The Legal Aid Board and the Council of Tribal Headmen have agreed to work together to put a stop to prohibitive fines imposed by Sub-Chiefs which is undermining access to justice for their subjects. ‘We have a complaint against a Sub-Chief who imposed a fine of Le 500,000 (US $68) on a respondent,’ one of the adjudicators for the Board’s Alternative Dispute Resolution, Mr. Alghasimu Sesay said.
The agreement was reached at a meeting in the Justice Hall at the Sierra Leone Legal Aid Board in Freetown on Tuesday, 26 March 2019.
The two agreed to enforce existing guidelines relating to fines which chiefs can impose in their courts. The Mende Tribal Headman, Mr. Jibao Young said the existing guidelines state clearly the fines which Tribal Headmen and their Sub-Chiefs can imposed. ‘We developed these guidelines following complaints from our subjects regarding prohibitive fines,’ he said. ‘The guidelines provides that the fines should not exceed Le 25,000 (US $3) for those imposed by Tribal Headmen and Le 15,000 (US $1.7) for those imposed by Sub-Chiefs.’
The Board and the Council agreed to hold a big event at the Attouga Stadium to educate the Tribal Headmen and their Sub-Chiefs on this issue. The Legal Aid Board will support in enforcing these guidelines by taking necessary action against those who flout them. ‘Moving forward, we want to make sure those who are found wanting will not claim to be ignorant of the Guidelines,’ the Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles said.
The Legal Aid Board and Council of Tribal Headmen also discussed issues bordering on promoting reconciliation following divisive elections. It was observed that the March 2018 elections divided communities and families. ‘As we speak marriages and neighbors have been torn apart,’ Ms. Carlton-Hanciles said. In this respect the tribal headmen and their sub-chiefs should work towards reconciling not only their tribe’s people but also between the various tribes.
It was observed that the Council of Female Chiefs is not inclusive of the all the sixteen tribes. ‘I had this concern some time ago but nothing has been done,’ Chief Jibao Young said. The Legal Aid Board was asked to work with the Female Chiefs to ensure the group is representative of all the ethnic groups in the country.
The Council agreed to work with the Legal Aid Board in the ‘Hands Off Our Girls’ Campaign by adopting a preventive approach to Sexual Penetration and other forms of sexual violence. This will include community sensitization meetings and focused group discussions to educate people on the law and our culture.

The ‘’Black Tuesday’’ is an initiative launched by the Asmaa James Foundation in Sierra Leone to raise awareness on issues of violence against women and girls with a focus on rape and sexual penetration. The Asmaa James Foundation is a women and girls health advocacy organization founded by Sierra Leonean journalist Asmaa James Kamara, Station Manager of Radio Democracy 98.1.
The Black Tuesday was first launched in Freetown in December 2018 that brought woman and girls from different walks of life to discuss on Rape and Sexual Penetration and raise awareness on it effects to the development of our nation, Sierra Leone.

The Black Tuesday campaign is engaging women and girls across Sierra Leone, to educate them on the effect of rape and sexual penetration and create an enabling environment for them to speak up on issues that matters; breaking the silence on rape is a major goal of the Foundation.
Purposeful Production has been one of the key partners in supporting the Foundation to carryout its activities across the country in ensuring that the message of rape and sexual penetration is discussed and digested by the community people, stakeholders and the girls themselves.

In less than three months, the Black Tuesday Campaign has been implemented in three districts including Western Area Urban, the people of Mile 91, Bo and Magburuka Districts where the residents appreciated the efforts of the Foundation for bringing such initiative in their communities.
The Rainbow Center has been a strategic player in the Black Tuesday campaign in providing statistics and giving confidence to women and girls to report their cases to the center whenever they are raped or sexually assaulted.

Speaking to Asmaa James, she stated that women and girls face numerous challenges in their communities, gender based violence, teenage pregnancy, child marriage, rape and sexual exploitation have increased and we need to stand up for our women and girls who cannot speak up for themselves.
“As Station Manager of radio democracy and founder of Asmaa James Foundation. I’m using my platform to speak up on these issues, engage the girls in breaking the silence so that they too can have their voices heard locally and internationally. The Black Tuesday Initiative is just a start, we have lot in-store for our women and girls to become potential people in the development of our Country Sierra Leone,” she said.

The Black Tuesday Campaign next stop will be at Kambia District.
“We are going to engage the sixteen administrative districts of Sierra Leone to preach the message and raise public awareness against all forms of abuse against women and girls most especially on rape and sexual penetration. Thanks to the President H.E Julius Maada Bio for the state of emergency on rape and the First Lady Fatima Bio for the Hands Off Our Girls initiative as both are timely. We are going to engage the Government to amend our weak laws so that there will be no escape root for perpetrators,” she concluded
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Last Tuesday 26th March 2019 the new Management of the Sierra Leone Ports Authority signed an agreement with the Ministry of Labour and Industrial Relations and other key stakeholders including the Sierra Leone Labour Congress, The National Commission for Privatization, the Sierra Leone Ports Authority Senior Staff Association and the Sierra Leone Dock Workers Union to settle all outstanding payment due former and current SLPA employees inherited from the past administration.
The outstanding payment has been a historic matter spanning from 2011 when the past administration redundant workers without due process of redundancy, the Chairman of the Sierra Leone Ports Authority Board of Directors Manso Dumbuya told stakeholders during the signing of the agreement.
Manso Dumbuya said: “as a responsible Management under the New Direction, we thought it unfair to forge ahead without addressing this long outstanding issue.”
The new Management since their assumption in office six months ago pledged to settle all outstanding payment inherited from the past Management due former and current staff of the Authority, the General Manager of the Sierra Leone Ports Authority, Dr. Abdulai Fofana said.
“Upon assuming office few months ago the issue of staff outstanding redundancy payment was presented to the management. Being a consultative management who values its staff, we engaged stakeholders to look at the merit and demerit of the matter. We concluded that there were procedural errors in the whole exercise. The workers claim was genuine. We have agreed to settle the matter once and for all.”
The Minister of Labour and Industrial Relations , Mr. Adekule King said the signing of the agreement is a demonstration of the capabilities of not only his ministry but other stakeholders including the Port management, the National Commission of Privatization, the Sierra Leone Labour Congress and the unions to deliver. He called on workers to support New Direction of President Bio.
The new Management has restored staff confidence as one that is poised to better the lives and the livelihood of workers and the general staff in return is determined to provide the necessary support to management, the President of the Sierra Leone Ports Senior Staff Association Idrissa Mago Tarawallie assured.

Ibrahim Macauley and Yusifu Kamara ,the two longest serving remand inmates at the Pademba Road Correctional Center and by extension the country were on Tuesday, 26 March 2019 discharged for want of prosecution. This follows a habeas corpus application by Legal Aid Manager Cecilia Tucker.
Mohamed and Yusifu were not served indictments since 2009 up to the date of their discharge on 26 March 2019.
Both were charged with murder and conspiracy to murder. They were arrested in March 2009 for allegedly murdering a man and then stealing his motorbike. A charge they both deny. The matter was committed to the High Court by the then Magistrate Binneh Kamara of the Waterloo Court.
They were remanded at the Pademba Road Correctional Center for ten years without indictment. The first accused in the matter, one Amadu Kamara died at the Pademba Road Correctional Center in 2016. Yusifu Kamara on the other hand suffered partial stroke during his incarceration as a result she cannot walk or talk properly.
The Legal Aid Board started providing assistance to the two in 2016. 31 inmates have so far benefitted from the habeas corpus applications which is targeting those who have been remanded since 2009 up to 2015. Fourteen have so far been discharged for want of prosecution, while one has been granted bail.
Those discharged include Mohamed Bangura who had been remanded without indictment for six years at the Pademba Road Correctional Center. Mohamed had a surprised reunion with his mother at the Legal Aid Board office in Freetown following his discharge last week. Mohamed’s mother came to Legal Aid Board office for her regular follow-up visits and to her pleasant surprise found her son has been discharged unbeknown to her. It was an emotional scene as tears of joy flowed.
Mohamed was charged with Conspiracy and had been at the Pademba Correctional Center since March 2013.
The Executive Director of the Legal Aid Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles praised the Chief Justice Babatunde Edwards for his support to the Board in ensuring that the applications are handled in a speedy manner.
‘We are happy to have a defence minded Chief Justice and this is something we will take full advantage of to ensure our clients have justice in a fair, speedy and equitable matter and also ensure they do not have to suffer through no fault of theirs ,’ she said.
Ms. Carlton-Hanciles also lauded the efforts of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Board Hon. Justice Miatta Samba who has been keenly following the whole process as she had visited the Pademba Road Correctional Center last December during which she met with inmates including the ones released on this application.

As a result of the commitment and resilience of the Principal of the Milton Margai College of Education and Technology polytechnic, Dr. Philip John Kanu, the United Kingdom and Europe Branch of the Milton Margai College of Education and Technology polytechnic on Wednesday 27th March 2019 donated 20 toilet seats, 20 toilet seat covers, 20 wash hand basins, 150 high flow showers, 40 basic taps, 20 connectors, 3 (6 feet) urinals with complete fittings, over 14 cartoons of various books including Health Science, 10 walkie talkies to facilitate communication, a lawn mower, 2,000 Pounds Sterling cash, white boards for teaching and other items, all valued at over 10,000 (ten thousand) Pounds Sterling to the college.
Some of the items were bought in the UK and shipped to Sierra Leone.
Donations were also made by Professor Abu Sesay, former Vice Chancellor, Njala University, the African Muslim Agency and other well-wishers.
Presenting the items and money to the Estate Officer of the college at the college’s Great Hall, Goderich Campus, Mr. B.W. Bockarie, Chairman of the Local Chapter of the Alumni Association, asserted that he is proud to be an old student, that the association has been recalibrated, commended the Acting Principal for being the driving force, pledged their commitment to his efforts to improve the learning environment on campus and appealed to students to take good care of the items for posterity as well as emulate the sterling example after graduation.
Mr. B.W. Bockarie further disclosed plans by the Association to award scholarships to students as well as have a budget, adding that they are working with other branches worldwide, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland Branch that presented the bulk of the items.
He also read the statement of the Chairman of the UK and Ireland Branch, Mr. Victor Abu.
The Principal of the college, Dr. Philip John Kanu, thanked God Almighty for what he is doing for the college, that nobody would develop the college except old students, articulating that they want to make the college great again and entreated the students to emulate the sterling example of the Alumni Association.
Dr. Philip John Kanu also acclaimed all those who donated, all in an effort to make students comfortable and revealed that very soon the newly-renovated toilets in the hostels would be commissioned, urging students to study hard and excel and not cheat to earn undeserved grades so that they would represent the college well globally, affirming that they have no more excuses not to excel and concluded that his ultimate goal is to transform the college to a university.
Earlier, the Acting Vice Principal, Dr. M. A. Jalloh welcomed all to the impressive ceremony revealing that alumni in Latin means one’s learning institution, second mother or something close to one’s heart, that the old students are proud of their alma mater, that two days ago two old students from The Gambia visited the college and were taken to their former hostels at Sylvester Renner and Elizabeth Hirst as well as the Home Economics Department, disclosing that one of the students is the Chairman of the West African Examinations Council.
He furthered that in some countries, the budget of Alumni Associations is higher than the national budget and commended the Acting Principal for working relentlessly to advance the college as well as the learning environment.
The Interim President of the Students’ Union, Rosaline Kamara, in her vote of thanks, asserted that the donation would help promote quality education and that they appreciate the efforts of the Principal to develop the college.
The introduction of dignitaries, presentation of the items and 2,000 Pounds Sterling cash climaxed the well-attended ceremony.

As we continue to sleep and wake, the 2019 Housemates Salone Realty TV Show is forging ahead with tantalizing episodes that continue to thrill many.
As the House becomes noisier there is a lot of gossiping going on. Each Housemate is fighting tooth and nail to outsmart the others in order to become endearing and capture the votes of viewers who have been offered the freewill to do so using Africell Number 5500.
The Show is becoming more and more captivating with the confrontations among the contestants, attempts being made to act funnily, talk tough and appear sexy. This may only be within the ambit of exuding strong language, behaving humorously and displaying nudity, all of which the competition demands.
It is indeed laughable to see the Housemates dancing to Sierra Leonean tunes, singing, cracking jokes and arguing.
The live Reality Show, which is aired on AYV entertainment’s Channel 34 is indeed a novelty in this country for which the organizers AYV Media Empire and Africell have been widely hailed, as both continue to boost the entertainment industry.
What is uppermost in the minds of each of the current 12 Housemates (the number was increased by adding two former evicted contestants to the 10 that successfully survived the past evictions), is to ultimately emerge as the winner that will bag the Le100,000,000 that has been set aside as the star prize.
According to the organizers of the interesting and somehow comical show, what is at the center of organizing the show is youth empowerment, providing a platform to showcase young people’s talents and at the same time give them the opportunity to acquire new skills like learning how to cook, socialize, how to play certain games, build confidence, how to comport themselves publicly and to speak fluently. They have been benefitting from interactions with officials of certain corporate entities, like Rokel Commercial Bank, Guarantee Trust Bank, Life By Design, who have been explaining to them how their institutions operate. They are also given motivational lectures.
It is yet not known whether the way the Housemates are catered for falls under empowerment because they are offered good food and drinks nurturing them well. It is factual that the Housemates are really enjoying sumptuous food,
AYV, under its charismatic Chief Executive Officer, Ambassador Anthony Navo, has been at the very forefront of empowering young people and making them very productive and relevant in society. He has been doing so passionately and he is held in high esteem for championing that cause.
A good aspect of the Reality TV Show is that it has exposed all the participants and as viewers continue to follow it, there is the likelihood that in the future some of them will become Brand Ambassadors, artists or role models. As the Reality TV Show is climaxing, it is undoubtable that it will continue to be very enticing and lively.

Many developing nations are in debt and poverty partly due to the policies of IMF and the World Bank. By and large, their programs have for the past fifty years resulted in poverty and debt and increased dependency on the richer nations, despite the IMF and World Bank’s claim that they will reduce poverty.
Following an ideology known as neoliberalism, and spearheaded by these and other institutions known as the Washington Consensus (for being based in Washington D.C.), Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) (even though modified in the 21st century) have been imposed to ensure debt repayment and economic restructuring.
But the way it has happened has required poor countries to reduce spending on things like health, education and development, while debt repayment and other economic policies have been made the priority. In effect, the IMF and World Bank have demanded that poor nations lower the standard of living of their people.
A Spiraling Race to the Bottom
The IMF and World Bank provide financial assistance to countries seeking it, but apply a neoliberal economic ideology or agenda as a precondition to receiving the money. For example:
• They prescribe cutbacks, liberalization of the economy and resource extraction/export-oriented open markets as part of their structural adjustment.
• The role of the state is minimized.
• Privatization is encouraged as well as reduced protection of domestic industries.
• Other adjustment policies also include currency devaluation, increased interest rates, flexibility of the labor market, and the elimination of subsidies such as fuel and food subsidies.
• To be attractive to foreign investors, various regulations and standards are reduced or removed.
The impact of these preconditions on poorer countries can be devastating. Factors such as the following, lead to further misery for the developing nations and keep them dependent on developed nations:
• Poor countries must export more in order to raise enough money to pay off their debts in a timely manner.
• Because there are so many nations being asked or forced into the global market place—before they are economically and socially stable and ready—and told to concentrate on similar cash crops and commodities as others, the situation resembles a large-scale price war.
• Then, the resources from the poorer regions become even cheaper, which favors consumers in the West.
• Governments then need to increase exports just to keep their currencies stable (which may not be sustainable, either) and earn foreign exchange with which to help pay off debts.
• Governments therefore must:
o spend less
o reduce consumption
o remove or decrease financial regulations and so on.
Over time then:
o the value of labor decreases
o capital flows become more volatile
o a spiraling race to the bottom then begins, which generates
o social unrest
• These nations are then told to peg their currencies to the dollar. But keeping the exchange rate stable is costly due to measures such as increased interest rates.
• Investors obviously concerned about their assets and interests can then pull out very easily if things get tough
o In the worst cases, capital flight can lead to economic collapse, such as we saw in the Asian/global financial crises of 1997/98/99, or in Mexico, Brazil, and many other places. During and after a crisis, the mainstream media and free trade economists lay the blame on emerging markets and their governments’ restrictive or inefficient policies, crony capitalism, etc., which is a cruel irony.
• When IMF donors keep the exchange rates in their favor, it often means that the poor nations remain poor, or get even poorer. Even the 1997/98/99 global financial crisis can be partly blamed on structural adjustment and early, overly aggressive deregulation for emerging economies.
• Millions of children end up dying each year.
What is the IMF/World Bank Prescription?
As economist Robin Hanhel summarizes:
The IMF has prescribed the same medicine for troubled third world economies:
• Monetary austerity. Tighten up the money supply to increase internal interest rates to whatever heights needed to stabilize the value of the local currency.
• Fiscal austerity. Increase tax collections and reduce government spending dramatically.
• Privatization. Sell off public enterprises to the private sector.
• Financial Liberalization. Remove restrictions on the inflow and outflow of international capital as well as restrictions on what foreign businesses and banks are allowed to buy, own, and operate.
Only when governments sign this structural adjustment agreement does the IMF agree to:
• Lend enough to prevent default on international loans that are about to come due and otherwise would be unpayable.
• Arrange a restructuring of the country’s debt among private international lenders that includes a pledge of new loans.