The Deputy Minister of Information and Civic Education, Yusuf Keketoma disclosed that the Sierra Leone Postal Service must undergo a major transformation built on a sound postal Policy.

He made this statement on the September 21 during the stakeholders’ engagement on the ‘review and development of a postal sector policy‘ held at the Atlantic Lumley Hotel. Minister Sandi said during the ceremony that postal reform and sustainable development had been acknowledged as priority objective for the Universal Postal Union since the Bucharest Congress.

He said the rapid development of new information technology had affected the postal sector in many ways, while information technology had resulted in dwindling letter-based correspondence and postal transactions.

He noted that this had also provided an opportunity for the postal sector to improve on quality and customer service in order to rationalize costs. He pointed out that in some countries the globalization of trade and economic integration had created a whole new approach to postal services in which the postal sector plays a pivotal role as infrastructure provider for the conduct of business and the world in which manufacturers and customers are often physically separated by large distances.

The Minister said the stakeholders meeting would take the country a step further in exploring the huge business potentials and social value of the postal service, saying it also aligned with the Universal Postal Union’s strategy for integrated postal reform and development planned project for least developed countries.

Sandi furthered that the then Ministry of Information and Communications had worked on a bill titled ‘The Postal and Courier Services Bill‘ that is currently at the Law Officers Department for finalization and enactment by parliament. He pledged his Ministry’s commitment to pursuing the bill to enactment which he said would create the enabling legal framework for investment and modernization of the postal services.