development partners, focusing on resource mobilization and early MDA preparation.
Both ministries agreed to hold regular co-planning meetings to ensure a successful Civic Festival. Minister Bah emphasized inclusivity, saying,
“Everyone needs to feel like they have a lot to show and their work will be appealing for the public to see and understand.”
The meeting ended positively with both ministries expressing commitment to making the 2025 Civic Festival a key milestone in government-citizen engagement and national development.
