Commissioners of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRCSL) on Monday 13^th May, 2019 started a regional tour in Makeni by  engaging the Paramount Chief PC Bai Shebora Kasanga II, the AIG North East Ambrose Sovula and his Local Unit Commanders, the Resident Minister North, Hon. Abu Abu and members of the Provincial Security Committee in Bombali.

The Commissioners also met with the Bombali District Human Rights Committee and also held similar outreach activities in Port Loko.

The Commissioners are undertaking a human rights outreach to the regions so that the populace gets to know the new policy drivers of the country’s human rights architecture and their vision for human rights in the country.

The tour is also for them to have a sense of the prevailing human rights challenges across the country and how they can be best addressed in fulfilment of the mandate they have set themselves to implement as enshrined in the HRCSL Act 2004.

It also gives an opportunity for them to interface, share experiences and practice directives with relevant interlocutors and key stakeholders engaged in human rights work in the regions.

It would be recalled in September 2018, following a public notice from the Office of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice; commenced the legitimate process of the recruitment of five Commissioners for the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone. A selection panel was set up in which five out of seven candidates were appointed by the President. The five appointees were  later approved by parliament to be followed by an oath of office before the President.

The outreach/regional tour continues in Moyamba, Bo, Kailahun and Kenema respectively in the coming days.

It is very unfortunate that among both the ruling SLPP and the main opposition APC there are some intolerant misguided diehard party fanatics that firmly believe that SLPP and APC should not in any way collaborate to work to make the country better for its citizens.

However, as can be seen in the picture above, the SLPP elected President Bio and the APC elected Freetown City Mayor, Her Worship Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr in their thoughts, words and deeds prove that they in no way share this myopic view of politics being a war between opposing politicians.

It could be recalled that along that line of thinking, there were many APC fanatics who decried the Freetown Mayor for being seen side by side with President Bio in Canada during the TED conference when even though finding themselves on different sides of the political fence, both have the same ambition of making the capital city a pride of place that every Sierra Leone can point to as an emblem of collective political efforts between the ruling party and the APC culminating in it become the best and the cleanest city in West Africa.

Along that line, Thursday 24 January 2019 was a big day for the more than 2 million people living in Freetown with the official launching of a Blueprint and Strategic Programme, aimed at transforming the city into a twenty-first century city.

Speaking at the launching of the Freetown City Council (FCC) initiative, president Bio confirmed that the ‘Transform Freetown’ Blueprint and Programme align very closely with his government’s New Direction priorities and vision.

He said that the insistence on purposeful planning, local participation and engagement with the private sector and other stakeholders, public accountability, improving the efficiency and quality of public service delivery, are aimed at providing opportunity and making Freetown a better, more livable and more resilient city.

The three-year programme for transforming Freetown deserves and will get the full support of his government, the president said.

“Paopa, our Freetown will be clean,” President Bio said. “So, within the last 8 months in governance, my government has supported the Freetown City Council with direct financial disbursements of 18.3 Billion Leones. My government is committed to working for Freetown and in making our Freetown a better city for all of us,” he assured.

President Bio commented on the Council’s proposed plans for managing municipal assets, congestion in the city, disaster management during the rains, leveraging ICT to boost revenue mobilization, promoting tourism and the many informal settlements that are dotted across the city. These he said, relate to the wider issue of social exclusion and social injustice.

“In the past, we saw how municipal assets were illegally appropriated by the politically powerful and their rogue agents. My question is, does the initiative aim to recover those assets? And is it not possible to plough back proceeds from value-added city assets into the development of the city, especially in new infrastructure for sewage disposal, water supply, and sanitation?” he asked.

Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr who said that circumstances in Freetown have been challenging over the years, adding that there are a lot of pressure in Freetown on housing, the environment, as well as the growing need to provide basic social facilities for residents, congratulated the President for his commitment to decentralization, and said that his presence at the launching of the Transform Freetown initiative is a testament to that.

“We want to ensure that by working with the central government, Freetown will be restored to its lost glory. The Freetown City Council has sought to align its agenda with that of the national development plan,” the Mayor said.

Minister of Finance – Jacob Jusu Saffa, commended the Mayor for moving in the right direction and aligning the Council’s programme with the vision of the New Direction, adding that because local council resources are scarce, it is the responsibility of government to provide funding for councils.

Mayor Aki-Sawyerr’s commitment to transform Freetown is divided into three work streams:

• quick wins and urgent activities (e.g. flood mitigation work, drainage rehabilitation, the rehabilitation of the Taylor-Cummings Gardens);
• Process improvements (e.g. mobile money local tax payments and the digitization of the FCC property rate system); and
• Developing the Transform Freetown agenda.

The Chairman of the Mines and Minerals Committee in the Sierra Leone Parliament Hon. Saa Emerson Lamina has described as ‘laudable’ the three Mineral Sector Policies recently launched by the Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone Dr. Juldeh Jalloh at the Bintumani Conference Center in Freetown. Hon. Lamina who doubles as the minority leader for the coalition for change (C4C) Party in parliament acknowledged that before now, stakeholders in the mining sector had done little to come up with crucial policies to manage the mineral potentials of the country.

There have been “adhoc structural response to guide our mineral potentials as opposed to these three polices which are the most comprehensive documents since diamonds were discovered in my home district of Kono some 89 years ago” Hon. Lamina noted. He added that this has been the reason for Sierra Leone’s little gain or not from its mineral riches.

Hon. Lamina commended the efforts of the President Bio led Government for putting together policies and programs to accelerate economic development in the “once used but neglected mining sector” in the country. “We appreciate policies and programs aimed at making Sierra Leone an even more attractive destination for mining investment, job creation and additional income” Hon. Lamina said. He furthered that if the newly launched documents on the mining sector were thoroughly implemented, the country’s story would change for the better, as he assured, “they are aligned with international best practices”. Speaking at the launch of the policies; Sierra Leone Mineral Sector Bench Marking Assessment Report, Geo Data Management Policy, and the Artisanal Mining Policy, the Minister of Mines Morie Manyeh said “the objective of the policies is to enhance inter-governmental and multi-stakeholder coordination” in the minerals sector.

He continued that the three policies are directed towards improving revenue management with more equitable distribution of benefits and prudent investment of mineral revenues. Hon. Lamina therefore called on relevant authorities in the mining sector to see to it that basic information about the country’s geo-physical data and mineral potentials reach the local miners, land owners and community leaders. “We also hope that the policies ensure local communities benefit more from the allocation of revenues from the extractive industry and compliance issues are adequately addressed” he urged.

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.