Speaking at the Ceremony of the opening of Dr. Kadie Sesay Memorial Girl’s secondary School, the CEO Mercury International, Martin Machael started by recognizing the real heroes and champions of this project – the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Dr. David Sengeh, the Delivery team headed by Grace together with Mariama, Eman, Haja Isata Kamara, Resident Minister North West, the consultants, Ideas Limited, the contractors, Kolville Engineering, and of course the Management and Staff, the retailers and customers of Mercury International.
He said that the school is their project and that their enthusiasm, passion, and the way they owned the project made it a pleasure for him to be a tiny part of what has been achieved there on that day.
On behalf of the owners and Directors of Mercury International, he thanked all for allowing them to be a part of this success.
To the Mercury staff he said the biggest compliment he can pay them was that they are Mercury and Mercury is them saying that the day is a testament to their successes. He told them to be proud to say they have built a school at Port Loko.
He furthered that Haja Isata Kamara, his ‘intelligence unit’ informed him that they visit twice a day pointing out that their infectious personality, energy and love for thier people ensured that Port Loko got the best of the best, and the girls who attend this school can one day be part of an alumnus that is as prestigious as Annie Walsh, Convent, Harford or QRS.
He confessed to Dr. Monina Sengeh that after his appointment as Minister of Education, he asked his colleague, Dawn, to set up a meeting with him as the school project had stalled. ‘’ I was not really sure what to expect. After all, it is not always you get to meet a world-famous innovator, a rising superstar given so much responsibility, a young man with so many brains and ability and above all, a friend of Bill Gates, he said adding that he was concerned that he would basically be meeting an intellectual know-it-all.
He said that after their first meeting in November 2019, he was finally convinced that the project would come to fruition and that the school will be built stating that Collaborating with him over the past few months has been an absolute pleasure and that he is looking forward to continuing this collaboration in getting the other projects completed.
He apologized for the absence of two of their directors and shareholders, Max Brandwain and Hassan Saad who due to covid travel restrictions are currently unable to travel to Freetown saying that he is making special mention of both of them and thier chairman Samir Hassanyeh who is with them on that day.
He said their supports have been unwavering, unrelenting and without that support they would not have been able to fulfil thier pledge to the nation adding that they deserve as much praise as anyone else for approving the funding of this school and the other schools yet to be built but a project like this is not built on funding alone.
He maintained that without passion, it becomes a lifeless soul, mere concrete block that will soon be forgotten and ignored or used to plaster advertising materials saying that their heroes and champions made sure that this did not happen. ‘’You gave this school life and soul and an everlasting one at that. Its life and soul has been felt throughout the nation,’’ he added.
He said he had had calls from friends and well-wishers who have indicated a desire to help this school and that he could announce that his friend at Print Point, Samir Hamed, has donated 5,000 specially endorsed exercise books, that he has 1,000 copies with him at the present now. ‘well, actually 999 as I took one for myself… The remaining 4,000 will be printed and supplied after the school has decided on its badge and motto,’’ he promised.
He also added that the staff at Mercury International has come together and purchased 350 face masks and 200 school bags which they have donated to the school adding that he has asked that they acquire the school’s bank account number to ensure that the sum of Le 10,000,000 (Ten Million Leones) a month is deducted from his salary at Mercury and paid directly to the account of the school.
‘’This is a one-year commitment to assist the school in its formative year,’’ he said.
He pointed out that since its inception in 2006, Mercury International has been synonymous with responsible corporate social responsibility that has delivered on its developmental commitments saying that from the football, cricket and volleyball playing fields to the wrestling mats; from the surgeon’s table in Freetown, Senegal, Accra and Delhi to classrooms across the country; from scholarships to annual donations to the Ballanta Academy of Music, Milton Margai School for the Blind and the National School for the Deaf and to the home for the Aged, Mercury International has extended its philanthropy to give back to society and contribute meaningfully.
He said that notwithstanding all that they have been doing, they were missing out on leaving a tangible and concrete legacy for their company and the people of the beloved country adding that the flagship programme of Free Quality Education of the Government of His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio gave them that opportunity.’’ We knew as individuals and as a company that there was a need for new schools and classrooms. Since education was now free, we utilized the funds we had allocated to a project that would create a lasting legacy for Mercury but, way more importantly, a project that would create an opportunity for our children particularly girls – to have the best education possible in the best available classrooms and school’’ he averred.
He stated that the decision to offer to build 90 classrooms and or equivalent in schools was the easiest decision they have ever had to make as a company saying that It is, without a doubt, the singular most important decision they have made for the country.
He said that despite the challenges facing the girl child in Sierra Leone, the Government’s efforts to safeguard the girl child from violence through the First Lady’s Hands Off Our Girls campaign and tougher laws for sexual and gender-based crimes to providing free quality education have proved to be a turning point for the nation and its female population saying that through this school and others, they intend to build across the country, they hope they will contribute to a strategic national development priority, which is crucial for the empowerment of women and vital if Sierra Leone is to achieve gender parity in education and meet almost all the Millennium Development Goals.
‘’The message to the first 100 girls who will start school today is clear- to quote the former US first lady, Michelle Obama, “You have an important mission as girls and women. And to do that, well, you’ve got to have your education. So no matter what anybody tells you, I want you to keep fighting. Stay in school. Go to secondary school. Go to university if you can. And then, when you do all that, I want you to continue to be the leaders that you are and come back to your communities, and find other girls just like you who are working and striving and they need your support.” He pointed out stating that with access to education, women can do great things: launch businesses, become health workers, run schools, and lead governments, making the world a better place for everyone.’ I hope I will live to see the day when I shall refer to one of the graduates of this school as Madam President, he said.
He hope that the fact that the Government has decided to name this school after Dr. Kadi Sesay, one of the most educated and well respected women from the north of Sierra Leone, will inspire the children.
To the parents, he pleaded not to take their daughters out of school saying that the United Nations has identified girls’ education as one of the best solutions to reversing the relentless trend of poverty and disease devastating large portions of sub-Saharan Africa.
