By Bampia James Bundu
The New York branch of the Sierra Leone People’s Party has completed the three-year scholarship scheme that was initiated for 15 pupils whose families perished during the Shenge boat accident in 2009.
Speaking during the presentation ceremony at the SLPP headquarters in Freetown on Wednesday, the Chairman of the SLPP New York Branch, Mohamed Bangura said that when the incident occurred leaving about 600 people dead, they were touched by it and decided to visit the village where they donated some items to the deceased families.
He said they initiated a three-year scholarship scheme to help some of the children whose parents were victims of the boat accident to prevent them from dropping out of school. He said that between 2009 and 2013 they had been paying school fees for the 15 pupils in addition to supporting about five women’s groups in the two chiefdoms of Kagboroh and Timbali.
“We gave the equivalent of $50 to each of the pupils for their school charges in addition to some school materials”, Bangura said, adding that they were happy to see that most of the pupils are in senior secondary school while others are about to sit to their school-leaving WASSCE examination.
He encouraged them to continue to take their school work seriously and assured that he would urge the Branch to find other ways to continue supporting them.
Veronica Kadie Sesay, MP, of Constituency 85 in Moyamba District expressed her thanks and appreciation to the SLPP New York branch for their support to her people pointing out that the support she received had helped her in ensuring her re-election in the 2012 polls. She said that such a support had helped change the lives of the pupils. She said life had not been easy for the pupils in their various schools adding that she would be grateful if the branch could consider extending the scholarship scheme so as to ensure that the pupils reached tertiary level education.
The National Secretary General of the SLPP, Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sei welcomed the group for their support to the children, adding that such a support from one of the party’s branches would help give the party a good image. He pointed out that the educational system in the country was very expensive, and had led to many pupils dropping out of school.
“Receiving such a scholarship will help the pupils to study effectively without the fear of the unavailability of school fees or charges, Tejan-Sie said”. He appealed to the benefactors to continue their good work.
