The First Lady, Fatima Maada Bio recently led a group to present gifts and to mobilize women and some male loyalists to go across Kono District to do presentations to her fellow Muslims.

From Sewafe, to Kamadu, to Sulkudu, then Peiyema, Tombodu, Koiquema, and Koidu town, all these places benefited from the generosity of the JMB women’s wing.

A total of two hundred bags of rice, sugar, flower, salt, oil, tomatoes, kolas and money was distributed.

On her part Hon. Emma Kowa Jalloh expressed her joy in giving gifts in the name of Fatima Bio, saying: We’ve been doing this before now and we are proud to continue our activities.

Mrs. Fatima Maada Bio on her part was thankful to Allah, for giving her the opportunity to continue celebrating his name. “I am a proud Muslim woman who believes in the teaching of our Prophet Mohammad (SAW). There is nothing more fulfilling than giving Zakat to the needy. This is part of the pillars of Islam,” she told her audience.

“I am also very happy to share it with my people from the district where I came from; Kono, and to seek their blessings for my family, the government and the people of this nation on the first Friday of Ramadan,” she added.

The women in attendance that were the beneficiaries promised that they will continue to do their charity work all through Ramadan.

The Jorg Wolff Foundation JW Foundation, through the New Apostolic Church (NAC) Mission Aid, has donated food and non- food items to needy and poor people living in extremely poor communities and hard to reach areas in the rural parts of the country.

In the distribution team representing the Regional Supervisor, were Mr. Samuel Cole, Charles Nyandemoh, the accountant and Priest Abdulai Kenawah Sannoh of the NAC church in Sierra Leone.

Yearly, the Jorg Wolf Foundation supports numerous development aid projects in West Africa. Under the motto “HUNGRY AND NEEDY” the Foundation finances famine relief and supports the mission work of the New Apostolic Church of South Germany in Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The beneficiaries range from orphans, street children, underprivileged children, amputees, widows, the blind, deaf and dumb, the aged, cripples to Ebola survivors.

Those who benefited were in Mano – by the sea – Moyamba District, Gbondapi in Pujehun District, the blind and amputee camps / centres in Kenema, Dia, Kissy Teng Chiefdom in Kailahun District, Jaiama Sewafeh in Kono, Bombali School for the Blind, polio victims / handicapped in the camp of POPDA – Polio Persons Development Association in Makeni and Kamassassa in Kambia District respectively.

They expressed their thanks to God almighty for the food aid and asked that let the church and JW Foundation remembers them always because of their deplorable conditions.

In Bombali School for the Blind; the very small blind children’s situation was pitiable. However, Apostle Sanpha Sesay prayed for them and assured them that God will never forget them and that on Jesus’ return the faithful will be raptured to enter God’s kingdom where there would be no blindness.

The donation aimed at relieving the suffering of beneficiaries who live below a dollar a day and those getting their daily bread through begging from street to street.

According to a press release, the National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) says its attention has been drawn to a series of criminal activities carried out by scammers using the 232-21 code to perpetrate their criminal activities.

The release adds that the Commission is informed that certain persons in the USA have been receiving scam calls purportedly coming from Sierra Leone, and that the said criminal syndicate known as ‘WANGIRI’ or ‘One Ring’ has been reported through various news channels and tabloids abroad. ‘This has the propensity of affecting the country’s image internationally,’ the NATCOM release adds.

The release went on to state: Being deeply concerned by this development, the Commission wishes to assure the Government and people of the USA and other relevant bodies that it has already engaged the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for it to expunge the said 232-21 national destination code (NDC) from its database, and that on the domestic front, the Commission and law enforcement agencies have commenced immediate investigations not only into this particular matter, but other reports by persons in Sierra Leone of similar international scam calls received by them with 242, 243 country codes.

In the meantime, mobile phone subscribers are hereby admonished not to call back strange numbers, as the Commission fully assures all of its commitment to get at the bottom of these issues and addressing them accordingly.

The ECOWAS Court of Justice has fined Sierra Leone $10,000 for delaying defence in a case where human rights groups are challenging its ban in 2015 on pregnant school girls going back to school. The case resumes on June 25, 2019 in Abuja, Nigeria where the regional court sits.

The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) fined Sierra Leone $10,000 on Tuesday for filing its defence late in a case by rights groups against the ban on pregnant girls from school.

The case was filed on May 17, 2018 by Children International-Sierra Leone, Women against Violence and Exploitation in Society, and Child Welfare Society-Sierra Leone.

Other parties to the suit are Equality Now and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa.

However, an application to file defence was made on February 25, 2019, about a month after the applicants sought a default judgement on January 23, 2019.

“My lord, this case has gone on for too long and we will like to resolve it once and for all; it is expensive coming all the way from Banjul to court every time to appear in this case, “counsel for the applicants Mr. Oludayo Fagbemi moved presiding Judge Edward Asante.

The applicants wanted the defence application struck out for having been overtaken by events with Justice Asante reprimanding the government for anticipating the case would be struck out.
“You waited for them to file an application for judgement against you before you pre-empted it with this application. Obviously, they are perfectly within their rights in entitlement to costs and therefore we award costs against you of $10,000,” Justice Asante said.

It could be recalled that in 2015, Sierra Leone banned pregnant school girls from continuing with education after a rise in rape and sexual abuse. There was a spike in teenage pregnancies then attributed to poverty and children living alone in the wake of the deadly Ebola outbreak.

Rights groups said the ban compounded the stigma surrounding teenage pregnancies and set back thousands of girls in their studies.

The groups want a determination that Sierra Leone has violated international law on the rights of the child to which it is a signatory.

They seek to have the ban reversed.

Sierra Leone and many African countries are signatories to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights; the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa; the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention against Torture.

The Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority and International Civil Aviation Organisation have launched the Safe Fund Project for Sierra Leone at the Presidential Lounge, Freetown International Airport.

The Safe Fund Project is an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) project that is set to assist Sierra Leone resolve its aviation safety deficiencies and strengthen its oversight capabilities in a sustainable manner.

Delivering his PowerPoint presentation, the Director-General of Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority, Moses Tiffa Baio thanked ICAO for the initiative and support and also the UKCAA for executing the project. While analysing the current rating of Sierra Leone, he highlighted that the International Civil Aviation (ICAO) conducted an audit in 2006 under the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP), adding that the outcome of the audit indicated that Sierra Leone had deficiencies in all the eight Critical Elements of the State Safety Oversight System.

“The Safe Fund Project is essential to the development of the air transport sector in Sierra Leone. As it stands, Sierra Leone is ranked 43/46 in the Regional Aviation Safety Group for Africa and India Ocean (RASG-AFI) rating with respect to overall effective implementation. Within this group, 52.17% have reached the target of 60% effective implementation with an average of 51% while Sierra Leone rates below the average of RASG-AFI,” he said.

In his remarks, the ICAO Regional Director, Mam Sait Jallow commented that the commitment of His Excellency the President, Rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio to enhance civil aviation as a priority in Sierra Leone’s national development agenda was a clear testimony. He added that a number of assistance mission visits to the State would be conducted by ICAO in Sierra Leone between 2019 and 2020 in order to assess the impact of the project in the relevant areas.

“During the 39th Session of the Assembly, Sierra Leone requested further assistance from ICAO to enhance its safety oversight system and subsequently became a beneficiary of the SAFE Fund. The Safe Fund project entails building and strengthening of the safety oversight system of Sierra Leone,” he said.

Launching the Safe Fund Project, the Minister of Transport and Aviation, Hon. Kabineh Kallon stated that the project was a tremendous boost to strengthen safety oversight capabilities of the state. The Minister further mentioned that air transport was projected to double in the next 15 years and based on that, he said current and emerging safety risks were to be addressed proactively to ensure significant capacity expansion was carefully managed and supported through strategic regulatory and infrastructural developments.

He concluded by thanking the ICAO President, Dr. Bernard Alieu, Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu, Regional Director Mr. Mam Sait Jallow, the WACAF team in Dakar and the UKCAA Consultants for their continued support towards the development of the aviation industry in Sierra Leone.

Present at the event were Paramount Chief of Kafu Bullom Chiefdom, the General Manager and staff of Sierra Leone Airport Authority, Civil Society Organizations, and the media.

Guma Valley Water Company on Thursday 9th May, 2019 joined the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) at the National Stadium to offer students a variety of exploration techniques and insights into the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) career pathways and opportunities in the water sector.

The aim of the conference is to bridge the gap between the STEM industry and education by inspiring students and providing them with the tools to connect with STEM and what careers are viable to them now and once they have graduated.

Addressing students during the interactive session, Miss Monica Sellu, an Engineer at Guma encouraged the students to take up STEM education as it aims to bring students up-to-speed on the skills and knowledge most relevant in today’s society. She said with STEM education, students can become employed upon graduation in one of the numerous fields in the water industry such Planning & Research, Water Quality Assurance, Water Production, Transmission & Distribution, etc.

Sierra Leone’s former president, Ernest Bai Koroma has rejected the “abrupt transfer and replacement” of his state security detail. This affects personnel stationed at his residence in Freetown, his home town of Makeni and his wife’s home town in Kono, according to his spokesman.

In a letter to the Inspector General of Police dated 10 May 2019, Koroma’s Special Assistant, Ismail Mahmud Sheriff says the former president also rejects the proposed guards sent to him because he was not consulted about their vetting nor did he know about their professionalism and discipline.

Koroma is quoted as saying that he met with the regional heads of the police and the army on Friday 10 May after the transfer order had been released, something he considers as “suspect, faulty and disrespectful” because those being replaced had served him diligently and without problems.

16 of his 18 guards have also been “summarily disarmed without recourse” to him, and for which he “strongly deplores the incessant hounding of his security detail which he believes has clearly become the pattern since his retirement”.

Koroma says all of this is tantamount to his safety and security being compromised, and a violation of his entitlement as a former head of state. He urges the police boss to revert to his withdrawn contingent “without further delay”.

Under the laws of Sierra Leone a former head of state is entitled to 30 personal guards, three middle level police officers and four watchmen.

Speaking to journalists, the former president’s Special Assistant said the situation had become “fluid” since the letter was sent. Mahmud Sheriff said that the chief security officer assigned to the former head of state had been instructed by his superiors to report on Saturday morning at a police station in Makeni, and that the eight soldiers assigned have also been instructed to report at Murray Town with their arms.

Sheriff said that last year, Akim Turay who was assigned to Ernest Koroma as a personal bodyguard, was withdrawn for what was said to be further training, but that neither he nor a replacement was ever sent back.

He said four staffers – a driver and cleaners – were also transferred without replacements and later had their salaries stopped when they did not honour the transfer.

The earlier incidents were discussed with the Secretary to the President and the Inspector General of Police, he said, but without redress.

Several telephone calls and a text message to the police boss, Richard Moigbeh was not responded to.

A little over a year since his election; Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has carried out his first major reshuffle.

One minister has been axed while many others have been transferred to other ministries.

Two new deputies have been brought in while others have been moved.

Foreign Minister, Dr. Alie Kabbah who is in the United States apparently on official assignment is now the Permanent Representative to the United Nations, while Development and Economic Planning Minister, Mrs. Nabeela Tunis replaces him.

Mrs. Tunis, the wife of the parliamentary leader of the ruling SLPP party, has been having challenges with civil society recently over a controversial NGO policy which activists consider unfriendly.

Dr. Kabbah was the campaign manager for Maada Bio in last year’s election after dropping out as a candidate himself. It is not clear why he has been removed from cabinet but there have been talk that State House was not pleased with his diplomacy.

The Permanent Representative at the UN, Dr. Francis Kaikai is the new Minister of Economic and Development Planning. Even though he spent much of the last decade working at the United Nations in Liberia, he was in charge of disarming and training of thousands of fighters at the end of the rebel war as head of the National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration. He had also served as Education Minister in 1996 when Maada Bio was military head of state.

Mines Minister Dr. Morie Manyeh has been sent to the UK as High Commissioner, while Tamba Lamina leaves London to become the Minister of Local Government. The soft-spoken Dr. Manyeh, a former university lecturer, was a candidate to become Chairman of the SLPP party

Foday Rado Yokie is the new Mines Minister. The former two-time parliamentarian from Bo was in charge of recovering government vehicles following last year’s elections. For many years he stood trial for his alleged involvement in political violence in Bo after the stoning of Maada Bio in Bo led to an apparent reprisal attack. He denied any wrongdoing calling the charges politically motivated.

Dr. Hinga Sandy is the new Minister of Trade and Industry, while the current holder, Peter Bayuku Conteh becomes Minister of Works and Public Assets.

Bayuku, who is hugely influential in his home district, was Chairman of the Koinadugu District Council. He was later appointed as Tourism Minister by President Ernest Bai Koroma. Somewhat controversially, the two men fell out and while he said that he resigned over principles, the president said he was sacked. He later resigned from the APC and joined the new National Grand Coalition party from which he resigned recently and is yet to join any party.

Mamadie Gobeh-Kamara is the new Deputy Minister of Information and Communication while her predecessor Solomon Jamiru is the new Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Miss Gobeh-Kamara was for many years a broadcast journalist at the state broadcaster and the local UN Radio, who went into public relations and has been working in that capacity in the Energy Ministry.

Jamiru is generally regarded as a brilliant lawyer who taught law at the IMAT College in Freetown. As Deputy Information Minister, he was praised for being witty, phlegmatic and smooth talking.

Umaru Napoleon Koroma – the outgoing head of the National Privatization Commission (NCP) – is the new Deputy Minister of Justice. The current holder of that position Namatulai Bah-Chang becomes Deputy Minister of Water Resources.

Napoleon is also the National Secretary General of the SLPP party.

Philip Tondonneh is Deputy Minister of Works, while Mrs. Melrose Kargbo succeeds him as Deputy Minister of Local Government.

Retired Brigadier Kellie Conteh is National Security Adviser. Until recently, the former head of the Office of National Security worked for the United Nations.

Former Works Minster, Raymond d’Souza George is a Senior Presidential Adviser and Ambassador at Large for Heritage and Cultural Heritage which is his natural habitat. He is a retired lecturer of African Studies at the University of Sierra Leone.

No reasons have been given for the reshuffle, nor are any obvious. But some say it is a move by the president to assert himself following the petering out of the niceties of the election victory cabinet he appointed.

The United States has resumed training aimed at preparing the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) for international peacekeeping. The first in a series of courses started on Wednesday at the U.S. Peacekeeping Logistics Depot in Murray Town, Freetown.

A press release from the US embassy says the month-long course will train the troops for sustainable peacekeeping operations and vehicle maintenance.

The country had been contributing to UN peacekeeping until the Ebola outbreak in 2014.

“This course signifies the beginning of the renewed effort by the United States Embassy to work with the RSLAF to achieve the goal of sustainable peacekeeping” the press release says.

US Ambassador Maria Brewer said while the RSLAF had “suffered a major tragedy when one of the military transportation trucks overturned on Spur Road…this course symbolizes an opportunity to learn from mistakes, improve processes, and move towards proper vehicle maintenance”. The accident, in which eight soldiers died, remains the largest single deaths of soldiers in peacetime Sierra Leone.

Deputy Minister of Defense, Col. (Retired) Simeon Sheriff also made a statement.

The training is considered key because units sent on deployment are required to maintain their equipment in challenging and austere locations.