By Septimus Senessie in Kono
Diamond and Gold Dealers' Association in Kono has assisted the Muslim Brotherhood Secondary School in Penduma with 16 bundles of corrugated iron zinc to complete their unfinished six-classroom block.
The association also donated a laptop computer and a digital recorder each to Eastern Radio and SLBC, while an Elemax power generator, a digital recorder and a swivel chair were also given to the district’s newest Christian Radio New Song. The items are estimated at over Le 30 million.
Chairman of the association, Prince Kai Saquee, said the donation was a continuation of last month’s award of a year’s tuition fees, teaching and learning materials to 300 successful pupils in the junior secondary school leaving BECE exam. Some 100 teachers were also given "motivation fees" to the tune of Le 50 million.
While handing over the items to the beneficiaries, Saquee thanked the association for their assistance towards the development of a district whose infrastructure was destroyed during the 11 years of war.
He said the district had gone through many development phases and transformation, especially immediately after the war. “From blood diamonds to kimberlite certificated diamonds, relief to development, artisanal mining to mechanised mining and from subsistence farming to mechanised farming. All of these have rebranded our beloved district and the country as a whole,” he explained.
Receiving the gift on behalf of the school, the principal of SLMB, Tamba John Bull, looking and sounding elated, thanked the diamond dealers’ association for “redeeming us from our accommodation problem in the school.”.
He said they would use the goodies to roof their newly constructed classroom block building whose completion was stalled for over a year because of funding constraints.
The principal said his school’s enrolment this year had exceeded the 500 projected, pointing to the transformation of the Penduman community with SLMB being the only secondary school in the community.
He bemoaned teenage pregnancy and slammed parents’ "lack of adequate" attention and home supervision of their children, all of which he said was “a serious problem shadowing the improvement of education in the community”.
Assuring the proper utilisation of the donated radio gadgets, station manager of Eastern Radio in Kono, Margret Finda Allieu expressed delight at the gesture saying the association was the first national one to donate to media houses in the district as a way to enhance their effectiveness and efficiency.
She said they had had many promises from politicians and state institutions but that they had not lived up.
She, however, stated that they would not hesitate to report if the association went wrong.
(C) Politico 20/02/14
