Feature

By Abdul Tejan-Cole

Today, October 23, voters in Botswana, the country dubbed an “African Success Story” and a “bastion of stability and peaceful pluralism” go to the polls for the 11^th time since gaining independence from Britain on September 30, 1966.

Rutile, The Dusty Mining Town

By Kemo Cham

The dusty nature of the road linking Moyamba Junction to Rutile adds a discomforting touch to an awful experience for travelers.

Rutile is an informal reference to a group of communities within a geographical area endowed with the titanium mineral of the same name - just another Sierra Leonean community standing atop abundance of wealth, yet the people struggle in deprivation.

By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay

Le 50.4 billion is what the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) has budgeted to spend on rice for over 12,000 officers throughout next year. This is almost 60% of their entire budget for the year 2020, which is Le 92 billion in total.

To put this into context, the budget for rice alone for the SLP is bigger than the entire budget of the Ministry of Sports for 2020.l - Le 44 billion.

By Abdul Tejan-Cole

What a week last week was for Africa. It started disappointingly. On Thursday, October 10^th most of us woke up expecting that the renowned Kenyan author, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o would finally win the Nobel Prize. The prize was not awarded last year, so this year there were two prizes – 2018 and 2019. Our hopes were high that Ngugi would win at least one. He did not.

By Sitta Turay

Every time I drive pass two particular locations in Freetown, I really feel sorry for humanity. There is what is effectively a camp for people living with disability and mental health on Pademba road near the burnt out and decrepit facilities of the former Public Works Department. That camp holds more than a hundred people living with disability and their families and dependents.

By Kemo Cham

As you would expect, if you were part of our line of work, on September 17 we were inundated with calls in the newsroom, thanks to our lead front page story – ‘Beware! Expired drinks in the market.’

This story was the result of three weeks of investigation.  It took sheer hard work and commitment to grind out a story like this one.

By Abdul Tejan-Cole

On September 29 at Bonmont Abbey Golf & Country Club just outside Geneva, Switzerland, one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques, Bonhams Auction House, offered for sale 26 enviable supercars belonging to Teodoro “Teodorín” Nguema Obiang Mangue, Vice President of Equatorial Guinea and the 51 year old son of the country’s long-serving President. The 26 fast cars included seven Ferraris, five Bentleys, three Lamborghinis, a Maserati, a McLaren, a Koenigsegg and a Bugatti Veyron.