Karpowership, a Turkish electricity provider in Sierra Leone has extended their Corporate Social Responsibility to the St. Edward’s Secondary School by refurbishing the main Junior Secondary School building and providing furniture and other learning materials to the school authorities.
According to Alimatu Massaquoi, acting Principal of St. Edward’s Junior division Karpowership took two weeks to refurbish three classrooms, organize furniture, white board and dustbins. The Africa Coordinator for Turkey-based Karpowership, Emry Durmusoglu, explained that the ship is in Sierra Leone to provide electricity, and currently they are providing 85% of electricity.
Their key CSR is to give support to education so that school children can use the refurbished classrooms and furniture to pursue their future academia. Durmusoglu disclosed that their CSR project will continue to focus on education and to give support to school going children in Sierra Leone. Receiving the donations, Freddie R. Wyse, Principal of the Senior division, thanked the head of Karpowership.
Wyse assured the delegation that they will take good care of the refurbished building and the furniture. The Turkish Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Deha Erperk, commended and congratulated Karpowership for helping children in acquiring education. On behalf of the pupils, Emmanuel Joseph Turay, a pupil in Junior Secondary School, thanked the management of Karpowership for the kind gesture.

His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio has officially commissioned the Sengbe Pieh Memorial Bridge linking Lumley and Juba Communities, west of the capital, Freetown.

The 1.8 meters bridge was built in five months for less than $2.4 million with support from the Governments of the People’s Republic of China and Sierra Leone.

In his keynote address, President Bio said that unlike so-called infrastructural projects in the last eleven years, where government officials would cut corners in order to steal, the bridge was built to budget and in accordance with international standards and it abutted the existing two-lane bridge, therefore providing a total of four traffic lanes.

He said what the project demonstrated was that the government could build bridges and roads that meet international standards faster, better and for far less money, that government could do infrastructural development without officials stealing millions of dollars meant for the project and that government could do infrastructural developments without burdening the people of Sierra Leone with huge foreign debt.

“This now shows we can do infrastructural developments that employ our own people, local Sierra Leoneans, as part of the workforce that builds our roads and bridges. The locals will be thus both financially empowered and gain valuable work skills and experiences.

“The New Direction is delivering on what it promised, to develop infrastructure in this country. My Government maintains a long term and holistic approach to infrastructural development. So in addition to the bridge, my government deems it necessary to build a bigger and more conveniently-located market and a transportation interchange for minibuses, taxis, and other commercial vehicles,” he said.

President Bio mentioned that the bridge and infrastructure would unlock the tremendous economic potentials in tourism, fisheries, and other sectors associated with that part of the city. He said it would also relieve traffic congestion, make urban commuting and access to markets, public facilities, offices, schools, hospitals easier, faster and safer, adding that these developments were also for air quality, respiratory health, and general sanitation and public health.

He also commended the partnership and generosity of the People’s Republic of China and acknowledged, with much gratitude, the continued generous support of the Government and people of the People’s Republic of China, noting that the years of friendly relations between the two countries had consistently provided technical assistance and capacity building for various sectors, improved public health and healthcare institutions, enhanced livelihood, helped modernise agriculture, and developed infrastructure in the county.

Chairman, Presidential Initiative on Infrastructure, Dr. John Edward Tambi said the new Direction Government believed in putting the welfare of the nation first, irrespective of region and political orientation. He said his office was rebranding and bringing transformative infrastructural projects to the country and that the bridge was a manifestation of that commitment.

Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Hu Zhangliang, said the project was an important decision taken by the Government of Sierra Leone to reduce the traffic and improve the lives of the people of Sierra Leone, adding that the bridge could be described as one of the successes of the relationship between Sierra Leone and the People’s Republic of China.

The Chief Justice of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards has agreed to meet with the Legal Aid Board on a weekly basis to look at challenges facing the Board in the courts. This came about following a meeting with the Executive Director of the Board, Ms. Fatmata Claire Carlton-Hanciles and two other staff of the Board in which both discussed wide ranging issues.
Ms. Carlton-Hanciles drew attention to the recent transfer of judges and the effect this will have on the cases they are presiding. ‘Some of the judges have been transferred outside the jurisdiction of Freetown at the tail end of the trial of our clients,’ she said. The Chief Justice assured the Legal Aid Board Team that the Judges will not abandon any of the cases they have been hearing. ‘We will ensure they complete their cases within three months,’ he said, adding ‘If it means providing transportation for the Judges to come over to Freetown to complete their cases, we will do so.’
Ms. Carlton-Hanciles also expressed concerned over members of the Bench she referred to as prosecutorial Judges. She said these Judges keep adjourning cases because the prosecution does not have the witnesses to testify, while at the same time keeping the accused on remand for long periods sometimes for three years or more.
The Chief Justice stressed that this will not continue under his watch. He noted that when he was confronted with such situations, he will put the accused on bail and then discharge the matter after some months of adjournments.
Ms. Carlton-Hanciles expressed concern over the prolong delay in trial for capital offences because there are no jurors. ‘There are cases which have not been heard since the start of the year,’ she said. The Chief Justice promised to convene a meeting with the Chief Immigration Officer, Head of the Human Resource Management Office (HRMO) and District Officers upcountry to chart a way forward.
The Legal Aid Manager, Ms. Cecilia Tucker informed the Chief Justice that all 44 matters involving over sentencing have been heard on summary review presided over by Justice Alusine Sesay JSC and Justice Monfred Sesay JA.
She also drew attention to the recent increase in the number of courts in the division hearing sexual offence cases and wanted to know what would happen to cases being heard by judges who have been allocated to other divisions. The Chief Justice said he intend to revive the Saturday Courts for sexual offences.
Ms. Carlton-Hanciles appealed to the Chief Justice for a Special Criminal Sessions of the High Court in Port Loko and Moyamba Districts. The Chief Justice said this is something he is thinking about. Ms. Carlton-Hanciles also appealed for a resident judge for the two districts.

In a matter that has dragged on now for years relating to children who were controversially adopted and sent to the United States some 20 years ago, their parents recently issued the Sierra Leone Government a 90-day ultimatum to return the children or face protest actions. The aggrieved parents, who are mostly women, have vowed to go naked in demonstration of their frustration over lack of justice for their families.
The case represents the dark, uncharted side of the aftermath of Sierra Leone’s eleven-year civil war.
Many children who lost their parents were adopted by well-to-do families both locally and internationally.
But there have been reports of abuse of the system, particularly with regards adoption involving foreign parents.
This particular case involves 200 children whose parents claim their children were taken from them by false pretence.
The organization which facilitated the adoption process, Help A Needy Child International (HANCI), allegedly lied to the parents to the effect that their children would remain in the country.
The children were taken from the districts of Moyamba in the south, Makeni and Kamakwe in the North, among others.
The aggrieved parents say since then many of them have had no idea about their children’s whereabouts.
Five executives of the now defunct HANCI have been on the spotlight over the issue, among them a serving Member of Parliament. Rowland Kargbo, who represents the Karene District in the north of the country, was Executive Director of the organization when the adoption happened in 1997.
The matter was taken to court a few years ago but it has stalled at the High Count over reported lack of evidence. The accused were slammed with 31 count charges.
Abubakarr Kargbo, a spokesperson for aggrieved parents, said at a press conference on Tuesday that they wanted government to act to help them have back their children.
“We are calling on President Bio to see how best he can intervene,” he said, noting that some of the parents have died without seeing their children.
Lovetta Conteh, one of the children, recently returned home. She was seven years when taken away. She said they were told that their parents were dead. She said some of her colleagues also want to return but that they don’t know how to go about it. She said they are being given misleading information about their parents.

The Director of Community Affairs of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP), AIG Edward Kalia Sesay has told journalists that the Sierra Leone Police have received one hundred and fifty-nine police officers who were part of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Somalia after their successful completion of a one-year assignment in Kishmayo.
According to him, a total of 160 personnel were to return but that one of them was gravely sick.
The officers, according to AIG Kalia Sesay, were received by Head of Peacekeeping Missions, Ms. Gloria Davies and that they are currently residing at the Hastings Police Barracks on the outskirts of Freetown.
The police officers, he further disclosed, were decorated with medals as symbol of their outstanding performances whilst in Somalia, adding that the next planned mission is to deploy police personnel in the Somalia Capital Mogadishu. According to him, the first batch was deployed individually but that this time round, they would be deployed as a unit. Currently, he said, one hundred sixty police personnel are still deployed in Somalia adding that the returnees are currently receiving fresh lecturers from the Sierra Leone Police Academy on policing in order to capacitate them on the current trend of policing in the country having stayed away for a long time.
He assured pressmen that the withdrawn officers are safe and doing well, as he puts it “they went in one piece and returned in one piece.”

It was disclosed that the High Court of Sierra Leone, holden at Freetown which was presided over by the Honourable Justice Reginald Sydney Fynn Jnr., on Wednesday 24th April 2019, sentenced Mr. Abdul Barrie, former Deputy Minister of Works, Housing and Infrastructure (MWHI) to three (3) years imprisonment or pay a fine of Two Hundred and Fifty Million Leones (Le 250,000,000), following his conviction for corruption.

Mr. Abdul Barrie was standing trial on seven (7) counts of corruption offences in relation to contracts for the refurbishment of various Government properties which he awarded to Ribar Enterprise, a business he jointly owns with his wife without disclosing his interest.

Mr. Abdul Barrie, had initially entered a ‘not-guilty’ plea at his first court appearance, but later changed his plea to ‘guilty’ for the fifth count of ‘Failure to disclose interest to public body’, contrary to Section 45 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Act No 12 of 2008.

Hon. Justice Reginald Fynn Jnr. convicted the former Deputy Minister of MWHI on the said count. He ordered that, if the convict chose to pay the fine of Two Hundred and Fifty Million Leones (Le 250,000,000), he makes a full payment within thirty (30) days, effective 24th April, 2019, or face the three years imprisonment. Trial will continue on the other counts of offences. The matter was adjourned to 20th May, 2019.

In this regard, the Commission wishes to advise all public officers who are in control of public resources to comply with laid down laws and procedures in the handling and disbursement of same.

The Commission was represented by Sariffou Harleston Esq., whilst the convict was represented by I.S. Yillah Esq.

“Government has also confirmed to me that they will sponsor the 2019/2020 edition of the Sierra Leone Premier League.” These were the words of PLB Chairman, Abdulai Saffa Abdulai Esq.
Football loving fans will now know for certainty that the much anticipated date of the start of the second leg of the Sierra Leone Premier League will be on Wednesday, 1st May, 2019 which is the official date set aside for the league’s resumption after a three (3) weeks break.

In a well-attended meeting by the league’s thirteen (13) participating clubs and representatives of the Premier League Board (PLB) on Monday, 22nd April 2019, deliberation and suggestions were made by almost all present as to get the appropriate date for the league’s resumption, and was unanimously agreed by all that, the International Day of Labour is deemed a fitting holiday to restart the nation’s biggest event and in the second opening of the league Anti -Drugs Strikers will host Mighty Blackpool Football Club (the Sierra Leone Premier League’s most decorated club) at the Siaka Stevens Stadium Freetown at 7:00pm.

Speaking exclusively in a buoyant mood, the Chairman of the Sierra Leone Premier League Board (SLPLB), Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai Esq said, the Premier League has been a blessing to the participating clubs and Sierra Leone as a nation. He commended the clubs for their tireless efforts in publicising their matches which has yielded dividends from the large turnouts the league has witnessed so far in the matches.

He outlined important issues to be looked at by all which amongst them is security. He said the PLB will during the second leg of matches be in charge of hiring security personnel for hosting clubs, and the clubs in turn will be paying those charges.

The legal Luminary further revealed that Government has approved the upgrading of three venues within Freetown with artificial turfs and pavilion facilities. Among the venues he mentioned were Parade Grounds at Circular Road, Attouga Mini Stadium at Cline Town and Approved School Complex in Wellington, East of Freetown.

The final date of registration of players by clubs was also discussed and Friday, 26th April was the deadline date reached for the registration of players.

The winner of this edition of the Sierra Leone Premier League would take home One hundred and Fifty Million Leones (Le 150,000,000) and a customised gold trophy, the runners up will take home One hundred Million Leones (Le 100,000,000) and a customised silver trophy as well.

Approximately, the thirteen placed club at the end of the league will take home Ten Million Leones (Le 10,000,000) from the Five Hundred Million Leones (Le 500,000,000) prize money put forward by the Premier League Board for the Premier League.

It has been revealed that the former Sierra Leone Captain Ibrahim Kargbo popularly known as Obreh is one of four Africans to have been banned from football for life for match manipulation by Fifa which is the Football’s world governing body.
Joining Kargbo are former internationals Seidath Tchomogo from Benin and Hellings Mwakasungula of Malawi .
A 10-year ban was also given to former Kenya international George Owino Audi.
Football’s world governing body said the bans related to attempted match manipulation of international games.
However, Fifa refused to give the details of the matches in question as it also issued a fourth life ban to a players’ agent from Zimbabwe, Kudzanai Shaba.
Owino has already announced his intention to appeal while the others have yet to comment.
Not for the first time, the involvement of Singaporean Raj Perumal – a convicted match-fixer who has been closely linked with several manipulated matches in Africa – has been central to the case.
“The formal disciplinary proceedings into the aforementioned individuals stemmed from an extensive investigation into various international matches that Mr Wilson Raj Perumal attempted to manipulate for betting purposes,” a Fifa statement said.
“This large-scale investigation was conducted by Fifa over several years through its Integrity Department and in cooperation with the relevant stakeholders and authorities.
“The decisions were notified to the individuals concerned on Wednesday 24 April, the date on which the relevant bans came into force.”
Kargbo, who represented Sierra Leone from 2000-2013, has previously been accused of match-fixing by the football associations of Sierra Leone and the Netherlands, where he played for Willem II in 2009, but has denied the charges on both occasions.
It is unclear if his case is linked to a long-standing investigation into potential match-fixing involving Sierra Leone during a World Cup qualifier in 2008.

Former Kenya international George Owino has been handed a 10-year ban by Fifa.
Meanwhile, Owino, who played for Kenya between 2008-2015, denied wrongdoing when Fifa announced in February that it wanted a full investigation into allegations that several Kenya internationals were fixed.
A detailed Fifa report said it had prima facie evidence that both Owino and Perumal conspired to influence the result of several Kenya internationals between 2009-2011, including a World Cup clash against Tunisia.
“We have received the ruling from Fifa but my lawyer is going to appeal,” Owino told BBC Sport.
Tchomogo represented Benin at three different Africa Cup of Nations tournaments – in 2004, 2008 and 2010 – but there is no suggestion that any games at these events were subject to attempted manipulation.
At the time of publication, none of the four Africans to have been sanctioned by Fifa had commented about their punishments.
In addition to the African quartet, Fifa also handed out life bans to former players from Afghanistan, Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago.

On Saturday 27th April, 2019 Sierra Leone will be celebrating its 58th Independence Anniversary since 1961.
Sierra Leoneans in and out of the country will reflect on how far we have come since we de-linked ourselves from the political yoke of our colonial British masters.
It will definitely be a trip down Memory Lane as we measure the gains we have made so far; and our lapses which should give us the impetus to chart the road map we need to roll-out to push the country forward.
On reflection, in 1961 the new nation known as Sierra Leone was born at the stroke of midnight, when it’s green, white and blue flag was unfurled. A huge crowd, gathered at the then Brookfields Playground in Freetown to watch the historic moment, which broke into tumultuous cheering. The changing of the colours happened on April 26, 1961, with the light of the British flag turned off at exactly 11.59pm and the flag of the new independent Sierra Leone unveiled for the first time at exactly 12 midnight.
Queen Elizabeth II sent her cousin, Prince Edward to stand in her stead. It was him that handed over the constitutional instruments to the then Sierra Leone Prime Minister, Sir Milton Margai, to tumultuous applause from the general public and representatives in Parliament.
This marked the Independence of our nation which formally began as the Duke of Kent handed over royal instruments recognizing Sierra Leone as an independent nation.
Since we became an autonomous nation much water has passed under the bridge with regard the socio-economic and political strides we have so far made. But it is an established fact that despite gaining independence from Britain via neo-colonialism, we were positioned to largely become heavily dependent on British aid.
This is understandable when cognisance is taken of the fact that the British are very interested in exploiting our resources which with all amount of certainty has contributed greatly to catapult them to a First World status and the trend still continues. The umbilical cord that they have diplomatically created has been made so subtle, clothed into giving us the impression that they are genuinely keen in deepening our diplomatic credentials and enhance socio-economic growth but the crux of the matter is that such an interest is bordered on blatant and outright exploitation.
However, we can objectively argue that if our political leaders that assumed political power after the era of the Post-Independence Prime Minister, Sir Milton Margai, have done this beautiful and resourceful country a disservice to the chagrin of the majority of Sierra Leoneans Authoritatively, we can claim that if this country was not somehow cursed with such leaders who were so subservient , always dancing to the tune of our former colonial masters, who manipulated them to suit their selfish aggrandisement, this country would not be in quagmire in which it is today.
Indeed, since we gained Independence it has not been all gloom and doom as indeed we have made some amount of progress on different fronts but the crux of the matter is that bad governance, greed, tribalism and institutionalized, massive corruption have all robbed this country of rising from the doldrums. It is really pathetic to say the least.
To make matters worse and reversing all the gains that we have made an internecine and senseless war reared up its ugly head decimating every facet of the country not to talk of the many lives it consumed leaving in its trail underdevelopment, misery and sorrow further plunging the country into the doldrums.
In celebrating our country’s 58th Independence Anniversary many are pessimistically asking the question: What should we really celebrate? This question keeps coming up from different quarters simply because the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans are wallowing in abject poverty finding it very difficult to make ends meet. The economy is currently in a mess as the dollar exchange rate to the Leone is skyrocketing nearly every week translating in inflation manifest in increases in the prices of basic commodities. Many are disillusioned, only hoping that things will change.
It can be said that there is indeed a glimmer of hope in the horizon as the current political dispensation under the leadership of President Julius Maada Bio is pursuing an ambitious New Direction policy geared towards overhauling what it referred to as an “inherited battered” economy. Indeed, we have witnessed the implementation of the Free Education program, a Single Treasury Account to eliminate leakages, a dogged anti-corruption stance, the deepening of women empowerment, taking a tough stance against violence against women, pursuing technology and innovation as well as luring direct foreign investments. Since the government is at an embryonic stage we cannot objectively conclude that it has not added value to us as an Independent State.
Building a sustainable human capital is very much paramount in the journey of a New Direction because when a nation has an enlightened populace there is every likelihood that we will make meaningful inroads to the development we are all aspiring for.
Of essence also, is to put premium on agriculture for self-sufficiency and exportation because the more we export, the more we will earn foreign exchange which will make the Leone very appreciable.
Youth empowerment must be seriously considered as they, the youth, form the bulk of the country’s population but majority of them are not gainfully engaged which has resulted into the surge of hooliganism, cliques and robbery. We need to make them more relevant to the country’s development trajectory and indeed they can be positively transformed.
As we celebrate, let us look back from how far we have come and make solid projections which we must patriotically, genuinely strive towards putting aside selfish interests greed in order to harness the resources we have been endowed with so that standards of living of the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans will improve remarkably. This should not be a matter of politics but must be a national crusade that we must win and indeed win us must.
Happy 58th Independence Anniversary to all and sundry. Sierra Leone will surely rise again!
And as we reflect, let us keep in mind our national anthem and let’s put the words into motion:
High we exalt thee, realm of the free;
Great is the love we have for thee;
Firmly united ever we stand,
Singing thy praise, O native land.
We raise up our hearts and our voices on high,
The hills and the valleys re-echo our cry;
Blessing and peace be ever thine own,
Land that we love, our Sierra Leone.
One with a faith that wisdom inspires,
One with a zeal that never tires;
Ever we seek to honour thy name,
Ours is the labour, thine the fame.
We pray that no harm on thy children may fall,
That blessing and peace may descend on us all;
So may we serve thee ever alone,
Land that we love, our Sierra Leone.
Knowledge and truth our forefathers spread,
Mighty the nations whom they led;
Mighty they made thee, so too may we
Show forth the good that is ever in thee.
We pledge our devotion, our strength and our might,
Thy cause to defend and to stand for thy right;
All that we have be ever thine own,
Land that we love, our Sierra Leone.