Key Note Address by His Excellency the President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma Sierra Leone Conference on Development and Transformation The journey of the next fifty years of independence has begun; and we are gathered here today to map out how we are going to make it better than the journey we made during the last fifty years. This Conference is a moment for solidifying our collective promise to make this... 

He says his approach to Hip Hop is different, free from violence, and containing lots of drama. The Banker rapper, Alex Fakondo aka Lex Bubble, has at least 5 years left to pursue his dream which is putting Salone on the International level of music and possibly winning the MMA, BET Awards, Channel O, or better yet, a Grammy with the Green, White and Blue displayed and the High We Exhault Thee blaring.... 

By Umaru Fofana The man regarded as an outsider and one of the not-too-many technocrats in the current administration has been sacked. Energy and Water Resources Minister Professor Ogunlade Davidson was relieved of his duties yesterday by President Ernest Bai Koroma with Oluniyi Robbin-Coker announced as the minister-designate pending ratification by Parliament. No reasons were given in the press release... 

By Tanu Jalloh When the diamond mines surfaced in the 1930s the country glittered. The economy boomed. But when they almost diminished after eight decades, they left behind misery, hatred, greed and war. The hopes they had raised were razed. However, resources generated by the mines, then, were the major forces behind the country’s glosses. With the mines, there were hopes, but also was money. The... 

By Isaac Massaquoi Sierra Leone music has indeed come a long way. A man from humble beginnings in the west end of Freetown was destined to be the one to revolutionise the Sierra Leone music industry after more than two decades of inertia and mediocrity. I bet that Jimmy B will cringe at the sudden turn of events. As I write we have musicians before the courts after an unusual gun battle beginning with... 

By James Tamba Lebbie Whether justified or a display of an unnecessary use of force, the just-concluded local government bye-election in Freetown has again brought to the fore the vexed issue of the (mis)conduct of our police. In the estimation of many right-thinking observers, the police, once again displayed their pro-establishment sentiments rather than conducting themselves as a neutral, professional... 

Sierra Leone’s reputation of being one of the United Nations’ success stories seems to be hanging on a thread. Worst still, the apprehension within UN circles that the country risks sliding back into another conflict if peace is not consolidated, is realistic. It does not take a rocket scientist to acknowledge that something is wrong with Sierra Leone because graphic writings are on the wall for... 

The Dilemma and Contradictions of Public Service Broadcasting By James Tamba Lebbie The object of this piece is to outline the dilemma and contradictions of public service broadcasting and to critically analyse whether the SLBC could enhance public discourse in the current circumstance. However, in this first of a four-part series of his perspective on public service broadcasting, James Tamba Lebbie... 

Aware of the tribal and regional dichotomy that has permeated the politics of Sierra Leone as epitomised by the only two political parties (SLPP and APC) that have ruled our country since independence fifty years ago, Politico aims to help detribalise and de-regionalise our politics for the amelioration of the plight of the ordinary Sierra Leonean no matter where they are or who they may have voted... 

By Umaru Fofana You don’t throw the baby with the bathwater, it is said. When we are reminded about it we respond testily insisting we always remember not to. And when we are not, often times we do do it and by the time we realise it the baby is in problems. The year was 2007, in the US state of Pennsylvania. The venue was Drexel University in Philadelphia. The Democratic Party debate for the... 

You have a lot of reading to do on politics – especially political strategy and fund-raising – if you have not read from Joe Garecht the Philadelphia-based entrepreneur and big thinker. And in Sierra Leone where the culture of reading is in a state of coma, I bet there are very few people running or intending to run for public office this year who have read any book or periodical recently about...