By Asmieu Bah For the past couple of weeks, before the arrest of opposition politician Charles Margai, the debate that occupied centre stage was whether or not President Ernest Bai Koroma should run for a third term as head of state. The issue was sparked off up by one of the top echelons of the ruling All People’s Congress party, Balogun Koroma, in a series of interviews on television and radio... 

Author By Sallieu T. Kamara In years past in Sierra Leone, local tax was collected in the early dry season, a period many people considered to be the season of plenty. With the completion of harvesting of both upland and swamp rice farms, the period between December and February was always a joyous celebration of life in the villages. Food was plentiful and the local economies buoyant. So despite the... 

The theme for this year’s World Press Freedom Day was “Safe to Speak: Securing Freedom of Expression in all Media”. The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists organized a panel discussion with the lead paper presented by Victor Massaquoi. One of three discussants was Isaac Massaquoi who has put his comments together in the following article. Imagine you are on a long journey to a place you’ve... 

By Asmieu Bah It was in January this year. President Ernest Bai Koroma addressed a gathering comprising the Police, the Sierra Leone Roads Authority, Road Transport Corporation and civil society. In very strong language and tone he told them to put an end to lawlessness which he said had been permeating our society for a long time. He even said ‘’calls from above’’ would no longer be tolerated... 

By Tilly Barrie   What are the actual roles of some state institutions in Sierra Leone? I ask because their roles are vague, if at all they have any meaning so I want these institutions to explain to the populace what their roles and functions are. You will agree with me that there are a lot of misconceptions about the existence of some of these institutions or what they actually represent. For the... 

The 5 beneficiaries and the parents of the benefactor By Richard Ngevao in Bo Five girls of the R.C. Model Primary School in Bo, who sat to the National Primary School Examinations, have benefited from a tuition-free secondary school education and an annual cash envelope of Le 250,000 for their uniforms. This will be paid for by Mrs Peagie Foday, a Sierra Leonean resident in Sweden, as a start of her... 

By Jesmed E. Suma Annual rice consumption in Sierra Leone – among the region’s highest per capita – amounts to some 550,000 metric tons. While self-sufficient in rice in the 1950s, and a rice exporter as recently as in the 1970s, Sierra Leone now imports 30 percent of this staple food. Our climate is generally favourable toward agriculture, and our 5.4 million hectares of Bolilands, mangroves,... 

By Tilly Barrie When we were kids growing up we were not allowed to go out and watch lantern parade because our parents told us it was for grownups. So we would ask our older cousins to explain to us what had gone on during the parade and which lantern had come tops. The other thing we did was to go to the iconic Congo Town to watch the lantern under construction by a man called Ade, now of blessed... 

Author By Khadi Mansaray For as long as I can remember we have been happily dancing. We danced for Siaka Stevens, we danced for JS Momoh, we danced for the NPRC military junta, we danced for Tejan Kabbah and now we are dancing for Ernest Koroma. When ECOMOG ‘liberated’ Freetown people took to the streets dancing, after days of being under fire. We had lost people, property and even limbs,... 

Author By Sallieu T. Kamara I have lately become pretty shaken up by the constant stream of stories about alleged intense rivalry between the two political heavyweights in Port Loko district – Alhaji Alpha Kanu and Alhaji Kemoh Sesay. The former is Minister of Information and Communication and the latter is Minister of Political Affairs. The stories keep popping up now and again. But the more they... 

First Lady Sia Koroma and Cherie Blair of the Cherie Blair Foundation At MamaYe, we are inspired to take a retrospective look at what the month of March meant for the women of Sierra Leone, particularly in terms of accessing quality health care services. This year’s International Women’s Day saw the involvement of a high level delegation led by Sierra Leonean native UNIDO Director General, Dr....