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National Electoral Commission says it will charge all presidential candidates in the forthcoming election Le 100 million as nomination fee, up from Le 1 million in 2007, while parliamentary candidates will be required to pay Le 25 million up from Le 250,000. In a press release issued in Freetown on Monday, NEC Chairperson Christiana Thorpe says all fees levied on mayoral, local council and paramount... 

Hundreds of residents of Lunsar town in the northern Port Loko district have blasted the iron ore miner, London Mining Company. They vented out their palpable feeling of anger at a 2-hour long debate organised by the BBC Media Action for community people, their leaders and mining companies, to discuss the benefits of minerals in their locality. Less than twenty people said the minerals in their area... 

London Mining company has signed a US$110 million royalty agreement with BlackRock’s World Mining Trust for iron ore sales from its Marampa mine in Lunsar, Port Loko district. It led to a 16% jump in shares to 172 pence for the iron ore miner. The royalty is 2 per cent and is based on sales over the whole life of the company. London Mining will get the money three days after expected completion... 

The Executive Director of the Attitudinal and Behavioural Change (ABC) Secretariat, Dr Ivan Ajibola Thomas has bemoaned the “rampant manifestation of negative attitudes at all levels of Sierra Leone, more so educational institutions, traditional organisations, Sierra Leone Police, contractors, transport sector, justice system, politics and mining sector among others”. Speaking at an orientation... 

The Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff of ECOWAS Member States has endorsed the report and outcome of the Technical Assessment Mission to Mali and called for international support for the planned deployment of an ECOWAS Mission in Mali (MICEMA) to help restore the country’s national integrity and return constitutional order. According to release from ECOWAS, the Committee also fixed 9th August... 

The wife of the President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, Mrs. Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, has called for synergy, complementarity, strong partnership and collaboration between the African First Ladies Peace Mission and the Commission for the promotion of continental peace and development, according to a press release from ECOWAS. She was addressing the 7th Summit... 

We have great respect for the man who is Minister of Sports and Youth Employment of Sierra Leone, Paul Kamara. But certainly not because of what he has done as minister. We believe he has done tremendous things for this country in the past as a fearless and opinionated journalist who stood for what his conscience told him was right. He may have got some of it wrong some of the time – obviously he... 

THE MOTHER OF ALL PRESS CONFERENCES We have been to more than one thousand and one press conferences in our many years in journalism but we have never seen a press conference as carefully choreographed as the one CHIEF SIDIKIE and his staff used to “clear” his name.” Even the Americans with their love for slick presentations were put to shame on Tower Hill by CHIEF SIDIKIE. Was that really a... 

By Umaru Fofana “High we exalt thee, realm of the free; Great is the love we have for thee; Firmly united ever we stand…Land that we love our Sierra Leone”. These words to our national anthem are perhaps the words we have been most insincere with and among the most abused by us. Our behaviour as citizens leaves a lot to be desired. If Sierra Leone were a human being it would have protested.... 

By James Tamba Lebbie Once again, Vice President, Alhaji Sahr Abubakarr Sidikie Samuel Sam Sumana has been in the news instead of being a source of news, and once again, for all the wrong reasons. And once again like in previous scandals, his guilt or innocence is to a large degree, contingent on where one stands within the political spectrum, or the perception one has of him both in his personal...