Federation of African Law Students, has today, in an official letter appoints Francis Turay, a Law student at the University of Makeni, Sierra Leone as their Country Director for Sierra Leone. The Federation of African Law Students (FALAS) Africa’s largest independent law association that comprises of 13 founding member countries.
Last year 2020, Francis Turay became a member of FALAS and was appointed the Public Relations Officer. He served as PRO throughout 2020/2021 before he could finally get his appointment as the Country Director for Sierra Leone. As a Country Director for FALAS in Sierra Leone, Francis Turay will ”monitor the progress towards the achievement of the set objectives and policies of the organization”.
I asked Mr Francis how he feels to represent Sierra Leone, this is what he said: ”To start with, I’m elated about this appointment and I will use my office to propagate the message of FALAS and also put our case across, as I have been given the honor to represent Sierra Leone at a continental level.” He continued by adding, ”The organization is a composition of over 10 African countries, where law students come together and correlate, share cultural values, peace and love.”
Francis Turay was born in Freetownthe president’s office (State House), judiciary and many more institutions. Francis Turay started school at the St. Joseph’s Nursery school, which is located at Howe Street, Freetown. After completing his nursery schooling, which by default was supposed to last for three years, Francis did two years in nursery and got graduated. He sought admission at the D.T. Akibo Betts Municipal Primary School, a public school which is overseen by the Freetown City Council, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. He started his primary schooling in 2003, where he left great and indelible footprints on grounds. He represented his primary school in several inter-primary school debates, spelling bee etc. His academic journey through primary school was a very tough one, and he provided leadership for delegated functions from teachers. He held the position of a school prefect in his final class (class 6) as a pupil there. He later sat to the National Primary School Examination (NPSE) which he scored outstanding mark to secure an admission at the Prince of Wales Secondary School. A school that is named after Prince Charles, and is among the best schools in the country. He spent seven years at the Prince of Wales, and later took his West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE)
Francis is a very active youth activist who has played great roles in some youth development. In 2018, upon the celebration of the International Youth Day, he was awarded as a New Generation Leadership Initiate Africa Ambassador, by the Ministry of Youth Affairs through the Youth and Children’s Advocacy Panel (YACAP).
Francis was made the country representative for the PLO Lumumba Foundation, whose headquarters is in Nairobi. As he has a remarkable leadership skills, the foundation signed a partnership with the Anti Corruption Commission, Sierra Leone. A partnership which earned the foundation a mandate to be handling integrity school clubs, in various schools where the Commission have launched them.Since 2018, he has been very active and have been invited and featured in a lot of youth led activities in the country. As his activism progressed, he got in touch with one of Africa’s renowned orator, PLO Lumumb[2]a, a man who is of an impeccable character in the African continent, for his Pan-African values and a campaign to fight graft.
Francis has appeared in many youth platforms, and in 2018 he delivered a speech during the observation of the International Anti Corruption Day. This was a gathering that was held at the country’s university (Fourah Bay College), which stands to be the first in West Africa[3]. The Chief Minister (Prof. David Francis), the Chief Justice, Leader of Government Business in Parliament, ministers, members of parliament, ambassadors, students and the fourth estate. Francis got to receive a certificate from PLO Lumumba, in recognition of his zealous representation of the PLO Lumumba Foundation in Sierra Leone.
He received his other certificate from PLO Lumumba, where he was awarded for his outstanding participation during the 2019 PLO African Mentorship Conference, held in Nairobi, Kenya. He holds a certificate of English Common Law from the University of London, and a certificate in English for Journalism from the University of Pennsylvania, under a workforce initiative program by Coursera.
Francis has served as a member of parliament in a parliamentary session that was organized by Youth and Children’s Advocacy Panel (YACAP), supported by the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Parliament and other partners. He was awarded with a certificate for an outstanding performance during the debate. He has served as a keynote speaker at the Parliament of Sierra Leone in observation of the International Youth day in 2020. A gathering that had several government parastatals and private sector stakeholders.
Francis Turay is a fellow of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). He also holds a membership at World Merit.
Profile credit: Francis Turay Wikipedia