Feature

By Hajaratu Kalokoh

When President Julius Maada Bio launched his New Direction Manifesto in 2017, his flagship program was the Free Quality Education (FQE). The program is premised on the “decaying” standard of education in Sierra Leone. The promise of fixing that “decay” was what rallied hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leoneans to back him and subsequently vote him as President.

By Umaru Sitta Turay

The challenge drivers and pedestrians face in Sierra Leone is enormous, for to drive or walk in the country’s big towns and cities is a headache. From petty traders to commercial motorbike (Okada) and tricycle (Kekeh) riders, the roads are almost always chockablock.

By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay

The Deputy Director General at the National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM), Daniel Kaitibi has told Politico that the country has lost at least 12 million minutes per month of voice call revenue to social media services like Facebook, Whatsapp and others.

This huge drop in voice calls has occurred in the span of ten years. And this drop means the commission gets less money from mobile operators for calls that come through the gateway of the country.

By Joshua Nicol

There is no gainsaying that the Western Area of Sierra Leone is disaster prone. Little wonder that a few years ago – preceding the 2017 mudslide disaster – the state broadcaster and other radio stations, carried a Public Service Announcement on the need for Environmental Awareness.

By Abdul Tejan-Cole

On July 17, the ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) represented by its deputy chief, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (popularly known as Hemeti), and the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces, formerly Alliance for Freedom and Change (AFC) – the umbrella association that mobilized and organized the post al-Bashir protests – signed a political declaration on establishing the structures and institutions of the transitional period. The four-page agreement consists of six chapters.

By Abdul Tejan-Cole

Last week: Oxfam – an independent NGO – focused on ending the injustices that cause poverty. Jointly with Development Finance International – a US-based international business development advisory firm – OXFAM produced a report titled: “The West Africa Inequality Crisis: How West African Governments are failing to reduce inequality and what should be done about it.” The report concludes that inequality is at “crisis levels” in West Africa.

By Tigidankay “Tida” Kamara

In 2018, 2,579 minors were sexually abused, according to statistics from the Family Support Unit of the Sierra Leone Police. In the first half of 2019, the Rainbow Centre received 1,966 sexual assault cases at their five centres. Most of them children. These figures represent only the reported cases. In a country where sexual abuse cases are rarely reported, the number is likely to be much higher.