News

By Kemo Cham

Sierra Leone`s anti graft agency appears to have taken this year`s report on the prevalence of bribery in the country in good fate. The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has said in a statement that the report`s findings provided an opportunity for the country to review its approach to the fight against corruption.

By Kemo Cham

Preparations are underway for a national conference aimed at rebuilding Sierra Leone`s healthcare system.

The three days meeting slated for February is being held under the concept of Open Space Conference, wherein participants will discuss in a relaxed and more informal manner, a major departure from the traditional formal setting.

Open Space Conferences are participant-driven meetings, with the goal of encouraging every one`s participation.

By Kemo Cham

President Ernest Bai Koroma cancelled his trip to South Africa on Wednesday to enable him partake in the long awaited census due to commence on Saturday December 5.

The President, according to a report on Tuesday by state broadcaster SLBC, said he wanted to be counted in the census and hence cancelled his participation at the high profile China-Africa summit, also known as the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Koroma also ordered all public officials out of the country to endeavor to return to be counted.

By Kemo Cham

Abuses of power leads to an increase in poverty and deprives people of basic needs, Transparency International warned on Tuesday as it unveils its latest report on bribery which ranks Sierra Leone among the top five corrupt countries in Africa

‘The People and Corruption: Africa Survey 2015’ report indicates that Sierra Leone is among the African nations where bribery rates are far higher than the regional average.

By Kemo Cham

The high command of the Sierra Leone military has warned its men against pedaling rumor, equating it to incitement.

Chief of Defense Samuel Omar Williams said incitement was punishable by military regulations. He was addressing soldiers at the Wilberforce military barracks on Tuesday in response to ‘rumor’ within the army about financial misappropriation involving monies allegedly meant for peacekeepers who recently returned from Somalia as part of the African Union Mission (AMISOM).

By Crispina Taylor

Sierra Leone government spends US$230, 000 yearly to treat postpartum complications, mostly as a result of unsafe abortion, a civil society activist said on Tuesday.

Valerie Tucker, Country Representative for Ipas Sierra Leone, an organization championing women’s reproductive health issues, told MPs that this money could be better used in preventing these complications and spent on some other pressing national priorities.

By Kemo Cham

Over 1 million children are being targeted for mass vaccination in the first large scale maternal and child health campaign underway in Sierra Leone since the end of the 2014 Ebola outbreak.

Locally dubbed ‘Mami and Pikin Welbodi Week’ [Maternal and Child Health Week (MCHW)], the campaign aims at vaccinating 1.3M children for measles.