Sierra Leone highlights Free Quality Education in Ethiopia amid SDG backlog fears.

Sheku Sackoh Turay

Sierra Leone participated in the 12th Africa Regional Forum for Sustainable Development (ARFSD) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa conference hall from the 28th—30thApril, 2026.

The ARFSD forum invited 1,500 participants from 48 countries in Africa to deliberate on the Transformation and Coordinated Actions for the 2030 to 2063 Agenda for the continent.

According to Mohamed I Kutubu, Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Public Administration and Political Affairs (MoPAPA), he stated that they want to see the level of implementations of all SDGs and the agenda 2063.

“The aim was to try to align the Sustainable Development goals (SDG) with the Agenda 2063 the Africa we want to see, the SDGs will end in 2030 less than five years from now. So, they are trying to have an assessment on what has being achieved between the SDGs and the Agenda 2063, that was why the theme was called the Transformation and Coordinated Actions for 2030 to 2063 Agenda”. Kutubu stated

The Permanent Secretary reaffirm in his statement that, Sierra Leone as a member of the African Union (AU) and one of the implementers of the SDGs has benefited in diverse ways. Sierra Leone participated immensely during the assessment processes in diverse fora, and the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education Sajor Aziz Kamara made a presentation on behalf of the country.

The Free Quality Education is a flagship program of the Government of Sierra Leone and Education being part of the sustainable Development Goals, the Deputy Minister of Technical and Higher Education, discusses about the assessment and achievement of education in the country during a panel discussion by linking it to Sierra Leone Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP) of 2024—2023 and the Agenda 2030 t0 2063.

Suleiman Phoray Musa, Director of Public Service Reform Unit (PSRU), was part of a panel discussing about the reform processes in the country and how far Sierra Leone have been able to achieved most of these reforms relating it to the SDGs and the Agenda 2063.

Also, Ambassador Imran Kanu, Sierra Leone permanent representative to the UN and Mohamed I. Kutubu, the Permanent Secretary of MoPAPA participated in a panel of discussion on educational issues in the continent in order to assess and enhance success prior to the end of the SDGs and the Agenda 2063. That is why they are there to assess the implementations of all SDGs and agenda 2063.

Sierra Leone delegation was headed by Sajor Aziz Kamara, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education, Ambassador Imran Kanu, Sierra Leone permanent representative at the UN, Mohamed, Mohamed I Kutubu, Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Public Administration and Political Affairs (MoPAPA), and Suleiman Phoray Musa, Director of Public Service Reform Unit (PSRU).

The is the 12th Africa Regional Forum for Sustainable Development (ARFSD) and the 11th Forum was held in Uganda and the Chairperson was from East Africa and this year’s forum the Chairman was from Mauritius South of the continent.