International News

September14, 2019: By Elkass Sannoh The most topical issue in Sierra Leone today, arguably, is the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) results which have exposed the rottenness of the country’s education system. I am premising my article on a speech delivered by the 46th Governor of Texas who later became the 43rd President of the United States of America, George Walker Bush. In his address to the nation on 17th January, 2001, former President of the United States, George W. Bush said, “We cannot move ahead without education. The first order of business is education reform, and we …continue reading

Courtesy of NYT September 14, 2019 Cyril Ramaphosa paying respects at Robert Mugabe’s funeral Mourners interrupted the funeral for Robert Mugabe with boos and catcalls Saturday as South African president Cyril Ramaphosa tried to eulogize the ousted dictator of Zimbabawe. A recent wave of anti-immigrant violence in Johannesburg, South Africa has killed twelve people and caused widespread looting, forcing hundreds of Zimbabwean and other foreign nationals into shelters after mobs destroyed their businesses and homes. “I stand before you as a fellow African to express my regret and apologize for what has happened in our country,” Ramaphosa said in an …continue reading

:13 September 2019: By Staff Writer Sierra Leone’s cabinet through the Ministry of Information and Communication and the Ministry of Justice, yesterday, Wednesday 11th September 2019, approved a repeal of Part V of the 1965 Public Order Act. The Minister of Information and Communications, Abdul Rahman Swaray says that the Attorney General and Minister of Justice will table the repeal Bill in Parliament, when the legislators resume sessions this month. The Public Order Act of 1965 in Sierra Leone is an Act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to public order. Part V of the act deals with laws …continue reading

September 13,  2019 By Abdul R. Thomas   Many members and supporters of the opposition All People’s Congress Party (APC) have expressed their dismay at the decision of the APC leadership to meet with president Bio at State House yesterday to discuss peace and national cohesion. They criticise the former president and his executive, accusing them of betrayal and sell-out. But are these criticisms and accusations fair? Speaking to the APC party communications campaign group known as TAGMEN, the APC party Secretary General – Dr Osman Yansaneh said that the APC party will do everything within its power, to help …continue reading

By Staff Writer (SLT) A high level meeting was held at State house this morning, Thursday, 12 September 2019, between the leadership of Sierra Leone’s main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) party and president Julius Maada Bio. Both sides have been at loggerheads since general and presidential elections were won by the Bio-led Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) in March 2018, following protests by the APC leadership about a range of issues, including the sacking of public officials believed to be supporters of the APC, the arrest of over 20 members of the APC at the recent by-election campaigning at Hamilton, …continue reading

September 11, 2019 By Abdulai Mansaray: (SLT) Sierra Leone is fast becoming a nation, loaded with paradoxical ironies. These paradoxical ironies do not only manifest themselves in the relationships between our rich mineral resources and abject poverty, but even extend to the violence and corruption that seems to have infested our country, right through its social fabric. It goes without saying that as a people of a nation, we are unapologetically poor. We can also agree that 90% of the causes of our poverty is down to the reckless abandon with witch corruption has been transformed as a way of …continue reading

 11 September 2019: Sierra Leone’s main opposition APC party’s member of parliament – Chernoh Ramadan Maju Bah – aka Chericoco (MP), has written a letter to the country’s Chief Justice, regarding the undue delay in setting a date for the Supreme Court hearing of the 2018 general election petition cases filed by the opposition, languishing at the offices of the Chief Justice for several months, and in some cases, for over a year. This is what he says: My Lord Chief Justice, RE: DELAYS IN ASSIGNING AND EXPEDITING CONSTITUTIONAL AND ELECTORAL MATTERS PENDING BEFORE THE COURTS  The Parliamentary leadership of …continue reading

By Staff Writer (SLCT) Executive Members of the Sierra Leone Labour Congress, SLLC, have called on President Dr Julius Maada Bio to present him with an award and appreciate the achievements of his New Direction Government. Making his presentation at State House, President of the SLLC, Genna Wright, said they were pleased with the strides of the government, saying that they were impressed with the gains made in under two years. He said they believed in the convention of social dialogue with government and in the interest of the country. The SLLC Chief also commended President Bio for delivering on …continue reading

Live TV  Analysis by David McKenzie, CNN Sunday September 08, 2019   Johannesburg, South Africa(CNN)When I travel out of South Africa, I am often asked a version of the same question. “So, what will you be doing in Africa?” The question usually comes with a slightly horrified look, or with genuine puzzlement. And it generally comes from South Africans. As a South African, who has lived extensively overseas, that detached way of looking at the rest of the continent – and its people — has often puzzled me. This week at least 10 people were killed, and hundreds arrested in a …continue reading