Sierra Leonean president announces new cabinet ministers

FREETOWN, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Newly elected Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma has named his new cabinet of 16 ministers one month after he was sworn-in.

The names of the appointed ministers were announced through state radio late Saturday night. Four more ministerial appointments -- Tourism, Sports, Labor, Political and Public Affairs -- are to be announced. The office of the President said they "will be announced shortly."

Compared to the last cabinet, seven ministers were retained and four relocated. A new ministry, Ministry of Water Resources, was set up detached from the Energy Ministry.

The new minister of Trade and Industry, Boie Kamara, is one of the 19 presidential contestants of the main opposition, Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), but later joined the ruling All People's Congress (APC) months before the national election.

Among those reassigned is former Foreign Minister Joseph Dauda who is now Internal Affairs Minister and Alpha Kanu, formerly Minister for Political and Public Affairs, now the new Minister of Information and Communications.

Retaining their ministerial portfolios included Defense Minister Major Palo Conteh, Agriculture Minister Dr Sam Sesay and Mineral Resources Minister Minkailu Mansaray.

The entire cabinet would need approval from the parliament.

Reactions to the new cabinet seemed to be mixed. Some political analysts here observed it was just a reshuffle as there was not too much change from the old cabinet. John Cole, a lecturer at the University of Sierra Leone, described it as a mere musical chairs as it was like shifting one minister from one ministry to another.

Commenting on the appointment, Director of Communications in President's Office Unisa Sesay said the list so far is all embracing, reflecting a mixture of the young and old with attention being paid to women and the handicapped.

"It is a reflection of the President's policy to get all onboard to move Sierra Leone forward," he said.

Sierra Leone's National Electoral Commission (NEC) announced Nov. 23, 2012 that Ernest Bai Koroma has been re-elected as Sierra Leone's President for a second term with 58.7 percent of vote cast.

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