News

The visiting president of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim has assured Sierra Leone of his institution’s continued intervention in dealing with the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 1,600 people.  

At a joint press conference with President Ernest Bai Koroma, Mr Kim said “finishing the job on Ebola and getting to zero cases” was crucial as well as “not waiting to finish [before] beginning to work on economic recovery”.

By Joseph Lamin Kamara

Secretary General of the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party has called on government to review its current arrangement with the British government to ensure British doctors participated actively in the fight against Ebola.

Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sie told Politico that the British government was working to help Sierra Leone eradicate Ebola, but it needed “to do a lot more in terms of actively quarantining homes and treating of Ebola-infected persons.”

Chief Executive Officer of Sierra Rutile, John Sisay, has admitted to having a private meeting with family members during which he discussed “issues very close to my heart, aspirations and my future” an apparent reference to his presidential ambition. He however denied holding any such meeting in Biriwa in the northern Bombali District.

By Allieu Sahid Tunkara

Judge Advocate in the on-going trial at the Court Martial involving 14 soldiers on alleged mutiny yesterday assured the defence that “justice and fairness will prevail throughout this trial.”

Otto During, however, warned defence counsel Abdul Philip Mamie to exercise restraint so the trial could proceed smoothly.

He was speaking after state prosecutor, Gerard Soyei, had made an application that the sixth accused, Private Samba Sheku, had confessed that “he was guilty as charged to have planned to commit mutiny”.

By Mustapha Kamara

UN Women has called for “more support to the efforts of women trying to end the deadly Ebola fever”.

Speaking at their annual ‘Open Day’ in Freetown, a representative United Nations body working towards the empowerment and establishment of women in governance said they were making the call because “about 50-70% of those contracting and dying of the Ebola virus disease are women and girls owing to their socio-economic roles and tasks to their respective families.”

The latest global corruption index released yesterday shows Sierra Leone has moved upwards.

The 2014 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (TI-CPI) puts the country at 119 out of 174 countries surveyed in 2014.

This ranks it ahead of “Gambia, Togo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya,  and even Russia” according to a release by the Anti-Corruption Commission in Freetown.

By Mabinty Kamara 

Health management chairman at the Kuntholoh community in the east of Freetown has called on government and partners to support them construct an Ebola holding centre at the Approved School playfield.

Chernor Allieu Mansaray said the construction was a community initiative approved by the World Health Organisation and other concerned groups after they found out that cases of the Ebola Virus Disease were on the increase in the locality, making it one of the hotspots in the Western Area.