On February 9th it was announced that Former City Councillor and City Administrator Albert Vaughan had been named the president of NICH - a post that had been vacant for about 5 years.
But Vaughan is also the chairman of Culture Minister Francis Fonseca's Freetown constituency. And so we asked his political boss if loyalty was the first prerequisite for the job:
Jules Vasquez
"He was the de facto president and now he is formally the president. How do you respond to the criticism that Albert Vaughn's main qualification for president of NICH is that he is a Freetown political officer, your most faithful and loyal servant of the many in Freetown."
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs
"Well I am sure that is a criticism that you would levy at him, but Albert Vaughn is a good man. He's a strong advocate for culture. He's worked, here at NICH He's been a member of the board of directors, for five years. Plus, he understands how NICH works. He shares my vision for NICH. Those are issues that are important to me as the minister of culture. And as you all know as well, he has some administrative background. He served as the city administrator for a number of years. Running the city. That's a very important responsibility. So I think he is qualified to serve as the president of NICH."
"I call him my friend as well as you said and my supporter. He works with me and he is the chairman of the Freetown constituency. But you know, we have a good team. It's not just about him. We have a good board of directors. I have my advisor, Yasser Musa, who works with me on a daily basis. I have made sure that Albert and Yasser work very closely together. So you know I feel NICH is in very good hands and we are doing a lot of important work so I hope that we can count on your support."
