Shake-up in Sierra Leone's power company

Freetown, Sierra Leone - Sierra Leone's Minister of Energy and Power, Haj a Afsatu Kabba, has sacked four top officials of the National Power Authority (N P A), as part of plans to re-position the agency to actualize government's promise to restore electricity to Freetown 20 December.
The officials who were relieved of their jobs were General Manager Foday Mannah, Deputy Patrick Tarawally, Financial Controller Chrispin Wilson and Generation Engineer Alfred Vandy.

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Mannah was replaced by Dr. Subaru Ahmed Kaloko, holder of a doctorate degree in Economics and Finance who will serve as Acting General Manager, while Dennis Gav e , who was NPA's Technical Director, now becomes Acting Deputy General Manager.
Speaking to journalists in Freetown, Kabbah said the decision to sack the offici als was taken to "bring back life" to the department.
"Employees have been going without salary for months, without medical attention, safety gear for months, while the managers live in luxury and comfort.
"Amidst this crisis, some security operatives were in collusion with some of the managers to divert thousands of gallons of black oil, diesel and engine oil out of the power house, while millions of dollars (in) donors' fund have not been accounted for," she said.
In addition, the Minister said, the management of the authority was unable to ma intain generation and distribution facilities or generate electricity and buy sp a re parts and equipment.
She said the development had led to frequent breakdown of power plants, while mo rale among workers had been low due to lack of professional development and refr e sher training.
State House sources said the Ministry of Energy and Power would keep a close eye on the performance of the new team, which will be assessed on a monthly basi s.
The Ministry of Energy and Power is under the direct supervision of President Er nest Bai Koroma.

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