Chief Minister, Dr David Moinina Sengeh, has engaged the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Timothy Musa Kabba, on how the two offices can work toward achieving one of the ‘Big Five Game Changers’ of His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio.

The visit, which included a conducted tour of the country’s Foreign Service Academy, the first-ever training arm for Foreign Service officers of the ministry was part of public sector reforms, with a particular focus on improving efficiency and effectiveness in public service delivery.

Minister Kabba, while updating the Chief Minister on operations, described his ministry as the face of the country, which comprised good staff that only needed to be motivated. He added that they had various directorates for all the world’s geographical regions, with committed staff.

He said the Foreign Service Academy was instrumental in serving as a refinery for the training of Sierra Leoneans and other foreign nationals on foreign service, adding that foreign services were not like any ordinary service.

“The Foreign Academy comes at a very important time, more so when Sierra Leone is a member of the United Nations Security Council in the Non-Permanent Member Category. We play a significant leadership role in different multinational organisations. So, this academy must be here to add to the capacity building of our nationals.

“So, knowing well that state protocol is very important, the academy is going to start training government ministers and heads of ministries, departments, and agencies. This is geared towards ensuring that, as a country, we make the best use of our diplomatic academy in terms of our foreign representations,” Minister Kabba assured.

Chief Minister, Dr David Moinina Sengeh, said his unannounced visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation was aimed at understanding how the administration worked and to listen to their challenges, outputs, and needs. He said his visit was by no means aimed at punishing staff but to see how best they could improve efficiency and effectiveness.

“I am impressed with what I observed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Affairs, especially with the decorum on both facilities and the level of professionalism demonstrated in the ministry. This is not because I wanted to celebrate them but because, as citizens, we need to celebrate and highlight where there is efficiency,” he noted.

The Chief Minister assured that the facility would receive a direct fibre optic line with special bandwidth to speed up communication at the academy, which, according to the head of the Academy, Ambassador Soulay B. Daramy, was now offering classes in all the languages at the United Nations.