Henry Kerali,World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, on Wednesday 27th February, 2019 called at State House to assure His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio of the institution’s support to the New Direction Government.

Sierra Leone’s Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa, who chaired the meeting, said he was very encouraged by the interactions between the World Bank and the Ministry of Finance. He said the visit was a manifestation that the Bank was an important partner to the Government of Sierra Leone.

In his statement, Mr. Kerali said his visit to the country was a follow up on the discussions between President Bio and the World Bank regarding the Western Area Power Project that the Bank had cancelled before the elections. He also spoke the Bank’s potential support to the energy sector.

He also spoke on the Country Partnership Framework, the Bank’s strategy for Sierra Leone, adding that they wanted to make sure that their agenda could be aligned with Sierra Leone’s National Development Plan. He confirmed that the Bank would be increasing its support to the country, both in the form of soft loans and grants.

“His Excellency Sir, we will talk about the Human Capital Development which we know is very close to your hearth, the free quality education programme that you have introduced and also the healthcare projects. We believe we can support the Government with the rural roads and bridges project and we can proceed with some discussions on the business environment and how we can support that as well,” he said.

On his part, President Bio said he was happy to receive the visiting team once again into the country, adding that all the areas highlighted by the World Bank were of concern to his Government. He expressed frustration about the cancellation of the energy project but maintained that Government would look at the Country Partnership Framework to see how that could be restructured.

He assured that his Government would continue to encourage partners in the Human Capital Development as the flagship programme of the Government, adding that that was the only foundation to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and providing the opportunity for the country to start on the right footing.

“We are excited to hear more about the rural roads and bridges project and definitely the business climate is something we have to work on. As a Government, we want to make sure we create the right type of climate to attract the right investors. We are very excited about our partnership and we want to do everything possible to broaden our areas of cooperation and strengthen this relationship so that we can actually deliver the progress which we promised this nation,” he said.

When Dr. Walton E. Gilpin assumed office in mid-2017, after his appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the Rokel Commercial Bank he posited, “My focus and interests are in developing the bank into the best banking institution in Sierra Leone and to see RC Bank grow beyond our shores.”
Prior to him heading the Bank the standing and performances of the bank for the past five years was abysmal propelling him to come with determination to inject fine initiatives that will overhaul the status quo by then.
Barely, six months when he took over affairs of the bank, the institution once again gained life and vibrancy, moved ahead to occupy an enviable position in terms of performances. Rokel Commercial Bank began to witness steady growth in fortunes, staff welfare and human capital development.
Turning things around in a positive direction became noticeable to such an extent that the customer base increased and old customers who were hesitant in depositing large sums of money into the bank began to have confidence in the bank.
It is indisputable to assert that Dr. Walton Gilpin, is one of Sierra Leone’s exemplary and sterling financial experts. He acquired his financial skills in the United Kingdom and United States of America, Africa, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific holding several professional and academic qualifications. .He is a resourceful, self-motivated and professional economist with over 27 years of practical experience in banking, economic policy management, international development, public finance management, macroeconomic analysis, consulting, development economics and public debt management.
He returned home to serve his country in 2017. It was during this time that he was spotted and appointed to head the Rokel Commercial Bank..
The financial dinosaur hails from a humble background but through hard-work he rose to become a celebrated Sierra Leonean icon.
Being a compassionate and God-fearing person he saw the necessity for philanthropic work which led him to establish the GEED FOUNDATION formed in 2008, whose thematic area is empowerment of women and children through the award of scholarships to school going pupils and supporting women in commerce and skills development. The operations of the Foundation span from Bonthe, to Waterloo Community, Western Rural Area to Masiaka and Tonkolili in the North.
Commendably, Dr. Walton Gilpin revolutionized the bank culminating in boosting the bank’s investment portfolio and had made the bank to be in the forefront in the banking industry.
One of the reforms introduced include making use of a digital technology known as “SIM KOPOR” that has indeed brought banking to the doorstep of every individual in Sierra Leone. The bank with a team of dedicated staff who were ready to work in tandem with his twin banking philosophy of “Financial Discipline and Financial Inclusiveness” had brought the bank to a record profit level which had never been achieved by the bank.
Rokel Commercial Bank, under the astute leadership of Dr Gilpin, has been engaging students in financial discourse, through debates, lectures and quiz competitions all geared towards raising financial awareness and inclusion.
Dr. Ekundayo Gilpin intimated, “my idea of banking is branchless making use of digital technology.”
He has targeted the youth and believes that Sierra Leone deserves the best in Banking and Sierra Leoneans will deliver this to Sierra Leoneans.
His introduction of SIM Korpor was the first step in this direction and the Bank believes that with this innovation, the ordinary Okada rider, trader, street hawker, student, farmer, housewife and any other person who cannot access a bank easily to save money or to transact any other business now has the opportunity to do so through the RCB SIM Korpor service which would be available across Sierra Leone.
The bank launched the digital banking app in Bonthe Island late last year Residents of Bonthe Island were extremely delighted for the introduction of this new SIM KORPOR which they believe will ease the difficulty of collecting money sent through the banking system.
The performance of the bank was released early this year in February at its Annual General Meeting which was well attended by shareholders of the bank who were exceedingly happy at the figures of the Profit and Loss and the dynamism and zeal of the new Managing Director. The bank made over LE62bn Profit before Tax for the last Fiscal year. The bank was the second most profitable bank for the last fiscal financial year.
In recognition of these remarkable achievements by the bank and its management team the bank scooped 17 International and Local Awards from various reputable organizations for the last fiscal year, placing it the most awarded financial institution for the year.
There is no doubt that as long as Management is on-top of situation and rolling out sound financial initiatives Rokel Commercial Bank will continue to climb higher.

The National Petroleum (NP) SL Limited is an epitome of astute and admirable indigenous entrepreneurship which over the years has made commendable strides within the petroleum oil sector in the country. It turned out to be a truly successful business entity that has been contributing positively towards overall national economic development.
With a capable Board of Directors and Management at the helm of affairs NP-SL has contributed positively in the areas of job creation, timely payment of taxes to Government via the National Revenue Authority (NRA) as well as the steady and meaningfully execution of its Corporate Social Responsibility all improving standards of living.
If it for a very time now this country has not been experiencing fuel shortage then such could be largely attributed to the pro-active and sterling initiatives that the Board of Directors and Management at NP have been implementing with regards timely procurement of the petroleum products and making such available on the market for public consumption.
It is highly commendable for a well-established and result-oriented company like NP to have climbed to such an enviable position especially when cognizance is taken of the fact that it is exclusively owned by Sierra Leonean shareholders, a typical testimony of how local entrepreneurs could raise the bar high.
Going down the annals of history the former British Petroleum Company decided to sell its shares to the Government of Sierra Leone that was in Governance at that material period of time.
Things took a different twist when in 1996 the Government sold its 60% shares in NP to some of the company’s members of staff. Again it was made known that 55 % was paid upfront from the end of service benefits of the workers from BP and the 5% offered to all the other workers. Thus the company known as LEONEOIL was born.
The 55% sale of Government shares to NP came as a result of the World Bank’s advice to privatize the latter. It was also revealed that among the 4 companies that bided, which included ELF, LEONOIL won the international competitive bidding conducted by Arthur De Little, a United States based Management consultancy firm hired by the World Bank.
It could be recalled that the World Bank, which advised Government to privatize NP, monitored the bidding process for the three international companies and one local company that competed culminating to LEONEOIL, which metamorphosed to NP, meeting all the set criteria.
Financial experts whom the Calabash Newspaper had the privilege to talk with noted that the aforementioned members of staff were indeed entrepreneurial enough to properly manage the company to such an extent that, unlike others, it survived most of the bottlenecks that it encumbered throughout the years it has been in existence.
Shedding light on the historical background of NP, it came out glaringly that the 40% PMMC’s stake in the company, owned by the late Jamil Sahid Mohammed and Tony Yazbeck, was given as collateral for a loan from a Bank by one of the parties.
The business mogul, Jamil Sahid Mohammed, later sold to Cape Oil PMMC’s 40% shares to offset a fidelity loan but LEONE OIL was not satisfied with that move and took the matter to court saying it was in violation of the M and A which dictates that the other side has the first option to buy. The outcome of the matter was that the High Court gave judgement in favour of Leone oil.
For mischievous reasons certain individuals have been churning out rumours that NP has a monopoly over the petroleum market in the country which is totally untrue, baseless and misleading as it has been factually proven that there are other Marketing Companies marketing petroleum products that are registered with the Petroleum Agency.
It must be noted that Petro-Leone is a storage company developed by both Addax and Leone Oil so that petroleum products will always be available in the country and avert shortage. Experts further state that if such a venture is disrupted the country will relapse to the former state of shortage of fuel and long queues will once more re-surface across the country causing a lot of inconvenience and national hiccups.
At present, NP-SL has filling stations in different parts of the country with other facilities like tire mending, mini marts and sale of gas in some of them. The company was also established in neighbouring Liberia offering various petroleum and other related services.
It can be asserted that the National Petroleum Limited is one that has grown by leaps and bounds. The company is an embodiment of sterling local entrepreneurship that is worthy of emulation.

It has been confirmed that during the coming weekend, 3rd March 2019, certain Housemates, out of the current 22, presently in the House will be evicted thereby reducing the number that will remain. Indeed, it is going to be a very emotional and fateful moment for those who will be affected shattering their dreams of emerging successful at the end of the competition.
For now the Housemates are somehow jittery and nervous as they are in suspense not knowing how it is going to turn out to be. However, they are doing their best in terms of projecting strong language, nudity and humour further using every given opportunity to appeal to their fans and the wider citizenry here and abroad to vote for them using their tagged numbers to be texted to Africell Code Number 5500.
One thing that is very certain is that Housemates Salone offers the Housemates the opportunity to be empowered and after leaving the House they will definitely never be the same again but become different persons. To justify this assertion the TV Reality Show, organised by the Africa Young Voices (AYV) and Africell , provides the platform for social interaction leading to strengthening relationships, self-expression as is evident in responding to questions posed by the unseen Chief, taking through lectures by professional experts, portraying artistic skills whether in acting, poetry or modelling.

This rather unique event is now the talk of the town. AYV and Africell’s Housemates Salone 2019 has earned the name of an epitome of Reality.
What would determine the position that the various contestants will individually occupy largely depends on the percentage of votes that each will scoop from the populace but the evictions hinge on their performances in the House which are closely monitored and judged.
The attractive star winning prize of Le100, 000,000 is what each competitor is eyeing but for each day a Housemate stays in the House he or she is entitled to receive Le100, 000.
With the huge and electrifying momentum that the Housemates Salone is ascending it has currently become the widely talked about event in the country and has indeed gone viral. Workers, school pupils, students, market women and traders are heatedly discussing it in different circles, even in Ataya Bases, with candour and varying views.
Sustained investigations cum research mounted in different parts of the country revealed that the majority are really commending the organizers of the TV Reality Show, African Young Voices (AYV) and Africell for packaging and rolling out what they described as a very extra-ordinary and breath-taking entertainment show.
Indeed, the House is getting hotter as the competitors are tensely battling to ultimately emerge as the winner to bag the Le100, 000,000 that is at stake.
But what is so good about rolling out this show is that it has really exposed all the participants and there is the probability that people cum investors could be interested in making use of their talents, be it in the music, acting, film industries or in modelling.
“It is indeed very good that the organisers of this TV Reality contest made provision for empowerment and for those that have been and will be evicted to at least take home financial packages which will serve as a therapy to any unforeseen psychological anguish. To those that will be affected take heart and be courageous as there is more goodies in life after Housemates Salone,” Ann-Marie Williams, an activist shuttling to and fro the USA and Sierra Leone enthused.
Housemates Salone continues to thrill millions in and out Sierra Leone.

The Right to Access Information and Communication (RAIC) on the 28th February 2019 engaged the media in order to update practitioners on its recent, activities and mandate since it was recently re-vitalized.
In his statement Dr. Ibrahim Seaga Shaw, who is the Chairman and Information Commissioner of the Right to Access to Information Commission (RAIC), pointed out that with support from the World Bank through the Public Finance Management, Improvement and Consolidation project (PFMICP) in the Ministry of Finance on December 6, 2018 launched the Proactive Disclosure of information (PDI) component of the law that governs all public authorities and the immediate support of the development of publication schemes for 10 pilot Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs).
He noted that specifically in part 2 Section 8 (1), the Act delineates 22 minimum classes of information identified that will form the core pro-active publication scheme for every public authority in the country.
Seaga Shaw disclosed that in his speech during a Pro-active Disclosure forum in December and another workshop held in January he appealed to participants to tale the message of the March 1st deadline to the various institutions they represent and encouraged them to comply.
He informed journalists present to popularize the message.
Representing the Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, the Deputy Information Minister, Solomon Jamiru, highlighted that the VP has notified all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to submit their proactive publication schemes to the RAIC on or before 1 st March 2019 for approval.
According to the Deputy Minister, failure to do so will incur an invitation to the RAIC tribunal and there are penalties to be levied.
“The pro-active publication scheme is consistent with the new Government’s call for enhanced transparency, accountability and good governance for all public authorities and limited to MDAs by implementing the law as enacted by Parliament,” Jamiru underscored.

With the massive turn out of football loving fans across the country, millions of Leones has been generated in the first few matches of the Sierra Leone Premier League competition. This means for the first time in the history of football in Sierra Leone clubs are smiling to the banks with huge deposits of cash to run their day to day activities.
Mighty Blackpool has raked in over Le150.000.000 from hosting just two matches. Other teams have raked in over Le30 to Le60 millions. From all the games played so far and the statistics coming in though Mighty Blackpool gained one point from three matches so far they are the biggest crowd pullers. If this trend continues then arguably it is safe to say that either Mighty Blackpool has the biggest fan base in Sierra Leone or the majority of football fans love to watch them play.

Meanwhile, the Freetown City Football Club is yet to contract and pay the salaries of their payers according to the Public Relation Officer, Mr. Abdullah Nazzra Bundu, adding the turnout of fans and spectators in their previous matches was very poor due to the unprecedented trials at the moment.

“We are working towards the Bamoi Declaration of 2010, the player and technical officials must be contracted for international best practices, the club is bigger the everybody, we need to respect the career of the players and the officials if we are want to win our pending matches, we are disappointed with the attitude of the management at present” he said.

In his closing remarks, he said that the Premier League Board should investigate the day-to-day actives of the club base on the seed money given to the executive of the Freetown City Council Club for the phase of the league season.

His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio has decorated Dr Jane Goodall with the award of the Order of the Rokel of the Republic of Sierra Leone at a ceremony held at State House yesterday 28th February 2019.

The honour, Sierra Leone’s highest and most prestigious decoration, recognises Sierra Leoneans who have distinguished themselves by making valuable contributions to the country. She is British and one of a small number of non-Sierra Leoneans to have earned that respect in recent times.

Dr. Goodall, DBE, anthropologist and United Nations Messenger of Peace, was instrumental in founding the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, the only place in Sierra Leone that keeps rescued chimpanzees. The establishment of the reservation for chimps makes Freetown the only capital city in the world where one can come in contact with chimps.

Dr. Goodall’s discovery in 1960 around chimpanzees had been considered as one of the greatest achievements of the twentieth-century scholarship. Her field research at Gombe, located in western Kigoma Region of Tanzania in East Africa, transformed the understanding of Chimpanzees and redefined the relationship between humans and animals in ways that continue to emanate around the world.

In her acceptance speech, Dr. Goodall said she was truly humbled by the honour, adding that it provided a reason for hope to nature in the country. She said Sierra Leone had a beautiful forest and advised that protecting and restoring it was one of the ways of mitigating climate change.

She noted that it was great to know that protecting the forest, would mean protecting the biodiversity and by protecting the forest it would be able to give out clean water and air to the environment, adding that the forest was tremendously important for human survival.

“A reason for hope is that young people are beginning to help people, animals and the environment because they are all interrelated. As individuals, we are beginning to use our brains every day to think about how we can leave as huge an ecological footprint as possible. We have to give nature a chance and nature will come back.

“You have wonderful forests and areas which people around the world will like to come and visit. I will do my level best to help conservation which might include tourism or agro-culture to help conservation in Sierra Leone,” she assured.

On his part, President Bio said he was pleased to have Dr Goodall in the country and acknowledged the great work she was doing around the world. He said there was a lot of environmental degradation around the world, noting that human activities were impacting negatively on the environment.

He stated that certain ecologies had been destroyed and that was leading to poverty and adverse weather conditions around the world. He said Dr Goodall’s experience had taught the world about the relationship between human beings and the environment.

“Thank you for your dedication and hard work around the world and rest assured we will support you. I will join my colleagues who are active in supporting wildlife around the world. Thank you so much for accepting our honour,” he said.

Both the newly appointed Chief Justice of the Sierra Leone Judiciary, Justice Babatunde Edwards and the Head of the Legal Aid Board, Madam Clara Hanciles deserve unreserved praise from the nation, especially the poor that fall in conflict with the law, for rising up to the task of setting ancient wrongs right committed by some Magistrates in giving many convicts unreasonable sentences; far beyond what their crimes require as punishment.
Working together, the sympathetic Chief Justice and LAB Head have caused the Judiciary to review harsh sentences meted out against convicts at the Magistrate level; with three Judges assigned to the review.
In Nigeria, with whom we share similarly inherited Colonial Laws, as parts of efforts to make fair dispensation of justice available to citizenry, Justice Opeyemi Oke, the Chief Judge of Lagos State, has recently signed in sentencing guidelines for the Magistrates and High Courts in the State. She signed in the sentencing guidelines at the inaugural meeting of the Criminal Justice Sector Reform Committee held in the conference room of the Ikeja High Court.
Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, the Lagos State Attorney-General, judges, representatives of the Nigeria Police and members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) were at the meeting. Others that were part of the meeting include law enforcement agencies, Nigerian Prisons Service as well as other stakeholders in the criminal justice system of Lagos.
Justice Oke, the Chairman of the meeting, while applauding members of the Justice Sector Reform Committee, said that the sentencing guidelines would create uniformity in sentencing in the courts.
The guidelines which will facilitate uniformity, equity and objectivity in sentencing in Lagos State, the Chief Judge said. Oke said that the application of the guidelines would bring about similarities in sentences meted out by the courts for the same crimes.
“What has been occurring regularly is that a court will be giving a sentence that people find to be very harsh and difficult; terming the court wicked and harsh, while another court, lenient in sentencing an accused for the same type of offence, is termed sweet and kind. “We need uniformity; we really have to monitor this. The sentencing guidelines will be applicable to the Magistrate Courts and the High Courts,”
Oke noted that a new committee has been set up to also create Practice Directions for the use of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State (ACJL) for the courts.
“This is for the purpose of making the law more explicit for Judges, Magistrates and Prosecutors.”
The new committee is enjoined to evaluate initiatives such as adopting Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms in criminal trials, increase use of plea bargaining to drastically reduce the number of inmates awaiting trial, frontloading of evidence and restorative justice.
The Chief Judge called for the collaboration and cooperation of stakeholders to take the Lagos State Judiciary to greater heights.
“The vision of the Lagos State Judiciary under the current administration includes to make speedy dispensation of justice a hallmark of Lagos State Judiciary and to improve on the reputation of Lagos State Judiciary as the best in Nigeria and Africa,” she said.
Plans are also underway to review remand guidelines of suspects in minor cases. The plan also includes reviewing of bail terms and fines, to make the release of suspects achievable. The aim of the plan is to decongest Lagos’s overcrowded prisons by also accelerating trial and adopting community service for minor offences.

People’s Alliance for Reproductive Health and Rights Advocacy (PARHA) organisation which is advocating for sexual reproductive health and rights, few days ago convened a consultation meeting to critically look at certain key issues under its purview.
PARHA is a coalition of over 50 like-minded organisations that are advocating for the passing of a bill on sexual reproductive health rights for all and other gender issues.
In an exclusive interview granted this writer, Madam Theresa Ojong, Deputy Director of Planned Parenthood Association – Sierra Leone, who also doubles as Head of the Women’s Committee on Health Issues in the Coalition and member of the Task Force, said that the Coalition is advocating for the passing of a bill on Sexual Reproductive Health Rights for everyone, irrespective of gender. She further stated that PARHA is made up of organisations like Amnesty International, PPA-SL, Marie Stopes, Lawyers and several Civil Society Organisations, Paramount Chiefs and other traditional leaders. She furthered that they have since last year, been engaged in consultations with various stakeholders in communities across the country.
“PARHA has held consultative meetings with communities on sexual and reproductive health issues,” she revealed. Many people, she stressed, do not know how to access information about sexual reproductive health on offer.
“In this regard the organisation is advocating for the availability of information to the people, so as to enable them to make right choices about when to have kids and when not to,” she added.
She further stated that girls and boys need to know about the developments taking place in their bodies and how to deal with them. She recognised that in most families, talking about sexual reproductive health issues is a taboo.
Madam Theresa maintained that many girls learn about their bodies from their peers and seldom from their parents and this puts them in danger of getting pregnant, depending on the type of information they receive. Thus PARHA gives them a general package of sexual reproductive health. Consultations held last year with chiefs, farmers, bike riders and school kids were geared towards raising awareness about the issues. District committees were then formed to propagate the issues and regular reports are being sent to the Secretariat on the progress made.
She also disclosed that consultations with other stakeholders, including line Ministries are on-going. The group was pleased to report that consultations was held with the Inter-Religious Council on the need for a bill to address this issue and progress is being made, especially as they have the largest constituency in the country. Policy makers, like Parliament, are also being consulted with a view to establishing a partnership. She also disclosed that a meeting was held with Vice President Juldeh Jalloh, which was fruitful and recommendations received on the way forward.
Moisa Saidu, the Executive Secretary of PARHA, said that the purpose of this advocacy is to ensure that a bill is passed to enable people to make informed choices on sexual reproductive matters. He lamented that of all times, during the Ebola when people were ordered to avoid body contact with each other; it was at this time that the highest teenage pregnancy was recorded in the country.
This, he said, is as a result of the secrecy over the whole issue of sexual reproduction and its repercussions. He stressed that when a thing is hidden, people engage in it, albeit secretly, with devastating consequences. It is therefore the view of the Coalition that sexual reproductive health issues should be made a right and discussed openly in families.
He maintained that in this age of technology, a lot of sexual scenes are viewed by teenagers on TV and social media and no one has control over them, not even the parents. It is therefore in their view, the right thing to do to get the kids informed on the matter and prevent all this unwanted pregnancy and maternal mortality taking place frequently across the country. In this light they have been engaging school going kids on the progress of their bodies and the dangers involve in failing to make the right decisions.
He encouraged parents and elders to have open discussions with the kids and give them the right information that will help them avoid unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortions. He observed that the home does not provide the space for such open discussion, due to tradition and admonished parents to break these barriers. In their quest to pass on this information, they are engaging traditional healers, who are believed to be part of the people some of these kids go to when pregnant and concoctions administered to those kids, which invariably result in medical complications for life for some of those kids. Moisa Saidu further disclosed that they are planning on partnering with the First Lady, as they see her campaign as the right step.
On the issue of sponsorship, he said that they do not have any external support, adding that through the individual contributions of the various member organisations in the Coalition, they are able to raise funds for their activities.

The Chief Justice of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Justice Babatude Edwards has welcomed the ongoing nationwide assessment by the legal Aid Board of sentences imposed on inmates in correctional centers from various Magistrate Courts around the country.

This follows a meeting in the Chamber of Chief Justice on Tuesday, 26 February 2019 in which the Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles provided updates on the assessment which also covers inmates who have been remanded for long periods without indictment with a view to filing an application of Habeas Corpus to secure their release.

The initial assessment in the Correctional Centers in Freetown has uncovered that some inmates have been given wrong sentences, some for periods well above the jurisdiction of Magistrate Courts. For instance, a ten year prison term was imposed on an inmate convicted of larceny. Two others were sent to prison terms of thirteen and seven years for Obtaining Money by False Pretense and Malicious Damage respectively. Another, inmate was sentenced for seven years for fraudulent conversion even though the materials he was given to sew were valued at seven hundred and fifty thousand leones (US 87).

The Board also found that no prosecution witness testified in some of these trials at the Magistrate Court. In these cases only police officers or experts (formal witnesses) testified in the trials. For others, the witnesses for the complainant were not present at the material time when the incident took place.

Also, there were cases in which preliminary investigations at Magistrate courts were converted into summary trial and long sentences were handed out. These are sentences which could only be handed out for indicted offences (serious or felonious offences) in the high Court.

The Chief Justices informed the Legal Aid Board that a team comprising Justices Monfred Sesay, Sengu Koroma and Alusine essay has already been constituted to review the sentences. The Team is expected to commence work soon.

In response, Ms. Carlton-Hanciles said the Board will represent all inmates whose sentence will be reviewed. ‘This is really a welcome relief for the administration of justice in Sierra Leone,’ she said, adding: ‘The Chief Justice is showing leadership in holding the balance in the area of Justice.’