Sierra Leone Telegraph: 25 March 2023:
Freetown’s Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr this week attended the United Nations 2023 Water Conference in New York, in her capacity as one of the Commissioners of the 12 Persons Global Commission on the Economics of Water.
The Commission presented its preliminary report – “Turning the Tide – A Call to Collective Action” at the conference.
Speaking about the conference, Aki-Sawyerr said she was pleased to discuss the report in the UN Talk Show, alongside the Commission’s co-chairs Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Prof Mariana Mazzucato of UCL (Photo below), joining other members of the Commission to present key elements of the report at a High-Level Event attended by the President of the General Assembly.
“Today I attended an event with the first female President of the Republic of Slovenia Nataša Pirc Musar. We had an inspiring conversation about the significance of the global water crisis to women all over the world and how important it is for women to lead global and local responses to the crisis.
“Another very significant engagement today was my meeting with the Mourad Wahba, Officer-In-Charge of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and members of the team that have been working on water interventions with FCC.
“I am really excited that after extensive joint concept design and programme development, we are finally at implementation stage – bids have now been received and the construction company will be chosen within two months that will deliver 40 water kiosks and 15 public toilets financed by the Swiss Development Corporation (Blue Peace); and 25 water Kiosks financed by the Peacebuilding Fund to deprived communities in Freetown.
“Responsibility for the provision of water in Freetown is the legal mandate of the Guma Valley Water Company but Freetown City Council is committed to supporting water provision, and we do so through collaboration with international and local partners. Speaking at this UN Water Conference platform increases Freetown’s profile and grants access to more resources to support water provision, particularly in deprived communities,” she concluded.
Mayor Aki-Sawyerr is seeking re-election at the forthcoming Mayoral election where the people of Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital will renew her mandate to continue the major development strides she has achieved in transforming the capital.
#5MoreToDoMore
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Good leader
The problem that is nagging seasoned statisticians is not whether Yvonne Aki-Sawyer will be re-elected, but the magnitude of the landslide. You see, the statisticians are finding it almost impossible to find a significant number of Freetonians who have not positively assessed Yvonne over the past five years; they recognise that even with all the barriers which the Bio government have erected to thwart her,Yvonne has somehow always managed to run rings around them.
Yvonne’s latest activities at the UN tell Freetonians that even though she is officially out of office for the next few weeks, Freetown goes with her wherever she goes. Contrary to what Bio and his gang have concluded Freetonians have a thinking brain.