The Sierra Leone Local Content Agency on Tuesday, 29th July 2025 held a strategic meeting with the Directorate of Policy, Planning and Research of the Ministry of Trade and Industry on the Review of the 2016, Local Content Act at the Agency’s conference room, 21 Steward Street, Freetown.
This comes as a result of the Ministry receiving request from the Director-General of the Agency to the parent Ministry to support in the review of the Agency’s Act. The Director, Policy Planning and Research of the Ministry, Mr. Francis M. Jabati said having perused the 2016 Act of the Agency, identified many areas to be reviewed as the writers of the Act at that time considered the current trend of events when it was written, and many things have changed, he said. Considering the current trend, he said there is need to review the Local Content 2016 Act; the Local Content Policy and develop the Local Content Regulations. He went further to say that the Agency should consider the funding source and the road map in the review of the act. He reiterated that as parent Ministry, they are ready to support the Agency in the review as this forms part of the Annual Work Plan of the Minister, referencing the current move of the Ministry in supporting the review of the Cooperative Act of 1977.
Responding, the Director-General, Fodeba Daboh appreciated the visit of the team from MTI and said this review has been planned since he assumed office in 2019, but the issue has been the funding source and reiterated the timeliness of this activity. He said the Agency has a broad mandate to transform the economy and reference the request the agency has made to development partners like GIZ and ILO but this has not been fruitful. Since the Agency has the mandate to regulate, these development partners might not be interested to support the review that would regulate their operations and he thus advised that the team should be careful in the quest to request support from development partners towards the review of the Act. DG Daboh assured Director Jabati that the LCA team will give this drive a priority and would identify focal persons that will lead in the process of reviewing the act.
Director, Policy Planning and Research of the Ministry of Trade and Industry recommended that a strategy would be design along the LCA team to source funding and advise that everyone needs to read the act and the policy thoroughly so as to understand the grey areas as stakeholders would also be informed during the review process so that the document would come out to reflect the expectations of the Government and the Sierra Leonean indigenes. He requested the Agency to bring this discussion in the pending leadership meeting of the Ministry that would be held on the 4th August, 2025 at the Ministry’s conference hall, so that all other heads of MDAs supervise by the Ministry would be informed in order to plan the way forward in sourcing funds for the review process as the Minster himself wants to see the review of the LCA Act comes to reality.
Acting Points
- DG appointing the focal people to lead the process
- Formation of a WhatsApp group to include MTI Director- Policy Planning and Research team
- Presentation of this discussion to the pending MTI Leadership meeting
- Popularize this meeting on all social medial platforms
