Speaking during a press conference organized by the Anti-Corruption Commission at Cathedral Hall on Gloucester Street in Freetown on 16th April 2019, Francis Ben Kaifala Esq., the Anti-Corruption Boss, said that the best Parliament can tell the Commission is to wait, but it cannot tell them not to investigate the allegations in the recently released Technical Audit Report.
Flanked on both sides on the high table by senior officials of the Commission, the ACC boss said that the role of Parliament is to scrutinize the Audit Report, after which the ACC will take over and investigate all the allegations in the report. He stressed that the Commission was established by an Act of Parliament with specific roles, of which its prime function is to investigate all corruption allegations against all those who deal with public funds (referencing Section 7 of the ACC Act). He went on further to say that the position of the ACC is the same as that of Parliament, that proper scrutiny be made of the document.
Francis Ben Kaifala further explained that the revelations in the Technical Audit Report is shocking to every Sierra Leonean and it is the duty of the Commission after Parliament has finished with it, to investigate thoroughly all the allegations. He recognized that the names of some serving MPs are mentioned in the report, but stressed that the presumption of innocence binds each of them until found guilty by a competent court of law. He warned that anyone that is invited to the ACC to give account in respect of the report should not be judged as guilty, but are only helping the Commission in their investigations.
He further maintained that all those who will be called to give account to the ACC, should come along with all documentary evidence in their possession to substantiate their claims.
The ACC Czar added that the Commission is not at loggerheads with Parliament, but they are collaborating in the matter and will continue to do so until the final investigation is done. The amount of US$1,036 billion, alleged to be unaccounted for, he stressed, is a very huge figure and should not be taken lightly, as it is such unaccounted monies that has plunged the country into the state it is in now.
Sierra Leoneans, he averred, deserve the right to know about the whereabouts of those monies. He assured all present and all Sierra Leoneans that a thorough and forensic investigation will be done to unearth the truth of the report and where necessary prosecution will be instituted and recovery effected.

On Tuesday, January 16, 1996, I walked into the Office of the President as Head of State of the Republic of Sierra Leone. I had not been elected.

Four years earlier, I was one of 30 heavily-armed military officers, all of us in our twenties, who had driven from the war front into the capital, Freetown. We had only one objective – to overthrow a corrupt, repressive, and single-party dictatorship that had kept itself in power for over 25 years. But in the end, it was not a violent coup.

After we fired just a few shots and seized the radio station, thousands of citizens jumped into the streets of Freetown to welcome us as “liberators”. If you are thinking that this seems like a movie script, I am with you.

I was part of the ruling military government and I served in several roles. Our goal was always to return the country to democratic rule. After four years, those multi-party democratic elections had still not happened. Citizens were losing faith in our promise. And I like to keep my promises.

So, some of my comrades and I staged another military coup – this time against our own head of state and commander. Again, it was a bloodless coup. That is how I became the new military Head of State on January 16, 1996.

I was still only 31 years old. Power was sweet. I felt invulnerable. I had thousands of heavily armed men and aircraft at my command. I was heavily protected and I lived a luxurious life. But my obligations to my nation were superior.

Millions of fellow citizens were either displaced or fleeing the violence and pillage of war. I engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activities across the sub-region and convinced the reclusive rebel leader to initiate peace talks for the first time.

I also called a national consultative conference of civil society organizations to advise on the best way forward for our nation. In both cases, I shared with them what I believed in and still believe in now – that Sierra Leone is bigger than all of us.

And that Sierra Leone must be a secure, peaceful, and just society where every person can thrive and contribute towards national development. And so I initiated peace with the rebels; organized multiparty democratic elections, handed over power to a new civilian President, retired from the army, and left my country for the United States of America to study, all in 3 months.

On many a long walk, I wondered how we could get it right again as a nation.

More than twenty years later, in April 2018, with a few more wrinkles and gray hair, I was again the Head of State. But this time, I had been democratically elected.

At the polling station last year, my 3-year old daughter Amina was in my arms. She insisted on holding on to the ballot paper with me. She was intent and focused. At that moment, with my ballot paper in both of our hands, I fully understood the one priority for me if I was elected President: How could I make the lives of Amina and millions of other young girls and boys better?

See, I believe that leadership is about creating possibilities that everyone, but especially young people, can believe in, own, work to actualize, and which they will actively fight to protect. The pathway to power and in leadership can be littered with impediments but more often, with thorny questions that seemingly defy answers.

How does one take on the unique challenges of a country like Sierra Leone? We had mined mineral resources for 100 years but we are still poor. We had collected foreign aid for 58 years and still very poor.

The secret to economic development is in nature’s best resource-skilled, healthy, and productive human beings. The secret to changing our country lay in enhancing and supporting the limitless potential of the next generation and challenging them to change our country. Human capital development was the key to national development in Sierra Leone.

As a candidate, I met with and listened to many young men and women all across the country and in the diaspora. They were feeling disconnected from political leadership and cared little about the future of our country. How could we engage them and make them believe that the answers to transforming our nation was right in their hands?

Immediately after becoming President, I appointed some of Sierra Leone’s brightest young people as leaders with a responsibility to realize our shared vision of transforming Sierra Leone. I am grateful that many said yes.

Let me give you a few examples: Corruption had been endemic in governance institutions and in public life, undermining public trust and the country’s international reputation. I appointed a young attorney as Commissioner for the Anti-Corruption Commission. In less than a year, he’s had a 100% conviction rate and recovered about $1.5 Million dollars of stolen money. That is seed money for building the country’s first ever national medical diagnostic center.

The Millennium Corporation Challenge recently gave us a green scorecard for the ‘control of corruption’ indicator, and multilateral development partners that had left Sierra Leone are now returning again. We are determined to break the culture of corruption and the culture of impunity associated with corruption.

Before I even became a candidate for President, I met a skinny, dreadlocked, MIT-Harvard trained inventor in London. Over coffee, I challenged him to think and plan along with me how innovation could help to drive national development in the areas of governance, revenue mobilization, healthcare, education, delivering public services, and supporting private sector growth. How could Sierra Leone participate in the digital economy and become an innovation hub? Well, he left his cozy job at IBM and he now leads a team of young men and women within the newly established Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Office of the President.

I challenged another young Sierra Leonean woman to set up and lead a new Ministry of Planning and Economic Development. She consulted widely with Sierra Leoneans and produced a medium term national development plan titled “Education for Development.” We now have our national development needs in easily understandable clusters and we can now plan our budget, align development partner contributions, and measure our progress.

But the story of my Government’s flagship program is even more “daring,” if I can call it that. Today, 3 out of every 5 adults in Sierra Leone can’t read or write. Thousands of children were not in school or had dropped out because their parents could not afford the $20 school fees per year. Women and girls who constitute 51% of our population were not given an equal chance to be educated.

So the obvious answer is to put in place free quality education for every Sierra Leonean child regardless of gender, ability, or ethnicity. Great idea… RIGHT? But the only problem is we had no money to start the program – absolutely nothing.

Development partners wanted to see the data before associating with my vision. Political opponents laughed at me. But I campaigned that a nation that invests in human capital development through free quality education, affordable and high quality healthcare services, and food security will accelerate its national development. I argued that for Sierra Leone to produce a highly skilled, innovative and productive work force fit for the 21st century global economy, we needed to invest heavily in human capital development. But we had no money because the previous government had virtually emptied the national coffers.

We clamped down on corruption, closed loopholes for fraud and waste, and we watched the money build up. We successfully launched the free quality education program in August- four months later.

Today, two million children are going to school. 21% of the national budget supports free quality education. In close collaboration and partnership with development partners, we have now provided teaching and learning materials, safe spaces for girls, and started implementing school feeding programs across the entire country. We have even paid backlogs of teacher salaries. Any girl admitted to university to study science, technology, engineering, mathematics and other related disciplines receives full scholarships.

And here’s why this matters. In a few years, we will have a healthier, better educated, and highly skilled young population that will lead and drive our country’s national development. They will be well equipped to deploy science, technology, and innovation. They will attract investments in diversified areas of our economy from tourism to fisheries and from renewable energy to manufacturing. That’s my biggest bet.

In my mind, this is what leadership is about: a mission to listen with empathy to the craziest of ideas, the hopes and aspirations of a younger generation who are just looking for a chance to BE better, and to make our country better. It is about letting them know that their dreams matter. It is about standing with them and asking, “Why not” when they ask seemingly impossible questions. It is about exploring, making, and owning a shared vision. The most audacious and nation-changing events or policies or even personal choices happen when we ask “Why not,” then make bold choices, and ensure those bold choices happen.

I wake up every day believing that our country should no longer be defined by the stigma of the past. The future offers more hope and opportunity for all. It matters more to me that young men and women all across the country can imagine for themselves that they too can be and are part of this story of our nation. I want to challenge them to build a country where 3 year olds like my daughter, Amina, can grow up with good governance, quality education, healthcare, and good infrastructure. I also want our children to become young women and men who can continue nourishing the tree that grows from the seeds that we are planting today.

Now, can someone tell me why we should not dare imagine that future in Sierra Leone?

I thank you.

During four years, the Premier League became almost dead as a result of misunderstandings among key stakeholders, leaving the bulk of football fans to turn attention to watching European leagues. However, things recently took a different and dramatic dimension when the game was once more resuscitated, brought to life to the delight of majority of the citizenry.
The Sierra Leone Premier League Board was given the sole mandate to ensure that the national league is properly constituted and managed to ensure it turns out to be a success story. Under the capable and astute leadership of its Chairman, the charismatic Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai, the league gained vibrancy as the Premier League Board successful put all the necessary modalities in place to kick start the first phase of the league with support from the SLPP led- Government headed by President Julius Maada Bio and other stakeholders.
Thirteen teams, coming from Freetown and the Provinces, actively participated in the first phase of the competition, which by all estimation was truly interesting and well organised with little skirmishes.
Surprisingly, the League quickly drew a lot of interest from Sierra Leoneans who regularly turned out in large numbers to render support to their favourite teams depicting that many people in this country are very fond of watching football matches.
The first rounds of the League commenced from the 27th January 2019 and ended on the 10th April 2019.
According to Chairman Saffa Abdulai the resuscitation of the Premier league has helped in providing sources of earning income for many young people who hitherto were idle and prone to get involved in committing certain offences. “As a matter of fact we were informed by the Police that the crime rate has reduced drastically because most of our young people have turned their attention to the league,” he highlighted.
Saffa Abdulai has been widely praised for his accomplishment at the end of the first rounds simply because the following figures show cumulative proceeds for all seventy-eight (78) matches played by 13 teams across the country.
During that first phase the following were achieved:
Tickets sold amounted to
Le: 2, 568,300,00

Expenditure Le: 316,171,200

Net sales Le: 2,252,128,800

Clubs 80% Le: 1,801,715,040

SLFA 10% Le: 226,629,800

District FA’s 5% Le: 113,314,890

PLB 5% Le: 113,314,890

What also has been applauded is how the Board exhibited accountability through the display of proceeds generated from matches played which shows a high sense of patriotism on the part of the Chairman.

“We continue to encourage all host teams to immediately provide information to the Board as to proceeds generated during matches,” he enjoined.
He disclosed that the second rounds of the league will commence on the 1st of May 2019 and they will ensure that it becomes super well organized and very much interesting.

The Africa Young Voices (AYV) Media Empire in close collaboration with Africell, the leading GSM operator in the country has on Tuesday 16th April 2019 presented cheques of One Hundred Million Leones to Kenchine Palmar winner of the 2019 Salone Housemate TV Reality show, Fifty Million Leones to Monica who won the second position. The two institutions also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with The Media Evangelism Drama Ministry from Nigeria.
Speaking during the event, Dr. Duramani Ezikel Lakoh Managing Director AYV Media Empire congratulated the 22 housemates. “It was a very long journey that started with over 1,500 young people and now here you are. Our objective was not only to make money, but we also created the platform for young people to excel and expand. “We have signed various MOUs and implemented them not to make money but rather want to build the reputation of our institution and bring up a social enterprise in Sierra Leone to empower young people,” he further disclosed.
He stated that AYV is a hub of young talented people underscoring that they have been airing different live programs live including one of which was Housemates Salone.
“Converging here today to sign another MOU with MEDM should not come as a big surprise because it is the dream and aspiration of the CEO Ambassador Antony Junior Navo to continue with the empowerment,”
In his brief address, Ambassador Antony Junior Navo welcomed the stars from Nigeria and Ghana and congratulated the Management of AYV and Africell as well as Sierra Leoneans for the just concluded Housemates Salone Show. “When I started the AYV I told Sierra Leoneans that I will use my little resource to help develop this country in my own way especially in the direction of empowering the youth. I took a loan 1.2 Million from GT Bank and today I am proud to say AYV has employed over 500 staff nationwide,” he stated furthering how they have signed over 200 MOUs and the latest one is with the BBC.
According to him the MOU will enable the Media Evangelism Drama Ministry from Nigeria benefit from their facilities and Infrastructure as well as airing of t 52 drama series assuring them that they will get the best from them. Ambassador Navo however called on all to put their differences aside and work in the best interest of the nation so it can become the Singapore of Africa.
Making his statement Africell’s Managing Director, Shady Jarjudia, said the Housemate s Salone 2019 Reality TV show was project for Africell and AYV disclosing that it was very challenging to meet with the demand of the public, especially in the technical area, making sure that becomes interesting. He informed how they have now started to work on the next coming event for move improvement.
He stated that Africell is committed to give back to this nation and we are ready to work with everyone.
He thanked Sierra Leoneans for the confidence reposed in the two institutions.
Pastor John, CEO Media Evangelism Drama Production said they are highly motivated to work with AYV and the people of this country. He disclosed that the 52 drama series concept will be around Rape, sexual violence, and violence against women and youth empowerment.
“I am a reformer of the movie industry. I have done that in Gabon and Togo and I hope to do the same here,” he said with pride.
Zack Orji said he was very much happy to be part of the historic event Housemates Salone which according to him has helped change the narrative of the entertainment industry in Sierra Leone. The 52 drama series concept will be around Rape, sexual violence, and violence against women and youth empowerment.
Zack however encouraged the former housemates to make use of the opportunity offered to them by AYV and Africell.
Emmanuel Ayalogu is a Film Producer , Director and Marketer in both Nigeria and Ghana. He congratulated AYV and Africell for being part of development in the country hailing what AYV is doing for the rebranding of the country saying it is a land of courageous and brave people even though it went through War, Ebola, Mudslide but you still you are still strong.
He however encouraged the Media Evangelism Drama Production to include some of the Housemates to be part of the project.

On Saturday 13th April 2019, Children Assurance Program, an advocacy organization that was established in order to promote education in the Jui community opened a community library and resource centre.
Speaking during the launching ceremony, the Executive Director of CHILDREN ASSURANCE PROGRAM SIERRA LEONE (CAP-SL), Baimba O Sheriff, disclosed that the organization was born out of the vision to promote education within the community.
The launching of the library in the Jui community is a stepping stone in achieving this vision, he said. He further disclosed that the library is not only going to benefit the Jui community but also Hastings, Kossoh town and Grafton communities and will promote education. Sheriff added that their focus is to complement the free quality education of the President and government of Sierra Leone. He disclosed that CAP-SL is self-sponsored with help from well-meaning people both within and outside the country.
He concluded by saying that the facilities will promote the skills and expertise of young people and ensures that the library will enhance their reading ability.
Abubakarr, a representative of CAP-SL in the diaspora, also spoke on the activities of CAP-SL in the diaspora. He said that the organization is not only going to stop at the Jui community, but will help other communities with such facilities. According to him, the library is not only the project they are planning to implement, they are also looking forward to work on other projects like providing Milla Water Tanks etc.
Mohamed Dukuray, Supervisor of schools, Western Area Rural District in the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) thanked CAP-SL for the great gesture, adding that material things have clouded our vision effectively taking away the country’s glory as ‘the Athens of West Africa’. He also spoke about sustainability, which he said is the very key to development. He encouraged CAP-SL to ensure that the project is sustainable and called on parents present to ensure that they encourage their kids to make good use of the facilities.
He said that as a Ministry they will ensure that they support them with library books, especially when supplying library books to other libraries within the country. He said that most kids are engaged in negative things, because there is no platform for them where they can engage themselves on any meaningful endeavour, but with this library in the community, a change for the better is expected.
Councillor Santigie Sesay of Ward 382 and chairman for Education Committee Western Area Rural District Council, who represented the Council, said they are committed to complement the efforts and dream of other people including CAP-SL because they believe in the empowerment of young people through education.
Elaborating on the importance of the library in the Jui community, he said that as a council they are devoted to the realization of the dream of the President. As a Council with little resources, he added, they have renovated a school at the Adonkia community.
He concluded by emphasising on the importance of library and called on the community to make good use of the facilities and thanked the organization for the gesture.
Mr. Abdul Bah, National President of Sella Development for Education and Progress (SEDEP) also thanked CAP-SL for the gesture and called on the community to see it as their property. He also called on humanitarian organisations to support the project. In that respect; he donated one hundred dollars. Mr. Alimu Jalloh also donated 10 bags of cement to pave the frontage of the library and called on others to give their support towards the sustainability of the library.

A delegation of potential investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is in Sierra Leone as part of a fact finding mission.
The delegation headed by the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for International Development Affairs, Sultan Al Shamsi, has been holding talks with government officials, including President Julius Maada Bio. A statement from the Presidency in Freetown said the visit was a follow-up to President Bio’s visit to the Gulf State last month.
In March President Bio led a delegation of Government Ministers on a state visit and held talks with officials, including the Emir, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. A State House release quoted President Bio as saying that his meeting with the Emir resulted to the visit.
“When we last visited the UAE in search of investment opportunities, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE assured me that he would send a delegation to Sierra Leone for this said purpose. I didn’t expect it to happen so soon,” Bio said, noting that Sierra Leone was looking for credible investors who would explore the many opportunities of the country through their various interests and assured of their protection.
Chief Minister Professor David Francis also told the delegation that Sierra Leone is an emerging destination of choice for Africa and other developed countries, noting that under the leadership of President Bio the Government would ensure that all investors and their investments were protected.
According to Al Shamsi, key areas of interest for his delegation were agriculture, education, energy, health, women’s empowerment through job creation and the empowerment of small and medium-sized enterprises.
“It is very promising and important coming here to Sierra Leone to partner with the Government and find ways the two countries can make investment better. One thing that is important and fundamental here is the commitment by the Government to protect investors and their
investments,” he said.

Sierra Leone on Thursday 12th April 2019 bade farewell to 160 troops which departed Freetown on Sunday, April 14, for Somalia.
The men and women constitute the second contingent of the reform peacekeeping operation system since Sierra Leone began participating in international peacekeeping, officials said.
Superintendent John Tumbay, Head of the Department of Peacekeeping at the Sierra Leone Police (SLP), said until now the country had been sending individual police officers in peacekeeping operations.
He said the new system now means they will be deploying ‘Formed Police Unit,’ which comprises a contingent of armed personnel with medical units, including nurses and doctors and the use of armoured vehicles.
Sierra Leonean police officers are currently deployed in three security hotspots: 22 in Darfur as part of the United Nations and African Union Hybrid Operation – UNAMID; 12 in South Sudan under UNMISS; and a total of 192 officers, including 33 individual officers in Somalia under the African Union mission called AMISOM.
The new contingent which is set to depart this Sunday will be replacing the 159 troops who are expected back home on April 17, after serving a year in the restive Horn of Africa country.

A veteran Nollywood actor and former Chairman of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Mr. Zack Orji and Emma Oyilogu paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swarray at his Youyi Building office in Freetown.
The purpose of the visit according to the Director of Next Movie Star, Sierra Leone Limited (NMS) Mr. Mohamed James Kamara is to enhance the campaign and awareness raising effort of government through movie on the eradication of rape and sexual violence against girls and women in the country.
Welcoming the film stars on behalf of Government and the people of Sierra Leone the Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swarray underscored the long-standing bilateral relations between Sierra Leone and the Federal Republic of Nigeria paying tribute for the numerous assistances rendered by Nigeria in the good and bad times of the country’s history including the civil war, Ebola and Mud-slide among other issues. The support to Sierra Leone by the veteran Nollywood Film Stars will serve as a platform for mentoring and coaching of the numerous Sierra Leonean talents in the film industry. This will create an enabling environment for them to realize their full potentials, he added.
The Minister assured the veteran Nollywood film stars of his Ministry’s fullest support to their shooting venture in Sierra Leone.
According to Mr. Zack Orji, they are in Sierra Leone to work with the Next Movie Star, Sierra Leone Limited (NMS) to produce a 52 Episodic Movie – ‘Who You Are’ a serial movie to enhance the campaign against poetic justice, sexual assault and to protect women and girls from being raped.
Present were the Deputy Minister of Information and Communication, Solomon Jamiru Esq; the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Augustine S. Sheku and other officers from the Ministry.

On April 10, 2019, a grand ceremony was held in Xiamen to mark the delivery of 50 Golden Dragon buses to Sierra Leone. The 50 buses, including 15 units of 7-meter city buses, 25 units of 8-meter city buses and 10 units of 9-meter city buses, are equipped with advanced technologies and more customized features, fully meeting the local operation requirements.
Sadiq Silla, Deputy Minister of Transport and Aviation, Paul Tucker, Deputy General Manager of Sierra Leone Road Transport Corporation, Huang Chun, President of Fujian Automobile Industry Group, Qiu Zhixiang, King Long Moror Group, Peng Dongqing, Xiamen Golden Dragon Van Co., Ltd., together with a number of other distinguished guests witnessed the historic ceremony.
According to Golden Dragon, it signed a sales agreement of 200 buses with Sierra Leone in Xiamen in late August, 2018, just a few days before China-Africa Cooperation Forum.
After the delivery of the first batch of 50 buses, the rest of 150 units Golden Dragon buses will soon be delivered to the country for operation. After their arrival in Sierra Leone, they will be put into operation in Freetown.
Powered by diesel engines, the 50 Golden Dragon buses are equipped with advanced transmission gearboxes and front and rear axles. During the designing and manufacturing process, the bus maker took Freetown’s road and weather conditions into full consideration, such as optimizing the vehicles’ structures, increasing their chassis height, improving their anti-corrosive performance, etc.
In addition, a number of travel amenities are available on board, providing more travel comforts for passengers.
To ensure the smooth operation of all Golden Dragon buses, the bus maker will send a team of service engineers to Sierra Leone to provide training sessions and after-sales services for the local bus operator.