News

By Crispina Taylor

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in parliament has resumed its probing session with Ministries Departments and Agencies on the findings of the 2014 auditor general’s report.

The probing session had earlier been hampered by the emergence of the special Audit Report on the management and the Ebola funds. The House finished probing institutions and individuals mentioned in the special report last month and so resumed probing into last year’s financial report on Monday.

By Allieu Sahid Tunkara

The Sierra Leone Police has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the University of Sierra Leone (USL) as a way of strengthening the relationship between the two institutions.

The agreement comes as the police force seeks to builds an academy in the Makomp village in the northern district of Bombali, which it calls the ‘International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA).’

By Septimus Senessie in Kono

Residents of Koidu Town in the eastern district of Kono have accused Fatorma Konomanyie, father of the current Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Finda Diana Konomanyie, of carrying out illegal mining activities which they say are life-threatening.

Mr Konomanyie, a former Town Council Clerk (Mayor), was accused of carrying out the activities in Soso Town, a community at Gandi Fania Street in Gbense Chiefdom. Some locals called the act as “lawlessness.”

By Mustapha Sesay

The parliamentary oversight committee of Labor on Monday embarked on an over sight visit of a 107-acre land, the subject of a conflict between the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) and the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning.

The piece of land located in Waterloo was given as grant to NASSIT in 2005 for the purpose of building affordable housing, the director of Investment at NASSIT, Dr. Brima Baimba Kargbo, said.

By Allieu Sahid Tunkara

As dismissed soldiers of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) take their case to the Human Rights Commission (HRC), officials there have assured thorough investigation of their concerns. But the military command has ruled out any possibility of any redress outside the forces.

The aggrieved former soldiers, eleven of them, were dismissed for incitement, indiscriminate firing and theft, among other offences they allegedly committed while serving in the United Nations-backed African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

By Aminata Phidelia Allie and Joseph Lamin Kamara

As the Supreme Court begins hearing the case filed by sacked Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana, lawyers representing the plaintiff have argued that the appointed Vice President, Victor Bockarie Foh, is in office in violation of Sierra Leone’s Constitution.

By Kemo Cham

The battle to safeguard Sierra Leone`s constitution is taking an international dimension as Sierra Leoneans in the United States justle for global attention. Two counter-demonstrations over the ongoing constitutional crisis sparked by the sacking of Samuel Sam-sumana as Vice President are scheduled for this Saturday.