Sierra Leone civil society coalition backs metric system introduction
May 6, 2011The head of the civil society coalition in Sierra Leone has thrown his support behind the newly-introduced Metric System of measurement in the country.
Charles Mambu, Director of Sierra Leone’s civil society coalition, told WADR that the introduction of the metric system was long overdue.
“Sierra Leone has been lagging behind for so long, and we need to catch up with our colleagues in the sub region and Africa as a whole,” stressed Mambu.
Mr Mambu however questioned the government’s handling of the implementation and the strategy being used by those dealing with the issue.
“The petroleum unit, the standard bureau, and the ministry of trade and industry’s handling of the issue is what is actually becoming problematic,” he said.
The metric system act was passed into law in 2010 in parliament and the mandate was given to the government to start implementation of the system in early 2011.
The introduction of the new system coincided with the increase of prices of petroleum products.
According to Mr Mambu, what went wrong in the view of the civil society is the fact that not much public information dissemination was done ahead of the introduction.
“The sensitization and engagement of the public was extremely very poor, which has made many people up till this time not to understand the concept,” he added.
Before the introduction of the metric system, Sierra Leone was using the English system of measurement.
Meanwhile, the government is yet to make any statements about the present situation caused by the introduction of the metric system, which is now said to be causing confusion between passengers and commercial drivers, who have increased transport fare prices. Tweet
