The Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swarray has clarifies issues around the suspension of overseas travels by President Bio as well as given assurance of the President’s second term in office.

The Minister who doubles as the Head of the media for the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) made this disclosure on Wednesday 19th April, 2023 on AYV TV when discussing issues regarding the misinformation circulating on the memo issued by the Secretary to the President urging MDAs to cancel all overseas travel effective 30th April, 2023.

“We have stated times without number that, when we embark on overseas travel we bear in mind the cost benefit analysis and in all of those instances Sierra Leone has reaped more benefit than the investment in the trip”. He said

He added that, the reasons for the suspension is not related to that in any ways but as the country approach the June elections the President had appointed people since April in 2018 to serve in different departments on behalf of the people of Sierra Leone and to ensure accountability as is core to the President, those team members will have to stay on the ground to answer questions from the people of Sierra Leone on how they discharged their functions for the past five years respectively.

” It’s all but fair and fitting that those team members are on ground and in place to be able to give account of their stewardship to Sierra Leoneans” he maintained, stressing that the president told the people of Sierra Leone that, he will run an accountable administration and these MDAs should be on ground to answer questions from the members of the public which he referred to as an act of democratic accountability and a mark of respect to sierra Leoneans.

The Minister pointed out that, the other reason for the suspension in that, it is necessary for all of them to be on ground and ensure that their diverse intervention to a peace and credible elections is assured, to which he maintained that, all Ministers are in the country and ready to be accountable to Sierra Leoneans.

Speaking on the second term assurance of President Bio, the Minister said, the wining is assured in the first-round ballot in June 24th 2023 from a credible, free and fair elections as the pointers of President Bio’s administration are all over the country for people to see and judge as well as give him a second term mandate based on his developmental track marks.

“From all indications from what I have seen after traveling with the president on is thank you tours, the people of Sierra Leone are ready and determined to re-elect president bio in a ‘Wuteteh victory’ on the first ballot” he said.