Alhaji (Pharmacist) Murtada M. Sesay has been elected as the new President of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists (WAPCP)

Alhaji Sesay is a professional who has held many positions in Sierra Leone and around the world, including President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Sierra Leone. The countries in which Alhaji Sesay has worked include Switzerland, Bangladesh, Denmark, India, the Maldives, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone.

In his inaugural address, Alhaji Murtada Sesay expressed his appreciation to Almighty God for a very successful meeting and inauguration and to the executive and members of the Pharmaceutical Association of Liberia (PAL) for hosting the event.

He explained that the first time he attended the WAPCP meeting (formerly, West African Pharmaceutical Federation) was barely three years after his graduation from the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana in 1979. That meeting was held in Liberia.

Alhaji Sesay mentioned that key stakeholders who were part of that meeting included Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Former President of the Republic of Liberia, Mrs. Clavender Bright-Parker, who was the then President of the Organization and Mr. Julius Adelusi Adeluyi of Julie’s Pharmacy fame.

Alhaji Sesay further talked about the opportunities he had to give keynote addresses in 1995 in The Gambia under the theme Child Survival and Development – Pharmacists must fit better and in 2013 in Sierra Leone under the theme Opportunities and Challenges facing Pharmacists in Maternal and Child Health. According to him, he saw his new post as “a return to a sub-regional professional fraternity” that helped to build his career many years ago, one that has taken him through “ remarkable, satisfying and rewarding national and international professional opportunities and challenges.”

He further explained how he learnt and acquired wealth of experiences from his colleagues who had served within the region, and who had been good examples to emulate.

Alhaji Sesay stated that despite his exposure to the opportunities he earlier cited, he emphasized the need to undertake the serious assignment of WAPCP Presidency more strategically and in doing so, he needed to share some curiosities or questions that will be of immense help to his leadership.

• Regulatory non-compliance of pharmacy practitioners in the region
• Digital technology
• Management of cases of professionals with multiple health qualifications
• Benefits of WAPCP fellowship for young professionals
• Adapting and responding to a general fall in educational standards in the region
• Means of funding WAPCP’s various projects
• How to move forward with the WAPCP headquarters building project
• Review of curricula and teaching methods, in line with regional and global trends in pharmacy practice.
• How to harness the opportunities for growth through engagement and collaboration with similar International professional pharmaceutical organisations.
• Moves to bring in francophone countries which were part of the organization before but who later withdrew their membership.