President Koroma Extols ONS

Concord Times (Freetown)

Sayoh Kamara

4 May 2011

Freetown — On Thursday, 21st April 2011, six days to Sierra Leone’s 50th Independence Anniversary, the President, Ernest Bai Koroma commissioned the new Headquarters of the Office of National Security (ONS) situated on Tower Hill as a demonstration of his government’s commitment to the enhancement of national security and a manifestation of support to the commitment, resilience, dedication and determination of the leadership and staff of that institution.

The President extolled the ONS as a force behind the stability the country is enjoying, noting that the ONS has since its inception, served as an anchor for the security sector in its drive towards transparency, accountability and responsibility to the state and people through effective implementation of its policies. He posited that as a government, they are giving premium to ‘people-centered security concept’ rather than ‘state security’, with the understanding that security must be considered from the standpoint of not only being provided by guns and bullets, but also through good governance, access to services, and the promotion of effective public life.

He referred to the ONS as ‘a great success story that is characterized by dynamism and determination by the leadership and the men and women who form the core of its administration’.

The President further acknowledged the ONS as working in support of government in identifying and dealing with threats of security to the nation’s collective aspiration.

He however noted that Sierra Leone remains faced with post conflict security challenges and as a nation that is determined to move forward should endeavor to consolidate the gains achieved in its security management. He therefore proposed the need for a second security review that would determine the roles of MDAs in the country’s overall security architecture as a way of adequately facing emerging security challenges. The President encouraged the ONS to include civil society and MDA collaboration in its overall national security architecture as a way of enhancing approach to ameliorate these security challenges.

The National Security Coordinator (NSCoord), Rtd. Brig. Kellie Conteh, described the occasion as ‘a critical milestone in the history of the development of the security sector in Sierra Leone’ recalling that following the end of the rebel war, as a nation, there was need for the transformation of what was the country’s security forces to a framework that mirrors contemporary human security aspirations and post-conflict requirements to tie up security and development.

“As a country, we had learnt our bitter lessons that without security there can never be development and that without development any level of security can only be temporary,” the NSCoord noted. He frowned at the previous way and manner of government and state approach to national security referring to it as ‘state-centric cold war trappings of regime protection’ that was characterized by many ‘vices’ and ‘deficits’ that was used to target citizens and political opponents. But now, the NSCoord maintained, national security is a conglomeration of ‘inclusiveness, accountability, transparency and non political outfits, geared towards the common good of the state and the people without it seen as targeting political opponents.’

He paid tribute to the ‘fine, committed and enthusiastic men and women of the ONS’ and called the setup ‘a family’ without whose support, he said, the organization would have reached this current envious height.

He thanked the UK government through DfID for its financial and technical assistance to the ONS since its inception; the President and government for providing the lion’s share of funding to complete the building, the UN for providing the logistics to furnish the building, the contractor MODCON and TEDA, the architects, for demonstrating professionalism and the project monitoring and implementation unit, comprising of Messers Abdulai Caulker, Abdulai Mustapha, Larry Bassie and Nat John for their relentless effort. He stated that as an institutional policy, the ONS building has been declared a ‘no smoking public building.’

The Vice President and a plethora of dignitaries including the British Consul, the Nigerian High Commissioner, Chief Justice, and the Chairperson of the National Electoral Commission, Government Ministers, and Members of Parliament, senior and junior staff of the ONS, etc. were at the ceremony.

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