"The press, radio and television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this Constitution and highlight the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people." - Sierra Leone Constitution

PREVIOUS HEADLINES

Wednesday May 8, 2013 - Sir Alex Fergusson, the captain at the wheel of a football battleship called Manchester United Football Club announces that he will be leaving at the end of this season. At 71 and with some 26 years at the helm, getting a successor will be the next great task as players and team management as well as the billions of fans of the club come to grips with today's announcement.

The speculations are now over. Sir Alex Fergusson the hard, uncompromising and always ready for challenges Manchester United team manager is going into retirement after twenty six (26) years at the helm. Sir Alex is leaving on a high never mind the fact that this season they could not make it to the finals of European competitions but he would take heart in the fact that this season he has won the country's top football league, the Premiership, well ahead of the end of the season.

Many will miss his face on TV screens as he takes his wrath to any referee whom he believes could have misinterpreted the rules against his beloved Manchester United and no matter how many times he is sent packing to the stands because of this, he would always remonstrate, most forcefully using appropriate and some would say inappropriate verbal missiles to make known his feelings when he is allowed back along those hallowed lines reserved for team managers on the edge of the pitch.

The next big task is getting a successor to man the affairs on and out of the field of play and that is not going to be easy. Pundits talk of the special one Jose Mourinho as being in the frame, while others pick the Everton manager David Moyes as the most likely but are also quick to warn that when it comes to managing a team like Manchester United you need to have the authority and respect that goes with the job. Respect and authority that will make you as a manager being in charge and deciding that David Beckham has to go and that other players who believe they could get away with acts Sir Alex considers disrespectful soon find themselves in other clubs either on transfers, loans or just sold away.

MORE

Monday April 29, 2013 - Twenty one years ago today, a historic, earth-shaking and well nigh impossible event occurred in Sierra Leone. On April 29, 1992, the corrupt, murderous and intolerant APC cabal was overthrown by the same men who could only get into the national army after rigorous vetting by APC party top brass, concubines and all those in positions of APC trust.

Today April 29 will always be remembered by those who suffered under and survived the jackboots of the APC as well as by those APC minority who knew that what was going on was undemocratic, unconstitutional and anti people but dare not make their voices heard lest they face the same fate as those who dared. Dr Mohamed Sorie Forna, Bank Governor Samuel Lansana Bangura and former Force Commander David Lansana as well as the main threat to the APC in the Freetown East three constituency one Mr Thompson. Then are are others in the "military division" that included the likes of Brigadier John Amadu Bangura, Conrad Iniss, Captain Jawara, Kolugbonda and the Kaikais including police officer Gabriel Tennyson Kaikai...the list goes on and on.

And so when on the evening of that historic Wednesday April 29, 1992 residents of the capital heard the voice of one Captain Valentine Strasser finally announcing the end of 24 years of APC rule, it was a time of wild celebrations first in the capital Freetown and then throughout the country as word spread that the ogre called the APC had been finally overthrown. Overthrown, kicked out of office in a move that was applauded by many freedom-loving Sierra Leoneans who praised the young men from the war front for their bold and patriotic move knowing that had they failed their mutilated and acid-drenched bodies would never have been given to their relations for burial.

MORE

Tuesday April 16, 2013 - Terror strikes in the United States again as double bomb blasts at the end of the famous Boston Marathon claim at least three lives, leaving many wounded and traumatised. US President Barack Obama vows that perpetrators would be brought to justice. Update: Eight year old boy killed as he waited for his dad to finish the marathon.

Residents in Boston and indeed the entire United States of America as well as the world are waking up this morning to the stark realisation that while the good go about their daily chores and trying to make life a meaningful experience, there still lurks within them the messengers of evil, the praise singers of evil who would do any and everything to create chaos, unbridled mayhem within communities that give them succour, a chance to build and grow and the opportunity to develop talents and work on dreams in all spheres of human endeavour. As US citizens stood up as one and condemned the evils of 9/11 so have they vowed in the words of President Obama, that the hands, brains and minds behind the terror attacks would be caught and brought to justice. The timing and size of the blasts show that the perpetrators were bent on causing maximum chaos, death and injury close to the site of the finishing line where many would be gathered to cheer in those crossing that line as well as participants from all over the world who see the Boston Marathon as the place to be.

The Boston Herald carries this banner headline in its online edition - Blasts kill 3, injure at least 144 at marathon

Two suspects identified. Police manhunt kills one while other on the run captured late Friday night, Saturday morning hours.

MORE

Monday April 15, 2013 - Kelvin Lewis, Editor of AWOKO newspaper is the new President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, SLAJ.

Kelvin Lewis, the Editor of one of the few credible and independent news outlets of Sierra Leone has been elected the new President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists during elections held by the body over the weekend. According to a report carried on the online edition of the newspaper today Kelvin harvested one hundred and twenty seven (127) votes as against the next highest score of seventy (70) garnered by Williete James. Other positions vied for included that of the Secretary General as well as the Financial Secretary. Kelvin now takes the chair in the wake of another professional and principled journalist, the one and only Umaru Fofanah.

It is worth noting part of the contents of what others would refer to as a victory speech, but if we know Kelvin well, he would rather call it a call on all to give their backing to the strength and advancement of SLAJ as well as a speech of appreciation as he extended a hand of friendship and reconciliation to all those who found themselves in polarised camps as preparations were made for Saturday's votes. Just as we pleaded with another colleague Philip Neville to co-operate with the winner Umaru in their contest for the Presidency, so do we appeal to everyone to work with the elected officials to raise the SLAJ flag even higher. Part of that AWOKO report states...

MORE

Monday April 8, 2013 - Britain's first female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher passes on. Her death at age 87 was announced today after a period of ill health finally succumbing to the most recent attack of a stroke.

The UK leader who was dubbed the Iron Lady by friends and foes alike, the one and only Baroness Margaret Thatcher has departed to the great beyond at the age of 87 leaving behind a legacy that still has to be defined, but truly a legacy unequalled in British and world politics. There are those who insist that the first woman to occupy 10 Downing Street was too strong-willed, too stubborn in her determination at getting to a goal once she had made up her mind on issues she sees as raising the profile of the United Kingdom and by extension her reputation as "this lady's not for turning" refusing to back down. And she would not back down even if the results of her action were deemed unreasonable and unpopular as was demonstrated in her demolition of the trade unions more especially the mining communities dotted across the United Kingdom. She is reported to have destroyed many lives and families as mining activities came to a standstill and communities wrecked.

Margaret Thatcher will also be remembered for her decision to commit Britain to fight a war eight thousand miles away in the Falklands, a venture won by UK forces and which saw her re-elected to Number 10 after that momentous event.

MORE

Kenya's Supreme Court has today ruled that Uhuru Kenyatta won the race for Kenya's State House. This means that Uhuru Kenyatta was validly elected as the country's fourth President since independence after his father Mze Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki. Reports the authoritative Daily Nation newspaper of Kenya -

"The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as Kenya's fourth president. Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said Mr Kenyatta and William Ruto were validly elected as President and Deputy President respectively. It is the decision that the third and fourth respondents were validly elected," Dr Mutunga said. The judgement paves way for the swearing in ceremony of Mr Kenyatta set for April 9 at the Kasarani Gymnasium in Nairobi.The Head of Public Service Francis Kimemia said the government will gazette Tuesday, April 9 as a public holiday when Mr Kenyatta will be sworn in as president.ll begin on Monday. We have adopted the programme we had earlier on,” said Mr Kimemia Saturday. Prime Minister Raila Odinga has conceded defeat following the Supreme Court judgement that upheld Uhuru Kenyatta's election as president. Mr Odinga wished Mr Kenyatta well in running the affairs of government. "I wish Mr Kenyatta and his team well," he said during a news conference in his office Saturday Mr Odinga said though the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) did not agree with the findings of the court, he said the coalition would abide by it."

What has been played out in Kenya demonstrates what democracy should be about. An election is concluded in which one person is declared winner by the electoral body. The main challenger felt cheated and uses his constitutional rights to appeal the decision of the electoral body in the courts - this time the Supreme court as provided by Kenya's laws. Both sides, winner and loser say to all and sundry that they would abide by the decision of the Supreme Court.

MORE

Thursday March 28, 2013 - Common sense at last as the UN approves the deployment of an intervention brigade in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More needed however on the role of MONUSCO, the UN peace keeping force and the notorious and unreliable national army.

Common sense appears to have hit the guardians of international peace and security as represented by the United Nations Security Council with that body's approval of a special brigade that would target, and hopefully, render ineffective all those warlords and mini demigods terrorising the unarmed and vulnerable civilian population of the DRC, the rape capital of the world. According to the UN Security Council - The objectives of the new force – which will be based in North Kivu province in eastern DRC and total 3,069 peacekeepers – are to neutralize armed groups, reduce the threat they posed to State authority and civilian security and make space for stabilization activities. The brigade is established within the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in DRC (MONUSCO) for an initial period of one year, as set out in the resolution adopted unanimously today by the Council, which also extended the mission until 31 March 2014.

We are still at a loss as to why it took the UN Security Council all this long to make this long yearned-for decision given all those reports the UN system has of massive human rights violations against the unarmed and vulnerable civilian population especially women and children as well as the aged and infirm. Indeed the DRC case and the mandate of peace keeping troops all over the world have shown that the Security Council never ever gets it right first time round until after the deaths of so many - deaths that could have been prevented had the peace keepers been given the right and appropriate mandate and not wait until they are fired upon. This is a part of the mandate of MONUSCO - "Emphasizing that the protection of civilians must be given priority, the Council authorized MONUSCO to use all necessary means to carry out its protection mandate, including the effective protection of civilians, humanitarian personnel and human rights defenders under imminent threat of physical violence, as well as the protection of United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and equipment. The Mission would also support Government efforts to fight impunity and ensure the protection of civilians from violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including all forms of sexual and gender-based violence."

And yet the violations continued with impunity and it took the public pronouncement of our very own Zainab Hawa Bangura, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict and others for the Security Council to come to its senses and realise that the victims of the massive violations are human beings whose only crime it would seem, is that the world just does not care.

Thursday March 28, 2013 - US President Obama meets with four African leaders including Sierra Leone's very own Ernest Bai Koroma and he is full of praise for all of them. However President Obama's remarks indicating that Ernest Bai Koroma is a paragon of democracy and good governance ring hollow, dangerously hollow. Who prepared President Obama's briefing notes?

US President Barack Obama has been playing host to four African leaders from Sierra Leone, Malawi, Cape Verde and Senegal and in an address to the press after that meeting was full of praise for each of the leaders in what he sees as the good points that should be strengthened and consolidated by these leaders. 

"The reason that I'm meeting with these four is they exemplify the progress that we're seeing in Africa. All of them have had to deal with some extraordinary challenges. Sierra Leone just 10 years ago was in the midst of a brutal civil war as we've ever seen. And yet, now we've seen consecutive fair and free elections. And under President Koroma's leadership, we've seen not only good governance, but also significant economic growth."

Oh yes, it was President Barack Obama singing praises from the hymn sheet of good governance in honour of Ernest Bai Koroma - a clear indication that whoever prepared the briefing notes for President Barack Obama must have just landed from another planet, in time to give a false picture to President Obama. Let us repeat President Obama's statement - "...under President Koroma's leadership, we've seen not only good governance, but also significant economic growth." Are we to interpret President Obama's statement as meaning that despite the massive display of intolerance to those viewed as being in opposition to the government, the murderous suppression of protests, the vicious and murderous attacks on women and other citizens, the massive looting of state coffers and the lack of accountability and transparency in the affairs of governance just what President Obama would like to see continued in Sierra Leone?

We hope not and we think not but for the President of the United States of America to make such remarks in the face of what goes on in Sierra Leone shows only too clearly that this time round, our man Barack Obama has really not done his homework - and we expected much from someone we believe should be smart enough to know what message his remarks is sending to the people of Sierra Leone.

MORE + update

Friday March 8, 2013 - Today is International Women's Day - a day dedicated to the celebration of women. This year's theme "A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women" should serve as a reminder, nay warning, to the Ernest Bai Koroma set up that what is put on paper and documents safe-guarding the lives and rights of women must be put into practice. Ernest Bai Koroma has taken his smoke and mirrors antics to new high as he declares today, International Women's Day a national holiday!!!

Today March 8 is International Women's Day and all governments, organisations and like minded people all over the world interested in the welfare of women would today once more galvanise all the resources at their command to highlight the failures of the past and what is now needed to protect the integrity and dignity of women. This year's theme - "A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women" is an apt reminder to the government in Sierra Leone that all those words from government functionaries about how they care for the women of Sierra Leone must now pass the lips of lying politicians, must go beyond files and files of promised action that was never meant to be implemented but was designed for the eyes and ears of the international community.

We would therefore now call on the Ernest Bai Koroma administration to put stop all the smoke and mirrors act of protecting the rights of women and take action that would send a clear message that it cares about the rights of the women of Sierra Leone, we mean all women within the borders of the country.

Remember Musu Conteh, the woman who was murdered by the armed wing of the APC known as the OSD? We would urge President Koroma to provide justice for the victims of those brutalised and murdered by elements under his direct or indirect command.

We still have the case of one Abdul Mustapha who, together with a female friend got murdered and the house in which they were killed set alight in an attack that has baffled many in Sierra Leone.

There's the case of the women who were in the offices of the main opposition SLPP and were attacked and allegedly raped in broad daylight by ruling APC party operatives as well as elements of the armed wing of the APC, the paramilitary OSD.

We say to Cherie Blair and others of the high-level UN team led by UNIDO Chief, Sierra Leonean Dr Kandeh Yumkellah visiting Sierra Leone - your host Ernest Bai Koroma does not care about the rights, integrity and safety of women within the borders of Sierra Leone. All the women he cares about are those with APC party connections or those with whom he has one sort of connection/relationship or the other. President Ernest Bai Koroma shows no duty of care to the majority of women in Sierra Leone who do not have the right connections to his party and government circles. We would urge Cherie Blair to have a chat with women's groups and others concerned about the welfare of women and what would emerge would be a horror show played out in real time and involving women - disadvantaged and driven to despair by a government that cares less about their welfare.

It seems strange, very odd that the national holiday declaration has not been carried by the usual Ernest Bai Koroma gbatolite brigade, nor have the outlets thought it fit to write a thing or two about the delegation which had arrived in Sierra Leone since 6th March and which includes Cherie Blair, the wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Strange and odd, very odd.

This is sickening!!!!

MORE

Wednesday January 23, 2013 - The Auditor General's report on the 2011 Public Accounts of Sierra Leone is out and it is a catalogue of dishonesty, thieving, deception and a complete lack of respect for financial discipline as enshrined in the Constitution and other relevant documents. The defaulters - from State House through NRA to Schools and Hospitals. It is a disgrace.

The Auditor General's Annual Report 2011 and how the country's finances were managed (read mismanaged) for the year ended 31st December 2011 is out and readily available on the website of the Auditor General. It is a report which highlights what we had been expressing our fears about all along - that this EBK-led cabal is no different from that of Stevens or Momoh. In fact observers within his own party now say that the smoke and mirrors present occupant of State House is the worst - showing no respect for established rules and norms of governance. The accounting books of government and associated agencies when presented are so full of worms that for the first time the Auditor General Mrs Lara Taylor-Pierce had to comment - "The most significant outcome from my audit work for 2011 has been my professional judgment that a Disclaimer of Opinion on the Financial Statements of the Government of Sierra Leone was appropriate in the circumstances". And she gave the reasons for what she called "the pervasive reasons running through the financial statements as a whole that gave rise to this Opinion.

"I was not able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence that the External Public Debt disclosed in the Public Accounts is free from material misstatement.
I was not able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence that Domestic Revenue disclosed in the Public Accounts was free from material misstatement.
I was unable to ascertain that Government bank balances disclosed in the Public Accounts were free from material misstatement.

Issuing a Disclaimer of Opinion is not a matter I considered lightly. It is based on the facts revealed in the Public Accounts audit and other audits undertaken throughout the audit year 2011."

The previous year's report (2010) which highlighted the barefaced thieving by government functionaries with State House connections, the encouraged lawlessness and stealing of public funds rampant in our embassies and missions abroad appear to continue unabated with State House, it would seem either giving the nod or ignoring the Auditor General's reports and more especially the warning in that report. This could have given rise to the even more messier state of government accounts during 2011. Again just as was noticed in the last report the same thieving and deceitful practices have now become the norm rather than the exception and these are -  Payments without any or inadequate supporting documents. Withholding tax not deducted. Monthly bank reconciliations not prepared. Fixed Asset registers not maintained or up to date. No or ineffective Internal Audit units.

It is worth noting this attempt by the Secretary to the President when he was asked to explain why State House had not provided documents that would account for the excess use of fuel. Instead of presenting the necessary documents explaining how millions of leones worth of excess fuel was utilised, the Secretary to the President tried to browbeat the Auditor General's office by stating, among other things - "It was important to note that the office provided support to His Excellency the President who held the highest office in the land and as Head of State, the Supreme Executive Authority of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, his multifarious official duties and functions required logistic support on a timely basis.., it was their considered view that the office should be granted special dispensation to allow some degree of flexibility in fuel usage, he concluded."

The Auditor General was unimpressed and still required the needed documentation for accounting purposes no matter the multifarious duties and functions. State House has yet to account for expenses within and outside the country for which the necessary documentation is needed as a part of Sierra Leone's financial obligations to be carried out to the letter by all state and related functionaries. Links to some excerpts from the new report -

AUDITOR GENERAL'S ANNUAL REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS OF SIERRA LEONE 2011