News

By Anthony Newman Levey in Bo

A Community Health Officer has become the first health worker to die of Covid-19 in Sierra Leone.

Vandy Sombie, who was the index case of the viral disease in the southern Bo District, died on Monday 4^th May, authorities confirmed.

By Newman Anthony Levey in Bo

Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police William Fayia Sellu has been appointed as the new police chief in the Southern region of Sierra Leone.

AIG Sellu was redeployed as part of ongoing restructuring within the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) under new Inspector General Ambrose Sovula.

Sellu had served in Bo in 2016 and 2017 as a Local Unit Commander. He now replaces AIG Kapri Saidu Kamara, who spent just over a year as the Police boss in the region.

By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay

President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalist (SLAJ), Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, has said the association’s disciplinary committee will help journalists to self-regulate themselves as they seek to repel the obnoxious Criminal Libel law.

Nasralla was speaking during the introduction of members of the newly constituted Disciplinary Committee on Friday, May1, at the SLAJ headquarters in Freetown.

By Francis H. Murray

The Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU) has lauded the recent 30% salary increment for teachers in government schools across the country, describing it as a fulfillment of government’s promise.

The government had negotiated a 30% salary increment with teachers at the end of the last year, promising it to put it into effect at the end of April.

By Prince J Musa in Kenema

The National Commission for Social Action has distributed up to Le325 million to people living with disability in the Eastern region. A total of 1,300 people in the region benefitted from the cash transfer which came just days ahead of the just concluded nationwide lockdown, although some got their cash during the luck down.

Some 500 people in Kenema benefitted from it, 300 in Kailahun and 500 in Kono. Each person received a sum of Le250, 000. 

By Mabinty M. Kamara

The United Nations in Sierra Leone has urged the government to swiftly investigate the alleged prison break attempt at the maximum security prisons at Pademba Road in Freetown.

Twelve people were killed in the incident that also left properties within the prison facility destroyed.

By Mabinty M. Kamara

At least one person was reported dead after a riot broke out in the Pademba Road Correctional Center on Wednesday.

It was a chaotic scene in and around the prison precinct, as security forces battled with the rioting inmates. Photos and video footages of the scenes showed a huge blaze from within the compound.

Sources told Politico that the dead victim is a prison guard.

There were also several injuries among the prisoners, attributed to the scramble as they tried to find their way out of the skirmish.