Twenty-one prophetic trumpet blasts at the Siaka Stevens stadium, on Syke Street, Brookfields, Freetown, will mark the end of the twenty-one days of national prayer and fasting, tonight, Friday, February 22nd 2019. This exercise was organised by the Body of Christ-SL, comprising over one-hundred and fifty churches from various denominations, in collaboration with the Revival Labour Prayer Group.
The essence of the prayer and fasting is to seek God for the ‘restoration of the nation’s glory, economic recovery, good governance and sustenance of the hard-earned peace, through repentance and pulling down of strongholds believed to be seated on the nation’s destiny’.
Being a national event over the years, the twenty one days of effective prayer and fasting yearly, commenced on February 1st and ends today, February 21st. Throughout the twenty one days, prayers were held three times daily on Redeemer Radio Network (RRN); in individual homes, and various churches across the country; ministered by the General Overseer of Faith Healing Bible Church-worldwide, Pastor Francis A.M Mambu-the architect behind the annual national event.
This year’s prayer and fasting brought together tens of thousands of citizens and noncitizens at the Siaka Stevens stadium, as part of the Worship Night, which starts at 8pm on Friday to dawn, an event that envelopes each year’s session; coinciding with a political turmoil that is coupled with three commissions of inquiries set up by the Sierra Leone People’s Party-led government, to investigate allegations of corruption on members of the former ruling All Peoples Congress Party, who have threatened to boycott the inquiries, describing them as kangaroo courts, for what the opposition party refers to as “inconsistent rules of evidence”.
Pastor Francis A.M Mambu says the Lord has ministered to him that strange minerals will soon be discovered in some parts of the country known for poverty, “and I am pretty sure that Sierra Leone will soon regain its glory, as many people would be coming to admire how we came about doing it as a nation”, he prophesied.

Contrary to insinuations and postings on Social Media that the former President, Ernest Bai Koroma has shares in the National Petroleum Company (NP), an investigation conducted by this writer renders all the allegations false and far from the truth. It was discovered that the former President does not have and never had any stake in the company.
In a bid to get to the truth of the matter, this writer engaged various stakeholders, staff and retired staff of the National Petroleum Company, who were privy to the negotiations prior to the privatization of the company in 1996. It was disclosed that prior to the privatization of the company, the petroleum companies were importing crude oil, which was being processed at the refinery and sold to consumers. This in effect meant that they had to source funds (Foreign Exchange) to import crude oil. However as the rate of the dollar rose and its apparent unavailability, queues were being seen at various petrol stations across the country as the companies lacked the necessary foreign exchange to import the oil.
It was also disclosed that during that period (from the 80s to the 90s) the companies stopped importing crude oil into Sierra Leone. They then folded up selling their shares to others who showed interest in the business. Shell was bought over by Safecon, Mobil bought over by Exxon and later Total, whilst British Petroleum sold its shares to the Government and other shareholders. 60% of British Petroleum shares was sold to the Government, whilst 40% was sold to the late Jamil Sahid Mohamed and Tony Yazbeck; the owners of Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC).
The World Bank got interested in Sierra Leone and looked into the petroleum product and advised for the setting up of a Petroleum Unit. It also advised the Government to privatize the company.
Staff wrote to the Ministry of Trade on their position on privatization. Their request was rejected and they were told to form a company. In a meeting held with PERDIC (the body empowered to deal with privatization and now called NCP) headed by Alfred Kandeh, members of staff of the company were briefed on the process of privatization and the opportunity they have to become shareholders of the new company. Workers were told they could use their severance packages (End of Service Benefits) from BP and buy the 55% of the shares of the Government and the balance 5% will be given to all workers working at the time. 35 of the 150 workers then opted to use their severance package to buy the 55% whilst the rest enjoyed the remaining 5%. The Leone Oil company was then born.
Leone Oil and other interested multi-national companies then placed their bids for the importation of refined fuel. In keeping with the local content policy guaranteed in the constitution, the local company, Leone Oil, won the bid, which was supervised by Arthur De Little, a management consulting firm appointed by the World Bank.
According to investigations, 4 companies bidded for the contract and prominent among them were Elf and Leone Oil. Having won the contract, the company was struggling to get foreign exchange to import refined fuel. They then contacted Addax an international supplier, which had the resources and the exposure in respect of forming a joint venture, which was called Petro-Leone. This became a storage company in which Leone Oil had unfettered access, whether foreign exchange is available or not. This arrangement saw the disappearance of queues on the country’s streets.
According to information got during investigation, Addax had an exposure of $60 million, the sort of exposure which no international company will accept (without any advance payment), or any bank in the country can do. It was further revealed that the jetty built in the 1970s and used by tankers supplying crude oil had been neglected after the refinery began to face challenges. In its dilapidated state it could only handle ten thousand metric ton tankers. Because of the bad state of the jetty many ship owners were reluctant to send their ships to off-load refined fuel and this difficulty was addressed in a negotiation with Petro Jetty (a 100% Addax owned company) and the government (Trade Ministry and State House) to build a state-of-the-art jetty that will accommodate 30 thousand metric ton tankers with the understanding that after recovering its investment, it will hand over the jetty to the Government. This agreement was ratified by Parliament and is with the Ministry of Finance.
All stakeholders and workers who bought the shares from the Government confirmed that the former President Ernest Bai Koroma never had a share in NP and that it is an indigenously owned company which is comprised of former workers of BP, who had used their end of service benefits to buy the shares sold to the Government by BP when the World Bank advised the Government to privatize the company.
Postulations that NP has a monopoly over the petroleum market are misleading as there are 4 Marketing Companies registered with the Petroleum Agency, marketing petroleum products in the country namely: NP SL LTD., Total SL LTD., Leonco SL LTD. 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 stated that if such a venture is frustrated the country will return to the former state of shortage of fuel and long queues will once more surface across the country.

The Lebanese Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Ambassador Brigitta Al Ojeil has been accused of flagrantly violating the labour and human rights laws of Sierra Leone. She is also being accused of abusing her diplomatic status, albeit she is a foreign diplomat representing the Government and People of Lebanon in Sierra Leone.
Long before her assignment to Sierra Leone, the Embassy had retained the services of Sierra Leonean workers to serve in various domestic capacities. The workers include Lansana Sesay and Anthony Kamara. They have both served the Embassy for over twenty years in different capacities.
The Calabash is reliably informed that these workers, Anthony Kamara and Lansana Sesay, have loyally served the Embassy all this while without any issues. They have received their salaries and other emoluments due them in the past on time. But this has changed when the current Ambassador assumed office.
“She would only pay us on the first week of the other month. Then on the 31st January, 2019 we were expecting to get our salaries for the month of January but we were not paid. We waited patiently until the 7th of February when we approached the Ambassador to ask for our January salary,” the workers disclosed.
They disclosed that the Ambassador took offence to this and responded very rudely, using invectives on them, to the extent that she used threatening remarks on their persons.
“She later ordered an OSD Personnel deployed at the Embassy to get us out of the Embassy,” they furthered.
It was reported that, after having failed to get the OSD’s cooperation to chase the workers, the Ambassador called on the Local Unit Commander of the Lumley Police Division, who came at once with a truck load of police officers and arrested the two workers on allegations of threatening to kill the Ambassador.
This, according to the workers, was never substantiated to the Police by any of the workers at the Embassy, as they were around when the incidence took place.
These poor Sierra Leonean workers, who were only asking for their one month salary and other benefits due them, were unlawfully detained by their own local Police Force for 24 hours at the Lumley Police station.
They were later transferred to the Criminal Investigations Department, where they also spent another twenty four hours and later released on bail upon representation by their solicitor, Mrs. Basita Michael.
Sources at the CID have told this medium that the Ambassador has failed to produce witnesses to corroborate her false claim against the workers; and she also vehemently refused to sign her own statement to the Police.
The workers are now on bail after being unlawfully detained for 48 hours. In fact, they are still to receive their entitlements from the Lebanese Ambassador.
The failure of the Lebanese Ambassador to honor the Embassy’s contractual commitment to the two Sierra Leonean workers constitutes a breach of the labour laws of Sierra Leone. This is even more grave and serious when it is being perpetrated by a foreign Embassy in Sierra Leone.
Does someone have to tell the Sierra Leone Police that it was their duty to protect the poor Sierra Leonean workers, who have a genuine case of not being paid for their services by the Embassy of Lebanon? This could not have precluded them from stopping the investigation into the allegation of threatening to kill the Lebanese Ambassador to Sierra Leone.
This medium will keep an eye on the matter at the Criminal Investigations Department. However, at the same time, we can have a swift action from the relevant authorities to ensure that these Sierra Leonean workers are promptly paid what is due them in their country of birth.
We are privy to a letter dated 14th February in which solicitors for the workers, Michael and Michael, have written to the Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, cataloguing a number of human rights abuses and labour breaches already suffered by their clients at the hands of the Lebanese Ambassador. The legal representatives are requesting for what is contractually due their clients for the past two decades.
The solicitors for the Embassy workers have urged the Director General’s office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take appropriate steps to investigate, what they have referred to as, the Ambassador’s abusive conduct and misuse of her diplomatic status. They encouraged the Director General to use his good office to ensure that the Embassy pays all entitlements due the workers.
“We also request that appropriate sanctions are imposed upon the Ambassador for not behaving according to the conduct befitting her office,” the solicitors concluded.
It is our hope that the Foreign Affairs Ministry will quickly nip the issue in the bud and promptly ensure that the workers are paid in full.

Barely days after the first round of elections on the 7th March 2018, which saw the two main political parties in the country, the All People’s Congress (APC) and the Sierra Leone People’s Party(SLPP) emerging as the two parties with the highest number of votes, yet lacking the threshold of 55% to clinch State Governance, some SLPP supporters went on the rampage on 15th March 2018, armed with knives and sticks attacking and mercilessly beating a well-known APC youth , Mohamed Jalloh, at his residence, rendering him unconscious.
According to family sources, Mohamed Jalloh had on several occasions complained of harassment from supporters of the SLPP whom he met at an entertainment centre. They had earlier threatened to kill him and only made real their threat after the first round of the election. The family members maintained that Mohamed Jalloh was visibly disturbed prior to the attack of 15th March 2018, as he was threatened most of the time along the street.
According to family members, on 14th February at a pub in Waterloo, whilst in the company of some of his friends and supporters of the then ruling party (the APC), Mohamed Jalloh was suddenly confronted by some youths of the SLPP party, who accused him of supporting a party that has ruined the country’s economy. They then identified themselves as SLPP and wore green T-shirts with the party’s logo printed on it. An argument ensued between them and these youths then threatened to deal with him. His colleagues then advised him to leave, which they did. They further explained that since that day, which was barely few weeks to the First round of the election slated for 7th March 2018, things changed for him. They vowed that anytime he steps out of his home, he will encounter this group of youths and they continually threatened to beat him up.
They went on to explain that on the night of 15th March 2018, after the announcement of the First Round elections results, in which both the APC and SLPP parties emerged as favorites for the second round election slated to take place in the next 2 weeks, this group of youths attacked their home. At about 3.00am in the morning, whilst sleeping at home they were all rudely awaken by heavy banging on the front door of the house and the SLPP youths broke open the door and forced their way into the house, wielding sticks, knives and cutlasses. They then pounced on him with sticks and knives and in the struggle that ensued he lost consciousness.
This writer managed to speak to Mohamed Jalloh whilst he was in the hospital. Reeling with pain, he managed to explain that he was attacked by some SLPP Youths who had been threatening him and lost consciousness during the attack. He further explained that when he woke up, he found himself in the hospital and realized that he had sustained several injuries. He then displayed his injuries, which included a knife cut on his elbow, a swollen right foot believed to be hit by a strong object, a swollen shoulder, which he remembered was when he was hit by a big stick by one of his assailants, a broken right arm and bruises all over his body.
Family members contacted later, when news of his escape from death reached this writer, said that after being discharged from the hospital, Mohamed went home and on the 3rd April 2018, the night before the announcement of the results of the second round, the same group of supporters threatened to deal with him after the announcement of the results. They stressed that they will teach him a lesson he will never forget in his life. This threat to his life and memories of the earlier attack, which left him hospitalized, they maintained, was the main reason for his disappearance. They disclosed that Mohamed told them of his decision to leave the house before the youths get there, as they were barely counting the minutes to the announcement. Whilst they were having this discussion, they heard the voices of a crowd of youths approaching their house, raining insult against their family. Upon this development, Mohamed hurriedly left the house through the back door, few minutes before they bulldozed their way into the house. Since he left that night, his whereabouts has not been known and attempts were made by the former assailants to get him in the nearby houses and bush, but to no avail and they swore to track him down. The family members maintained that their properties were vandalized and no action has been taken by the Police to give them justice.
Up to the time of going to Press, the family intimated that no contact has been established between them and Mohamed Jalloh.

Sierra Leoneans were taken aback, hugely surprised when the realization dawn that bread was not available on the market for sale. Hundreds of thousands of households were without bread across Freetown, as bakeries complain of sudden increase in the cost of flour.
Most Sierra Leoneans spend more of their meagre household income on bread and rice than any other food items, which is why the shortage of bread in the shops affected millions of people.
The crisis, which the Bakers’ Association is reported to have been caused by an unprecedented increase in the price of a bag of flour should have been foreseen by the Ministry of Trade, whose remit also covers the monitoring of consumer prices.

What is the cause of the sudden increase in cost of flour in Sierra Leone, when there has been no sudden hike in global price of wheat? Who are the importers of flour?
Is the Minister of Trade in constant liaison with the various wholesale and retail associations responsible for rice and flour supply to gather weekly if not daily market intelligence to avoid national crisis?
The availability and affordability of rice and bread in Sierra Leone is of national security, and this must be taken very seriously by Government.
It is quite shocking and beggars belief that bakeries should run short of flour so suddenly, without someone in Government not knowing this was going to happen.
If the Ministry responsible is not up to the job of monitoring market trends of basic food items in the country and plan quickly to avert national crisis, then President Bio must urgently establish a Market Intelligence Unit at State House that will carry out this task and report directly to the President or Vice President for any necessary action.

Granted that the Government has only been in power for just under twelve months, but it’s important that rice, bread and butter issues are given the utmost priority, to ensure that an already poverty-stricken population do not continue to suffer unnecessarily.
There is little doubt the NEW Direction is the RIGHT DIRECTION, after ten miserable years of poor governance and mismanagement of the country by the previous Government. But eleven months in power is too short a time for Ministers to begin to take their eyes off the ball. There is no place for slothfulness in governance.
Rice, bread and butter issues are matters of national security. If those charged by the president to help manage the economy are not pulling their weight, then soon there could be call for cabinet reshuffle – real and meaningful cabinet reshuffle to weed out slothful Ministers.
The proposed Market and Economic Intelligence Unit’s sole responsibility must be to monitor, assess and evaluate daily changes in market demand and supply – especially monitor stocks of traders and prices of basic consumer items, and plan quickly to avert national crises.
Let common sense prevail.

It is getting to one year since the Sierra Leone People’s Party won a momentous Presidential election that brought it to power in April.
At the time, expectations were very high among a population burdened by poverty, unemployment and inflation that the Promised Land of milk and honey would be reached sooner than later.
Whilst the nation generally welcomes the Government’s determination to fight corruption, the majority who continue to live on less than the proverbial two dollars a day have slowly lost hope that the Promised Land would be reached sooner than later.
The greatest headache the poor who make more than 70% of both the urban and rural population face is ever escalating price of basic essential commodities in the market; more especially the cost of food. Can’t the Government see that the same Lebanese and Indian Mafia clan that has held the nation to high prices since the liberalization of the Salone market in the 1970s still continue to hold the poor to ransom by buying cheap from overseas and at high discounts and fixing prices to rob the poor? Lately they have been joined by the Nigerians.
These days, the harsh reality is that many poor families can no longer afford to put a square meal on the table. It is a shame and disgrace to see many urban families in the poor parts of the city living on low calorie “cookery” simply because they cannot afford Le10, 000, Le15, 000 or Le20, 000 to go to market every day.
As such, the expectation of the ordinary man and woman was that the New Direction Government should have placed greater premium on solving the bread and butter crisis sooner than later.
The importers and traders have pinpointed the problem and informed the Ministry of Finance accordingly: that as long as port charges remain high, they cannot help the Government to bring relief to the poor by way of reduced prices.
The reality should not be lost on the Government. Many businesses are folding up simply because there are no buyers – no buyers because the greater part of the population have very little disposable income.
Take for example the price of flour. Bakers complain that the price of a bag of flour has gone up above Le300, 000. This caused bakers to protest by not baking bread.
The fundamental dynamics of the economy has to be revisited; in the sense that if this Government depends too much on taxation ad forgets that it has a fundamental obligation to feed its people cheaply; it has a big problem coming that it will be able to handle.
Another issue facing the poor is that of transportation; especially the cost of transporting goods to and from the provinces. Transport cost affects every other price in the market. Instead of a bridge, maybe the Government should have thought first of a railway that links the capital city with the provinces; with a view specifically to drastically reducing the cost of moving goods and passengers which will definitely have a big impact on the economy and its growth and development.
Another issue that vexes the youths is that every day they are graduating from schools, colleges and universities without the economy expanding significantly to incorporate them into the workforce.
The private sector alone can provide new jobs; yet to say the truth, what are the incentives that are there for inspiring the private sector; in particular the availability of cheap capital that will enable them to invest in the lucrative but untapped sectors of the economy?
Everybody who does business with the existing banks complain that interest rates in this country are too high for anybody to borrow money to go into large scale farming and industrial activities.
The only way the Government can help the private sector to become an active partner in creating new jobs is for the Government to borrow from the international finance markets and set up specialized trade, commerce, agriculture and industrial banks with very low interest rates and long term repayment schedules with reasonable grace periods for the new businesses that will be established to start making profit.
Meanwhile, let the SLPP Government not be fooled: Like former President Koroma’s Government, if it fails to deal adequately with the pressing existential issues that affect the livelihood and wellbeing of the majority that continue to live on less than two dollars a day, the youths will rebel against them in the ballot box, come 2023; regardless of whatever impressive gains the Government makes on all other development fronts the reality remains that a hungry man, woman or child is an angry person – always.
Lonta.

The City is honored to host Mr Michael Boulware Moore, CEO of the International African American Museum (IAAM) and his team as Freetown and Charleston share multiple links dating back to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Bunce Island in Sierra Leone was the site where Sierra Leonean captives’ feet touched African soil for the last time and Gadsden Wharf in Charleston was the site where over 90% of those captives’ feet touched American soil for the first time.

Mr. Moore has traced his personal ancestry to Sierra Leone through DNA testing and so his visit also has tremendous personal significance.

The Freetown City Council, together with other major stakeholders in tourism, will collaborate with the Charleston City Council and IAAM to harness the benefits of the historical and cultural ties between the two cities, creating a bridge for those whose ancestors left Bunce Island hundreds of years ago, to return home.

As Freetown and Charleston develop our city twinning relationship, this initiative supports the Mayor’s efforts to drive job creation in Freetown through tourism.

Disaster awaits the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), if President Bio does not tackle the growing instability caused by the Prince Harding and Batilo Songa leadership war. The ruling SLPP is confronted with a lot of challenges that are now shaking the fundamental unity of the party, and potentially poised to destroy its credibility and undo all that President Bio is achieving for the country.
All this while, I have kept sealed lips but now is the time to speak truth to power, so that peaceful and lasting solutions are promptly brought to the altar to end this insanity.
The SLPP came to power in March 2018, after winning one of the most fiercely contested and controversial elections in the county since independence. Its Presidential candidate Julius Maada Bio was pilloried and scorned during the elections campaign, yet sailed through to occupy the most sacred seat of the land – the Presidency. That was almost a year ago.
Eleven months on, all is not well in the SLPP and getting worse as an internecine war for the leadership of the party – between the National Organising Secretary Jimmy Batilo Songa and the Chairman and Leader – Dr. Prince Alex Harding (now bitter enemies) is poised to destabilise the party.
The SLPP is currently facing two main challenges: Inter-party division and Governance.
Inter-party division
Whilst in opposition, the deep rooted internal conflict besieged and bedevilled the effective management of the party as a united political party waiting to take over governance.
It all started after the August 1, 2011 National Delegates Conference held at the Miatta Conference Center, Freetown. Despite the fact that all 19 flagbearer aspirants pledged their support to the winner, the hatred for Rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio intensified beyond comprehension.
Since then, instability has become an inseparable companion of the SLPP and not a day passes without new threat of political tribulation.
The SLPP is not even a year old in governance and the youths are now on each other’s throat for the Chairman and Leadership position.
I totally condemn the chaos that took place last Saturday 16 February 2019 at the party’s headquarters in Freetown that led to the cancellation of the party’s National Executive Council meeting.

If prompt action by the President is not enforced, there is likelihood that the power struggle between Jimmy Batilo Songa and Prince Alex Harding could destabilise the country. This threat is real and immediate, because one cannot divorce party politics from national governance.
Batilo and the SLPP party youths
National Organising Secretary – Batilo, is making inroads in his appeal to the hearts and minds of the SLPP stalwarts and the grassroot youths because the current Chairman and Leader – Prince Harding, has practically abandoned the party Secretariat and by extension his duties.
Batilo is well known to have successfully served as Chairman of the SLPP for the UK/Ireland branch for two terms, before coming home to help President Bio win the elections. But he is not a radical political strategist like Prince Harding.
The political tension Batilo is fuelling is wrong and his supporters are in a rush to drive Prince Harding away from the party – especially its leadership.
After last Saturday’s commotion at the party’s office in Freetown, Batilo did not issue a statement condemning what took place, but rather went on to demand that, “Prince Harding must go.”
I will not dwell on the ugly occurrences among youth groups supporting Batilo and how they chased away those believed to be supporting Prince Harding.
Batilo is not happy about his perceived role of Prince Harding, which he believes is undermining his authority and hijacking the functions of the National Women’s Leader and her Deputy.
The difference between Batilo and Prince Harding is that the latter is desperate to give a meaning to the lives of the SLPP grassroots members. He is out there making sure that the SLPP youths are employed.
Prince Harding and NATCOM
Prince Harding is a seasoned politician who promised victory for his party at the 2018 elections; and he strategically fulfilled that promised. He lost the SLPP National Secretary General position to JJ Saffa, who had left his job at the World Bank in 2005 to become an active politician.
He later became the Deputy Chairman and went on to launch an internal revolution in the party aimed at deposing former chairman and leader – Chief Somano Kapen.
It is alleged that Prince Harding brought unknown persons from elsewhere to guard him and secure the party’s headquarters yesterday, instead of allowing the party’s youths to do so. He caused the unfortunate incident yesterday by not communicating with Batilo to execute his own duties ahead of the NEC meeting.
Prince Harding has a very quintessential role in the effective functioning of the party, but he is no longer playing that role. He has alienated himself from the youths and some executive members who supported him against Dr. Morie Manyeh – the current Mines Minister.
Prince Harding’s insistence on becoming the Board Chairman of NATCOM was a wrong and untimely decision. Since his appointment he has become difficult to reach by the party’s youths who are struggling to gain employment.
This is the sad reality. He is responsible for the current declining state of the SLPP.
Governance and the SLPP
SLPP is not only a political party but an institution, according to Dr. Peter Tucker in his book, ‘History and Philosophy of the SLPP’. The institutional aspect is a challenge. What must be accepted is that without SLPP there is no ‘New Direction’.
SLPP is the vehicle used for the effective leadership Sierra Leoneans are enjoying today. President Bio should know that all is not well in his party and that the youths are deeply unhappy.
Life is difficult for the majority of SLPP youths. Some are being mocked because those who are to seek their interest have become a complete disappointment.
Dr. Abass Bundu, current Speaker of the House of Parliament once said, “we shall make the administration of the SLPP no longer a one-man show, it is a collective leadership.”
Amidst the high unemployment rate and battered economy inherited by the New Direction administration, the SLPP youths are now suffering the brunt of that inheritance. This trend must change. Time for effective action is now
Those who are to provide the jobs are closing their doors and the party’s leadership is not helping the situation. Where is the SLPP National Secretary General, Napoleon Koroma?
Napoleon and Prince Harding are two highly important personalities in the SLPP and their absence is opening a huge gap.
Mr. President, the SLPP youths sacrificed their lives for you to succeed at the 2018 elections, and it is time to put some smile on their faces. Act now before you allow the rivalry for Chairman and Leader position to fragment the party and deepen the injury in the hearts of our youths.
President Bio is still struggling to get the right team, but just like he bulldozed the APC, he should stoutly bulldoze those detractors in the SLPP who are undermining the peace and stability of the party and the nation in general. Hope President Bio is listening.
Our president should not continue to give deafening ears to a problem that will affect the smooth running of the state. He must summon an immediate meeting as Fountain of Honour because the SLPP youths made him what he is today.
President Bio must now be ready to take tough decisions against anything that will undermine his New Direction government and undo all that he has achieved for the country. I therefore urge president Bio to act tough to save the credibility and image of the SLPP party.

The Tony Elumelu Foundation, the leading African-funded and founded philanthropy committed to empowering African entrepreneurs, has announced its last call for applications into its prestigious 2019 Entrepreneurship Programme. The application portal launched on the 1st of January 2019 to close on the 1st of March, 2019.

Selected beneficiaries will join 4,470 current alumni and will receive $5,000 seed capital, access to mentors, bespoke training and numerous opportunities to impact policies at the local and global level.

Open to African entrepreneurs from the 54 African countries, the Entrepreneurship Programme accepts business ideas as well as existing businesses with less than 3 years of experience in all sectors of the economy. It has been commended as one of the few accelerator-type programmes that encourage viable businesses at idea stage that can demonstrate potential to scale, generate revenue and create employment opportunities.

A 10-year, $100 million commitment to identify, train, mentor and fund 10,000 African entrepreneurs, the Programme’s objective is to generate at least 1,000,000 new jobs and create at least $10 billion in new business revenue across Africa.

Some of the success stories from the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme include Mama Moni, founded by Nkem Okocha, a fintech social enterprise that provides loans to women in rural communities in Nigeria; founded by Martin Ruga, Desserts Anyone, a chocolate processing enterprise in Kenya was built from scratch and with the infusion of the capital from the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, the business now serves over two tonnes of chocolate to over 50,000 consumers; founded by Abiodun Adereni, Help Mum, a Nigerian based enterprise that provides low-cost birth kits to prevent child and maternal mortality recently won the first ever Google Nigeria Impact Challenge and has attracted additional capital investments; iMed Tech, founded by Nneile Nkholise, innovates in the med- tech space in South Africa by using technology to create breast prostheses for women with breast cancer; in Egypt, Ahmed Abbas founded Sun City that provides mobile solar pumps for small farmers. Additionally, six of Tony Elumelu Foundation entrepreneurs were recognised on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, among many other achievements, some have been appointed on the boards of global companies, government and developmental institutions, influencing policies at various levels.
The Programme is inspired by Tony Elumelu’s economic philosophy of Africapitalism and his vision to institutionalise luck and democratise opportunity for a new generation of African entrepreneurs. Applications will be judged based on criteria including feasibility, scalability and potential for growth of the product/service; market opportunity for the idea/business; financial understanding, leadership potential and entrepreneurial skills.

Applicants can apply on TEFConnect – www.tefconnect.com – the largest digital networking platform for African entrepreneurs.

Myohaung Officers’ Mess, Wilberforce, Freetown 18 February 2019 His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio and Commander-in-Chief of The Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, RSLAF, has announced new measures meant to improve conditions of service of the serving and ex-servicemen in the country.

“As I have said, your service and sacrifice are unique; your dedication and loyalty, exemplary. It therefore gives me great pleasure to announce a number of immediate interventions to improve the conditions of service of all serving and retired men of the RSLAF who honourably served and are serving their nation.

“Terms and Conditions of Service (TACOS) – Starting this year, members of the RSLAF will benefit from the enhanced salary pay, which has also been rolled out to all public sector service workers. Henceforth, your annual leave allowances will be normalised to reflect your gross pay. This is in recognition of the unique nature of your service to this nation,” he said.

President Bio further stated that under the New Direction, the previous amount paid to the RSLAF as ‘Monthly Running Costs’ (MRC) and ‘Rations Cash Allowances’ (RCA) had been reviewed, adding that his Government had concluded that the previous amounts paid to soldiers were insufficient to support their welfare and other needs.

“Furthermore, in support of your well-being, I have also authorised the recommendation that the MRC of the Joint Medical Unit (JMU) be increased by 100%. This increased budget allocation to the Joint Medical Unit will facilitate the maintenance of hospital equipment, and other undertake infrastructural improvements in support of your welfare.

“Furthermore, the provision of adequate housing facilities for all service personnel and their families is still a strong priority of my government. This plan will incorporate the rebuilding of Wilberforce Barracks. I also encourage the military leadership to take strong action in evicting illegal occupants off military property as a matter of urgency. Once this is complete, we would review the stabilised situation and plan in a purposeful way how to cater for adequate housing,” he added.

The Commander-in-Chief also announced that the Defence Council had approved the transformation of the RSLAF into a Tri-Service organisation with a separate but unified Army, Navy, and Air Force that would be implemented as part of the government’s long-term strategic goal to commence within the next five years.

“Alongside this, we also plan to develop and properly resource the RSLAF’s specialist units such as the Armed Forces Agricultural Units (AFAU), Engineer Regiment (Engr Regt), Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (EME), the Armed Forces Technical and Education College (AFTEC), the Joint Medical Unit (JMU), and the Tailoring Unit. This will help each of the specialist units to develop their capacities in order to support food security, skills and human capital development, construction, and to generate revenue for the military. These specialist units will also be particularly strengthened and capacitated to contribute towards disaster and emergency relief interventions,” he said.

He thanked the UK government, through the International Security and Advisory Team (ISAT), adding that he had already sanctioned the special female recruitment drive into the force. He also acknowledged the invaluable interventions of the Government of the People’s Republic of China and, in particular, for providing a grant of 50 million Chinese Yuan equivalent of 7.3 Million United States Dollars.

“My aim is for our women to constitute 25% of the Army in line with best practices all over the world. This recruitment drive begins to close the gender gap and opens up possibilities for women to serve their country as proud and distinguished members of our armed forces,” he said, adding that based on recommendations by their commanders and endorsed by their Chief of Defence Staff, he had confirmed a number of promotions that recognised meritorious and outstanding service.

“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I have had the distinguished honour to serve in the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces. I feel, know, and recognise the stresses and hardships of military service. I am delighted to be here today both as our country’s democratically-elected President and as a man who proudly served in our Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces,” he said.