Murder Suspect Fails To Appear In Court in Sierra Leone

August 8, 2019

By Karifa Sawaneh

Kallie Thoronka, a resident of Alikalia Town in the Koinadugu District, is reported to have disappeared from the township on the 6^th September 2017, after notice was issued by the Sierra Leone Police in the District on allegation of stabbing of one Amadu Sawaneh in Koinadugu district, who is said to have died later from his wounds.

According to the investigating officer in Kabala Town, Salifu Kamara, when the accused, Kallie Thoronka, heard that he is wanted by the police, he escaped from the district. He further disclosed that during their investigation of an alleged murder by the suspect, a team of investigators, led by him visited the scene of crime in Alikalia Town, where they discovered the body of Amadu Sawaneh (the victim) lying on the street. The body has wounds on the eyes and blood smeared over the victim’s head. The police officers then took photos of the scene and details about Kallie Thoronka from the Town Chief. After getting details from the Chief, they then took the corpse to the district head quarter town hospital.

However, according to one eye witness, Tamba Marah, who was also a member of a Secret Society (Nyenne Society), Kallie Thoronka had returned from Freetown, where he had lost his immediate Family members to the Mudslide that hit Freetown on the 14^th August 2017 and was staying with his uncle, Ferenk Thoronka, in the township. Adding that after staying with him for some time, his Uncle, Ferenk Thoronka, asked Kallie to join the Nyenne Society in the Township, but he refused to join them.

Explaining how the incident happened, another eye witness by the name of Foday Sawanneh, told this writer that Kallie Thoronka was in a room in Alikalia Town when a group of young men appeared, singing and dancing Society songs.

The witness further stated that Kallie, who does not understand the tradition and had refused to join the Society, opened his room window to enquire what was going on and in a matter of seconds, before he could close the window, bolt his door and hide, other members of the society had already seen him and immediately rushed into the room, kicking the door open.

Foday Marah further stated that members of the society who were outside began performing some ceremonies with the aim of forcefully initiating Kallie immediately he is brought out of the room. He disclosed that a serious scuffle ensued between Kallie and the other members who were in the room.

With tears in his eyes, he said that during the fighting between Kallie Thoronka and the group of society men in the room, Kallie stabbed one of the society men, who incidentally happened to be his close friend. “That is my close friend,” Foday said. He maintained that after an hour of fighting and into the compound, Kallie managed to escape and has since then not been seen in the Village.

The head of the police investigating team, Salifu confirmed to this Press that the murder case is still under serious investigation and a Warrant of Arrest has been put out for Kallie Thoronka plus a bounty or ransom for any information leading to his arrest.

Female Parliamentary Caucus in Sierra Leone Presents Fact-finding Report and Recommendations to President Julius Maada Bio

August 7, 2019

By Yusif Keketoma Sandi – 7^th August 2019

Sierra Leone Members of the Female Parliamentary Caucus have met with His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio to present recommendations from their visit to Parliaments in the East African countries of Kenya and Rwanda on Tuesday 6th August, 2019 at State House, Freetown.

Presenting the report of their benchmarking exercise at State House, President of the Female Parliamentary Caucus, Honourable Veronica Kadie Sesay, said the recommendations were products of the relentless efforts of the Caucus to support President Bio’s 2018 Elections Manifesto to the women of Sierra Leone.

She said the report pushed for the need to amend Section 74 of Act No.6 of the 1991 Constitution to include a new sub-section that would provide for two women Members of Parliament for each district who, subject to the provisions of the Constitution, shall be elected in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law.

The Member of Parliament, representing Constituency 094 in the Moyamba District, continued that Government should develop programs to ensure that political, economic and socio-cultural factors that impede women’s participation in public life were addressed. She said they had also recommended for the amendment of the section of the Constitution dealing with resignation from public office from twelve to six months for women aspirants before elections, including other sections or provisions that limit women’s equal representation and effective participation at levels of public decision making.

“Government should review the country’s laws and policies to make room for corrective action with land reforms vis-a-vis women’s equal right to land ownership, retention and distribution. It should establish a campaign fund for women in politics, make resources available to women and girls to enhance their skills and prepare them for service and establish a National Women’s Council,” she added.

In his response, President Bio said he was pleased to see women taking the bold step to champion issues relating to their welfare. He said he was particularly concerned with women’s issues because women play important role in nation-building, adding that it would be a lip service to talk about development without including women, considering the fact they constitute the majority of the country’s population.

He disclosed that he had worked on a few of the submissions in terms of gender-based violence, especially as it related to rape. He noted that the declaration of a State of Emergency on rape was a way of protecting innocent girls that were being violated. He said he would look into the recommendations and discuss them within the framework of governance and assured of his continued support to women’s issues.

CAN Sierra Leone On Emergency Response Exercise in affected communities

August 7, 2019

By Foday Moriba Conteh – 7^th August 2019

On Saturday 3rd August 2019, the Citizens Advocacy Network (CAN) in collaboration with Office of National Security (ONS), Freetown City Council, Western Area Rural District Council, Democracy Sierra Leone and other local and international non – governmental organizations has undertaken an Emergency Response Exercise in communities that were adversely affected by the torrential downpour of rain on the 2nd August 2019.

Speaking to this medium in an interview, the Executive Director of Citizens Advocacy Network (CAN), Thomas Moore Conteh, disclosed that as an organization that has been working tremendously to promote the ideals of human right, the rule of law and good governance in our beloved country, they decided to join the initiative of undertaking an Emergency Response Exercise in the affected communities, adding that this exercise is to access the level of damage caused by the heavy rain of 2^nd August which claimed the lives of seven (7) people and the loss of properties.

He said that they visited Hamilton village, No.2, Mile 13 and its environs, where, according to him, the living conditions of inhabitants is unbearable, especially ‘San San Ground’ – Hamilton village, which he said is pathetic, as during their visit he realised that there are still people in the Western Area who live in mud and thatched houses, which he said is a human right concern.

He admonished the people living in those disaster prone areas to relocate to safer places until the rains cease, as their lives are at great risks.

He further called on the government and its partners to take robust, but reasonable actions in order to evacuate people living in disaster prone areas; he also called on the Freetown City Council, and the central government to improve on the flood mitigation project.

Marcus Bangura, Executive Director Democracy Sierra Leone, who was part of the team, disclosed that the state of Hamilton village is very deplorable, as he cannot imagine people living in those places.
He then called on the international community, the government and other human right organizations to put hands on deck in order to relocate these people living in disaster prone areas, as this is a very serious human right concern.

He encouraged people living in those areas, to migrate to safer locations in order to prevent further flood disaster in those communities.

Ibrahim Turay, a resident at Hamilton village, said that they have been living in San San Grun community for over 20 years, but said they are faced with lots of challenges as the community is deplorable.

He called on government to find possible ways in order to relocate them to safer places as their lives are at risk.

Death Trap Road Threatens Leicester Residents in Sierra Leone

August 7, 2019

By Alim Jalloh – 7^th August 2019

The current condition of Leicester Road to Komboh, Central Freetown, behind Albert Academy and Muslim Brotherhood schools is not only deplorable but a death trap.

At the moment, many people are trapped indoors, especially the elderly, pupils and the handicapped. The road has been neglected for many years by successive governments in spite of the fact that the community is inhabited by thousands of people, with the population estimated at over 800,000 (eight hundred thousand), including school children, who ply the route daily.

This is an emergency for which the people are kindly requesting and appealing to their new government, headed by President Julius Maada Bio to help and redeem them from this catastrophe and bondage as even 4-wheel drive vehicles cannot traverse the road.

It must be underscored that thousands of Roman Catholics are using this road every year on their pilgrimage from the Albert Academy to the Saint Paul’s Major Seminary at Regent but yet still the road has not been fixed.

Although a few residents in the community have invested funds into the youths to fix the road, the majority of residents in the community are not committed to the project.

However, motorbike riders who ply the route have been repairing the road over the years and without them the road would not have been motorable.

Others attribute the complacency to fix the road to political inaction.

The Bike Riders Association Chairman, Gbassay and some of his members revealed in an interview at Model Junction that a Mr. Cecil Lawrence Samba who resides in the community is one of those sincerely committed to the overall development of the area highlighting his numerous contributions to the development of dropout youths, job creation and fixing the road.

They also lamented that the community lacks a medical center, recreational and socialization centers and extremely poor water supply facility among the other challenges affecting them and appealed to government to swiftly come to their aid.

They reiterated that their major challenge is the road, asserting that the government that would fix the road need not campaign them in any election.

Twin Sisters Make Sierra Leone Proud Abroad

August 7, 2019

By Dauda Bangura – 7^th August 2019

Two Sierra Leonean twin girls have made their parents and country proud by excelling academically at the global stage. In 2015, Martha Soko and Mary Digba Tetema Tondoneh took the Basic Examination Certificate Examination (BECE) at the Modern High School, Brookfields in Freetown and scored aggregate 8.

In fact, Martha Soko Tetema Tondoneh had maintained an excellent scorecard as she came first throughout from Class 1 to Senior Secondary School 3.

While attending the Universal World College in Tel Aviv, Israel Martha Soko Tetema Tondoneh wrote a project on the challenges of Ebola survivors in Sierra Leone with special reference to those suffering from eyesight diseases for which she received $1,000 (one thousand dollars) to help 200 Ebola survivors with eyesight difficulties and she is now working with the Sierra Leone Association of Ebola Survivors to identify the 200 beneficiaries for which she has procured the eye medicines.

At 17 years, both Martha Soko and Mary Digba Tetema Tondoneh respectively applied for the Universal World College (UWC) scholarships awarded to adolescents between the ages of 16-18 who excel academically worldwide. Upon graduation they are placed in renowned universities globally.

Students in various parts of the world apply for the same scholarship and after a vigorous screening, interview and examination conducted by the UWC National Committee in Sierra Leone at the British Council Hall, Tower Hill in Freetown, Martha Soko and Mary Digba Tetema Tondoneh emerged victorious in first and second positions respectively among the about 5 applicants in Sierra Leone.

However, one of the criteria of UWC is that two applicants from the same biological parents cannot benefit from the scholarship and therefore the applicant who came third was awarded the scholarship.

This discouraged Mary Digba Tetema Tondoneh who refused to go without her twin sister, a development that swiftly mobilized and ignited debate among the family to find the way out.

The elder brother of the twin sisters, who is a medical doctor in America, immediately went into action in search of a scholarship for Mary Digba Tetema Tondoneh that landed her at the Eastern Mediterranean International School (EMIS) in Israel from where she was interviewed online and excelled although her parents have to pay part tuition fees.

EMIS, with the motto, ‘To Make Education a Force for Peace and Sustainability in the Middle East’, is the feeder school to prestigious universities like Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and admits students from all over the world who study online.

Martha Soko and Mary Digba Tetema Tondoneh departed home in early August last year for Israel and Chaghun Province in China separately to study bio-chemistry and will graduate in March 2020. The two schools have the same recognition and facilities.

Mary Digba Tetema Tondoneh is the only black at EMIS and she is quoted in the college’s brochure as saying that “EMIS is not just a place for learning. It is a journey. A journey that challenges you to be the best you can be and see the world in a whole new dimension.”

This medium interviewed various stakeholders who appealed to the Ministry of Higher and Technical Education to formulate a policy to assist students who excel abroad underscoring that this should be a wakeup call for the Ministry.

Fixing the Exchange Rate in Sierra Leone is not Like Fixing a Broken Car

August 7, 2019

By Beresford Taylor – 7^th August 2019

Economists will tell you that the exchange rate is the heartbeat of any economy. Like the economy, heart beat changes as a result of factors external to the heart and not by the heart changing its size.

At least everybody agrees the economy of Sierra Leone is challenged, the exchange rate included and has been so since the outbreak of EVD in 2014.

As part of his primary responsibility, the Governor and the Bank of Sierra Leone manages the exchange rate, pretty much like a doctor will the treatment of hypertension. However, the doctor can provide the solution but its success is a factor of several other factors one of which is the patient’s own life style.

The Bank of Sierra Leone and its Governor has made it abundantly clear that the exchange rate is a factor of demand and supply. There is no magic except we; as a country, can generate foreign exchange; it cannot be printed by the Governor or indeed the government. Imagine the economy of Sierra Leone as a bucket and foreign exchange as sea shells.

To fill your bucket with sea shells you have to first find them. You can fill you bucket to its capacity if you can locate as much shells. In economics the currency for locating these shells are what you can sell to others in exchange.

Now here is the challenge, the economic bucket needs to be filled with things others need for them to give you shells. However you may get shells as gift from other people visiting, etc. You may drop shells into your bucket if you sell things to others. If you have your beaches awash with shells you can pick them up and drop into your bucket. In most cases you need to know how to locate them. This is the same as mining for gold and ore, except you have the technical capacity they are worthless to your economy.

Sierra Leone cannot generate much shell because we are not offering much to others to buy. Yet we want much more from others. So we take from the few shells we have. Without the sea or the beach can Sierra Leone make shells? The answer is no. we have to go find shells. The solutions of the central bank are simple, we will keep the few shells we have for the most important day in our lives – the rainy day and allow others to sell the few shells they have to those who want them and are willing to pay.

However, if the market gives the shells to those that do not buy anything from others outside or keep the shells so that those who need to buy things outside the economy cannot get them then the number of shells available for servicing the things we need and cannot produce will drop even further. To fix the problem we should rethink how we use the shells we have and how we can fill our bucket with more shells.

So here is the story, if we find dollars by increasing local production and export, more dollars will be available in the market to allocate, then supply will meet more demand and therefore fewer people will look for more dollars, the exchange rate will depreciate. If we stop spending the few dollars received in country from donors and remittances, on local transactions, such as rent, car prices etc. then there will be more dollars to service our imports of medicine, machinery and food stuff. Therefore, if the number of people and services needing dollars appreciate then the market will allocate the available dollars the way it knows best, more Leones for fewer dollars.

Now what should Sierra Leone do? First the central bank: the central bank cannot print dollars nor can it produce goods and services for export. Secondly, the central bank cannot make people stop spending the fewer dollars available in the economy the relevant authorities should. So even if a former chairman of the Federal Reserve board is appointed governor of the bank of Sierra Leone he will not change the situation for Sierra Leone.

So what can the bank of Sierra Leone do? The Governor has said severally that exchange rate depreciation will occur once Sierra Leone’s economy starts exporting. This means increased productivity and export in the mining, agriculture and manufacturing sectors. In the meantime, the central bank has said Sierra Leone should conserve the foreign exchange available, stop spending what is available on local transactions or saving fiduciary resources in foreign exchange and not the Leone

This means, the country, should work harder to increase productivity and export, enforce the laws relating to the use of foreign exchange in local transactions and save in the local currency

This is a simplistic explanation but it shows that the Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone has been doing what ought to be done under the current circumstances and how astute he is in terms of his knowledge of economics and finance. The fluctuation in the exchange rate is caused not by the central bank adjusting the amount of foreign exchange in the market but by factors highlighted above and others external to the economy of Sierra Leone.

UNFPA, NYS Train Youth Corps in Bo & Lunsar in Sierra Leone

August 7, 2019

Corps members at the Lunsar Baptist Convention hall

By Elkas Sannoh – 7^th August 2019

With support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the National Youth Service (NYS) has embarked on capacity building training on sexual reproductive health and rights and the demographic dividend.

The training started in Freetown with over fifty graduate corps and has been cascaded to the provinces to enrich their knowledge and further encourage the corps members to become ambassadors in their respective communities.

It could be recalled that in September, 2018 the Vice President Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh inaugurated the first batch of 200 national youth graduate corps at the Peace Keeping Military Training Center at Rogbangba, Hastings in the east end of Freetown.

The graduate corps was deployed across the country after completing their 21 days rigorous training in fulfilment of the NYS scheme.

In his opening remarks in Bo at the District Council hall, the NYS Director of Communications, Elkass Sannoh, said the graduate corps is a living testament in fulfilling the dream of the country’s first Prime Minister, Sir Milton Margai. According to him, the enrollment of the first batch has proved that patriotism is alive.

He said the NYS history cannot be complete without them, adding that their sacrifices and selfless dedication can hardly be forgotten.

In his Power Point presentation on Demographic Dividend, the NYS Director of Programme, Recruitment and Training-Sylvester A. Bewie, said demographic dividend occurs when the working age population (15-64) is greater than the non-working age population. He added that harnessing the full potential of young people can make change happen quickly.

According to him, to achieve the country’s demographic dividend we need more people to be empowered, educated and employed.

He catalogued the four pillars of the demographic dividend as employment and entrepreneurship, education and skills development, health and well-being, rights, governance and youth empowerment.

In Lunsar, Northern part of the country, the District Health Management Team, Sister-Zainab Kamara-Bah, spoke on the national strategy for the reduction of adolescent pregnancy and child marriage.

The DHMT sister affirmed that the strategy is to fulfill the needs of young people for a brighter future. She disclosed that adolescent pregnancy and child marriage pose a dire threat to girls. She went further to state that preventing young girls from realizing their full potential in all aspects of development is another challenge.

She informed that despite government’s efforts to tackle these issues, through the establishment of a National Secretariat for the Reduction of Teenage Pregnancy in May, 2013 and the development of the National Strategy for the Reduction of Teenage Pregnancy in 2013 to 2015 yet the Government needs to do more.

She said adolescent pregnancy and child marriage are inextricably linked, adding that in many cases, child marriage is a driver of early pregnancy.

Sister Kamara-Bah quoted the First Lady, Mrs. Fatima Maada Bio who said that child marriage is wrong and must end at once.

One of the participants, Ishmael Kamara, with call-up number 151 said apart from the capacity building training which has positively impacted him, the NYS has served as a vehicle for national cohesion in the country.

He said even though he hailed from the North, his stay in the South has not been influenced by any negative factor such as tribalism.

Speaking on Gender Based Violence, the Communications Specialist from the Rainbow Center, Agatha Levi defined gender based violence as any act that is perpetrated against a person’s will and is based on gender norms and unequal power relationships. She further averred that this act can be physical, emotional, psychological or sexual in nature, and can take the form of a denial of resources or access to services.

She said gender based violence is prevalent in every society and is often experienced by women and girls because of their socially subordinate status in relation to men and boys.

Kamara said he is proud to be among the first batch of graduate corps to be recruited by the NYS. He appealed to President Julius Maada Bio to pay attention to the scheme with huge financial support. He said the training was timely and called on donors to support the NYS to be able to roll out more capacity development trainings.

Sierra Leon Tourism Ministry Updates Media on Activities

August 6, 2019

000 — Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, the Minister, Dr. Memunatu Pratt

By Amin Kef Sesay – 6^th August 2019

At a press conference held in the conference room of the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, the Minister, Dr. Memunatu Pratt and team updated the media on the progress made so far in rebranding the country’s tourism in a bid to attract more tourists.

Speaking during the meeting, Dr. Memunatu Pratt said that she is impressed and pleased with the turn out of the media at the meeting, adding that in the business of Tourism, the Press plays a vital role in disseminating the facts about the touristic sites and rich heritage of the country. Tourism, she maintained is all about marketing and this has been their drive in the past months, which created the need for the numerous travels undertaken by the Ministry.

She furthered that upon assuming office as minister, she took time to review all the work done by her predecessor and saw the need to embark on a rebranding of the industry so as to woo tourists to the various tourist attractions the country offers. During their travels they had fruitful discussions with various tourist stakeholders in several parts of the world.

Madam Pratt further explained that tourism involves international and domestic tourism. On the domestic area, several moves have been made to engage line ministries and agencies on the development of the sector. The ministry of energy was engaged on the provision of electricity to the Lumley beach area and she is proud to disclose that certain sections on the beach now have electricity from the national grid and moves are on the way to provide the beach with solar powered lights to illuminate the beach at night.

In the area of security, they are working with the Sierra Leone Police and the Ministry of Internal Affairs for regular patrol teams on the beach. Her engagement with the Aviation authority in the country has resulted in the reduction of ticket prices and the possibility of visitors getting visa on arrival at the airport. Government, she maintained has through the Ministry of Finance removed the tax on tickets, thus the high cost of traveling will be reduced and more people encouraged to come to Sierra Leone.

She noted that the low cost of air ticket has made other countries attractive to tourists. This development in her ministry will therefore encourage more tourists coming into the country and possibly encourage investment on various aspects of the industry like transportation and other businesses.

Minister Pratt further disclosed that Lumley Beach will soon be declared an entertainment zone and will give opportunity to the entertainment industry to thrive. In this regard they are looking at the possibility of levying fees for access to the Lumley beach area during weekends. What is collected from this toll will be used to pay for the cleaning of the beach front, which is littered with plastic and even medical waste.

She averred that climate change and environmental issues affect the Tourist industry as sea weeds will show. Her ministry will be taking giant steps to decentralise its offices across the country and staff will be posted there. This she described as having tourism at the local level.

On the International front, Madam Pratt maintained that Sierra Leone is now represented at the level of the UNWTO. Their visits to several parts in the world have resulted in the World Bank ready to fund development projects of the industry.

In this regard, the Bank funded their trip to Finland to learn more about how tourism works in those countries and to see what they can replicate in the country to develop the industry. With a beam, the country’s Tourist Iron Lady then disclosed that frantic efforts have been made to improve the infrastructure of the ministry of which the conference room in which the meeting was taking place is a testimony, adding that plans are on the way to construct a building at the back of the compound to accommodate more staff. She officially launched the opening of the refurbished conference room.

Fatmata Abe-Osagie, General Manager of the National Tourist Board, in her contribution also buttressed the ministers take on the travels done by various officials of the ministry. This she maintained is part of the rebranding of the country and the touristic attractions the country has. Successes have been recorded from those trips as it brought some 30 travel journalists to the country to assess it touristic capacity and further resulted in the visit of 8 African Americans who traced their DNA to Sierra Leone and eventually culminating in the handing over of Sierra Leonean passports to all of them by President Bio.

Sierra Leone is now being captured in top international magazines with positive news. Their tour in Canada resulted in interest in capacity building of the industry. The country now has the 1^st tourism Traveltainment magazine, which was published in February, adding that they now have a website promoting current information about Sierra Leone Tourism with huge following, a new Tourism App and the 1^st Tourism information office at the museum.

Madam Abe-Osagie further disclosed that collaboration with Photographers Union resulted in a National Photographers Trade Fair promoting the country’s culture and in collaboration with the Agriculture Ministry also resulted in the hosting of the 1^st Agro- Tourism and Culture in kabala.

Director of Culture in the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Mr. Jalloh, said that the ministry has reviewed its act and drafted another one which has received cabinet approval and is at the Law Officers Department for final drafting and will be tabled in parliament by the minister for enactment and will replace the Monument and Relics Act and eventually culminate in the establishment of a National Heritage Commission and also another bill on entertainment which will also see the establishment of the National Entertainment Commission. He further disclosed that work has been done in Bonthe resulting in the restoration of the clock tower at Bonthe.

That part of the country, he averred, has a lot of tourist attraction, as it is at Bonthe that the first European church mission was set up in the country, the UBC mission and the Church of England is found there, another first in the country. He also stated that the historic and original building of PZ is also there.

Plans are on the way for the development of relics at Bunce Island, where the first slave port, where professional slaves exited for sale abroad is located and other ruins. A jetty is presently being built at Bunce to facilitate access to the Island. He stressed that need for capacity building of Sierra Leonean craftsmen as renowned sculptors like Marco and son are now dead, so as to keep the knowledge through the ages.

With funding from Action Aid and the World Bank there are plans to construct the first ever National Performing Arts gallery at Aberdeen and an agreement with Bollore to build cinema hall, performing stage for the mobile theatre for artists to launch albums and this will mean leaving the National Stadium for purely sporting activities. The Action Aid funding will provide for the construction of a 600 capacity hall and a smaller one too in Bo for performing arts and they are poised to construct an eco-tourism site in Kabala with funding from the World Bank.

The meeting was climaxed by a question and answer session and the official declaration of the refurbished conference open by the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs.

Sierra Leone Tourism Minister Takes Lead in Cleaning Lumley Beach

August 6, 2019

By Amin Kef Sesay – 6^th August 2019

One of the most outstanding ministers in President Bio’s led government of New Direction, Dr. Memunatu B. Pratt who happens to be the former Head of Department for Peace and Conflict Studies at FBC and now the current Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs was with her fellow Sierra Leoneans as a pace setter to clear the beach from seaweed and plastics that is destroying the beauty of the environment.

She is calling on all Sierra Leoneans to join hands in keeping the beaches and its environment clean and attractive, as she desperately works to give the tourism sector a new facelift to attract tourists from all over the world.

“Sierra Leone is blessed with natural beaches and lots of tourist attraction areas,” she said.

When speaking to ordinary people and the press at the beach the minister stated that her ministry has the responsibility to keep the beach and its environs clean being that these areas are of touristic attraction, adding that there are very big challenges facing the maintenance of a clean beach and this has to do with waste management. This is adversely affecting the beach, she stressed.

Dr. Pratt stated that the sad story is that when people from the east, west and central of Freetown throw away their garbage into the sea, these are brought to the beach by the waves and that most people use the rivers and waterways to empty their toilets, which also end up on the beach.

She said that as a government they have been doing their very best to ensure they do what is needed to be done when it comes to cleaning and making the beaches very attractive to tourists.

She continued that even though these are the challenges all over the world, there is the need to address this waste problem. Some 100 youths were called to join in that exercise as the ministry lacked the man power to clean the beaches and the resources to buy tools and pay workers.

She said that the main challenge is that of plastic bags and plastic containers that big factories and small scale industries are using to package their products ranging from drinks, water etc.

Dr. Pratt said that her ministry intends to meet with the Ministry of Trade and those big factories and small scale industries so that they will put modalities in place for them to help in the cleaning of such places, as there are policies all over the world that cover how they are supposed to pay for their waste and support waste management activities.

Another challenge she highlighted is the beach traders that are illegally selling around the beach areas without paying anything to the ministry or the tourist board and are not making any effort to clean the area in which they trade around the beach. She continued that all those traders that are trading illegally, especially around the Family Kingdom area, should leave those places, as the ministry and the Member of Parliament of that constituency have provided for them a special place to do their business.

The minister encouraged all Sierra Leoneans to take care of their garbage as their attitude towards waste management could help in the improvement of tourism in the country.

As Forex Crisis Deepens Poverty: Sierra Leone Not Benefitting from its Mineral Resources

August 6, 2019

By Amin Kef Sesay – 6^th August 2019

We can surmise that whilst they mined and exported, African Minerals and London Mining combined took away some billions dollars’ worth of iron ore out of this country.

At the same time, we can surmise that Sierra Rutile, Sieromco and Vimetco have also cumulatively, since the 1970s, taken away billions of dollars’ worth of ore out of this country. We can say the same thing about Koidu Holdings which mines kimberlite diamonds in Koidu.

Of course, diamonds and gold have been intensively mined and exported out of this country since the 1950s. Yet what is very dismaying is that minus the rest of the country having never visibly benefited from the proceeds of these minerals (as all our development activities to date have been financed by either borrowing or aid), when you go to the parts of the country where these minerals were extracted from, all you see are signs of exploitation, environmental degradation and socioeconomic decadence – no electricity, no water, no good schools, no good health facilities, no good roads, no industries – nothing to show for decades of economic extraction by foreign owned mining companies.

It is not very hard to find out why. Africa’s political economy is deeply ingrained with its history of the exploitation and mismanagement of its mineral and natural resources.

With minor exceptions, Africa does not consume or add significant value to the minerals that it has in abundance. Rather, we are net exporters of raw materials that fuel prosperity and development in other regions. Africa is largely seen as a price taker rather than a price-maker, with a marginal role in international trade.

The question that arises therefore is why the continent continues to struggle with limited economic transformation, low or no resource rents and scarce employment. Africa’s share of windfall earnings from mining has been miniscule, compared to what mining companies have realized.

Indeed, most African countries got very little from mining revenues due to generous tax holidays given to mining companies. The conclusion from this situation is that the current resource-for-development model is not working to bring about equity or boost development in minerals rich African countries like Sierra Leone.

As such, the African Mining Vision, jointly developed by the AU, ECA, ADB and other UN agencies was adopted by the African Union Heads of States in 2009. The Vision advocates for “transparent, equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development”.

At the core of the African Mining Vision is the realization that Africa’s mineral resources can be better utilized to address the continents social and economic needs; the focus on environmental and social sustainability, the advantages of regional and international integration with attendance hard and soft infrastructure challenges, the emphasis of building of backward, forward and sideward linkages from the core mining sector and equitable principles of fairness in benefit sharing and use of resource revenues.

To achieve the high aspirations of this vision, Africa needs to get back to the fundamentals and rectify some of the initial problems that have continued to plague the management of the continent’s natural resources.

At the fore of this endeavor is the capacity of governments to get the best deals for their countries during contract negotiations. Capacity deficits have also been identified in critical areas of auditing, monitoring, regulation and improving resource exploitation regimes. In DRC, a government committee reviewed 61 mining deals over a decade up to 2006 and found none acceptable. It recommended renegotiating 39 and canceling 22.

International processes such as the Kimberly Process for diamonds and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (EITI) for other minerals, though with their own weaknesses, have contributed to improving transparency and accountability in contract negotiation processes from the production side whilst the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and other similar acts have also created avenues for fair play within the international circles.