News

By Joseph Sivalie

Police in Bonthe district on Tuesday declared a night-time curfew at Luawa town in the Jong chiefdom forcing several young people to spend the night in nearby bushes.

The police Local Unit Commander, Asst Superintendent of Police Bakarr Mansaray says 23 people were arrested for alleged riotous conduct and taken to Bo yesterday by a special paramilitary squad sent to the area.

It followed a confrontation between police and some youth in the area amid a dispute over the use of the abandoned Gambia-Mattru oil palm plantation.

By Aminata Phidelia Allie

The defense team in the on-going trial of 14 soldiers of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces has raised an alibi in respect of 7^th accused, Private Gbessay Koroma, whom a second prosecution witness testified against. The team raised the issue on Wednesday after their return from another boycott on Friday on the grounds of non-payment of their fee.

By Bampia James Bundu

With support from a US-based Access Care Inc, a local chemist in Sierra Leone has invested $ 2 million in the construction of an ultramodern health care centre at Mile 13 in the Western Area Rural District.

Abdul R. Conteh said he was undertaking such a project with the support of his wife, Aminata Conteh to help the people reduce the constraints faced by the people of Mile 13 and provide them with affordable health care service.

By Mohamed T Massaquoi

The district medical officer in the southern Pujehun district public hospital, Dr David Bome has expressed concern over the fact that there is only one ambulance available for  a district with 12 chiefdoms and 75 functioning peripheral health units.

Dr. Bome told Politico that the use of the only ambulance had greatly undermined the referral system especially during emergency cases involving pregnant women and other people.

By Crispina Cummings

House Majority Leader says bad management of land could be a recipe for war in any country.

Ibrahim Bundu, MP, made this statement on Wednesday in parliament while admonishing his colleague parliamentarians to take the presentation of the final draft of the new land policy project seriously. He said they had all seen the "menace" of the bad management of land issues through previous governments, which he said had led to serious violence and even deaths.

By Septimus Senessie in Kono

People in the remote Ngorama chiefdom in Kono district have had their Basic Emergency Obstetric Centre (BEMOC) electrified, thanks to a 3 KVA generator acquired with funds provided by Christian Aid the chiefdom people.

The district manager of the Network Movement for Justice and Development, who implemented the project said the funds had come from the Community Initiative Project in their five operational chiefdoms in the district.

By Aminata Phidelia Allie

A local nongovernmental organisation, Conscience International, has urged government to ratify laws dealing with the protection and reduction of stateless individuals in the country.