Gbinti joins Celtel in style

Minutes before the commencement of proceedings for the launch of Celtel’s Gbinti base station Port Loko District past Friday 18th May 2007, the atmosphere was transformed into a cultural show-off as three cultural groups emerged from nowhere and converged at the Dibia Local Court Barrie, singing and dancing. The high table sitting the Minister of Education, Science and Technology and entourage, Celtel’s IT Director, Premier Media Managing Director and a host of local dignitaries was kept in broad smiles and grins when school children joined the culture beat and intensified the heat in praise of Celtel.

At the jam packed court barrie, Tony Theuri, Celtel’s IT Director, told guests that Celtel was in Gbinti to provoke economic growth because, as he put it, no nation or community could develop without information communication technology as a defining factor. ‘Today is not Celtel’s day but your day because we have responded to your demand to bring telecommunications to your area,’ Mr. Theuri said. He noted that the company has covered 85% of Sierra Leone, adding ‘Celtel is committed to serving this country in bad times, in goods times and to the very end.’

Minister of Education, Dr Alpha T. Wurie, was greeted with burst of applause when he described the occasion as ‘a grand event marking the link-up of the people of Gbinti with not only Sierra Leone but with the rest of the world.’ He admitted that the absence of mobile telecommunication in the 1990s was a factor responsible for the long and bloody war fought in the country. He officially launched the Celtel mast and concluded: ‘We in Gbinti can now talk fiti fata [for as much as we want].’

Statements of praise were heard from the Regent Chief, councilors and village elders in appreciation of Celtel’s investment in their community.

The launch was climaxed with the distribution of gifts by Tony Theuri to invited guests. Premier Media’s Julius Spencer chaired the occasion. Francis Minah, Celtel’s Brand and Communications Manager, was also in attendance.