News

By Kemo Cham

Residents of Bonthe and land rights campaigners are calling on investors and the World Bank Group to suspend a planned voting on a possible funding for the Rutile miner, Sierra Rutile.

The company, which operates in the southern part of Sierra Leone where it runs one of the largest Rutile mines in the world, hopes to get a US$ 60 million loan when the board of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector lending arm of the World Bank, meets and votes for a decision later this year.

By Umaru Fofana

The ECOWAS Court of Justice yesterday met to hear a case filed on behalf of pregnant girls in Sierra Leone who were shut out of school following the Ebola outbreak in 2015 and more recently.

The Government of Sierra Leone raised an objection that one of the parties – Child Welfare Society (CWS) lacked the “legal capacity” to be in the matter which the court upheld and struck them out.

But the court decided that the other party, Women Against Violence (WAVES) could stay on before adjourning to 25 June for hearing.

By Kemo Cham

The former head of the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA), Alie Badara Mansaray, has been indicted by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Mansaray, who headed the Commission from 2014 to 2018, was indicted for corruption alongside Richard Turay, who was his Finance Director.
The two former top officials were each slammed with two counts of conspiracy to commit a corruption offence and misappropriation of public funds.

By Kemo Cham

The Sierra Leone media fraternity last week commemorated World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) with appeals for President Julius Maada Bio to fulfil his campaign promise and repeal the obnoxious Criminal Libel Law.

The law, which is part of the colonial era Public Order Act, criminalizes free speech, according to journalists and media rights campaigners, who also say it hinders their work in trying to hold duty bearers to account.

By Umaru Fofana

The ECOWAS Court of Justice will today hear the case filed on behalf of pregnant girls in Sierra Leone who were shut out of school following the Ebola outbreak in 2015 and more recently.

In May 2018, Equality Now, Child Welfare Society, WAVES and IHRDA challenged Sierra Leone's ban prohibiting pregnant girls from attending school. They want to secure a ruling that will lead to the scrapping of the barring of pregnant girls from attending school.  

By Mabinty M. Kamara

The diamond mining giant OCTEA is again in court over its operations in Sierra Leone.

This time residents living in communities affected by the activities of the company are seeking a court ruling over its role in the destruction of their environment and, consequently, their livelihoods.

The case was instituted by the Marginalized Affected Property Owners (MAPO), whose members comprises residents of Gbense and Tankoro chiefdoms, the two chiefdoms hosting OCTEA’s lucrative operations.

By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay

Lawyer Pa Momoh Fofanah has dismissed a statement by the Ministry of Lands accusing him of involvement in plot against the minister as “misleading”. 

On Wednesday the ministry released a statement alleging that the minister was attacked by a group of youths in Masimbo Village, Regent. In the same statement, Lawyer Fofanah was singled out as interfering in land disputes that are believed to have provoked the attack on the minister.