By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
A consortium of up to 40 civil society groups has called on the government to harmonize the COVID-19 regulations by presenting a unified set of rules for parliamentary approval.
The call comes on the back of violence that erupted in the fishing village of Tombo where fishermen went on the rampage after they were told on Wednesday that only 15 boats could go out to fish as part of the COVID-19 rules geared towards promoting social distancing.
By Newman Anthony Levey in Bo
Another fuel crisis has hit the Southern district of Bo, leaving hundreds of transport owners and passengers stranded.
This is the third time in the last month.
The latest shortage started immediately after the second nationwide lockdown on Wednesday, May 6.
Since then motor bikes have been forming long queues in every filling station in the city hoping to buy fuel.
The major form of transportation in the city is motor bikes.
By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Sierra Leone Police has in a press statement warned against any planned protests. The statement from the police comes as audio messages circulated on social media call for protests in the capital for allege human rights violations by the government.
“The content of these audios to a very large extent aimed at inciting violence, creating hatred, disaffection and instability in the country,” the statement from the police reads in part.
By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Sierra Leone Football Association has announced a collaboration with the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, in the fight against COVID-19 in Sierra Leone. The collaboration was announced in a joint press statement on Friday.
The collaboration with UNICEF is the latest action of the FA in national efforts against COVID-19. It has already loaned its headquarters to the national COVID-19 response team.
The FA is also contemplating using the latest tranche of FIFA funding in the COVID-19 fight.
By Kemo Cham
Sierra Leone’s president, Julius Maada Bio has vowed to take drastic action against anyone involved in acts of violence as he called for an end to a spate of unrest that has rocked the nation in the last two weeks.
In a televised address to the nation last night, Bio accused unnamed people associated with the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) of being behind the state of insecurity, noting that the party’s failure to condemn the acts made it appear complicit in them.
By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Sierra Leone has taken a step closer to restarting oil exploration after it announced that is had awarded offshore petroleum acreage license to two companies - Cluff Energy Africa and Innoson Oil and Gas.
A statement from the Office of the President on the 29th of April, announced that 24 blocks had been distributed between the two companies.
Cluff, a United Kingdom based energy company got 15 of the 24 blocks. All the oil blocks are on the northern side of Sierra Leone’s coast which is close to Guinea.
By Kemo Cham
Sierra Leoneans must cast aside their differences and unite against the common enemy – Covid-19, the United Nations warned last week, as political tension mounts amidst spiraling cases of the ongoing viral pandemic.
The UN’s appeal comes in the wake of a string of events commencing with one of the deadliest prison riots in the country’s history that led to the death of 12 people and destruction of parts of the century old prison facility – Pademba Road Correctional Center.
Supported by: Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA)
