Season’s Greetings to all our readers and advertisers! Thanks for standing by us through the difficulties that the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia - Ukraine war brought upon us. We hope 2024 will be a much better and more progressive year than 2023.
This dying year, like the last, has been a bit challenging but a worthy one for us here at Free Media (Publishers of Politico Newspaper). Advertising was few and far between, sales dropped considerably while production costs increased exponentially, with some suppliers using the global economic challenges as a fig leaf for their price increases. We had to drop on production considerably towards the end of the year. Amid the economic challenges, our court reporter Abass Jalloh left us to return to Fourah Bay College to study law as we closed the year in 2022.
However, we were later joined by Ibrahin Sorie Fofanah and Abdulai Fasineh Dumbuya, the latter being the only intern we could admit in 2023 due to limited space and other considerations. Saio Marrah replaced Abass Jalloh in court.
Nasratu Kargbo went to Parliament, Chernor Alimamy Kamara was assigned to cover sport and other beats, and Ibrahim Sorie Fofanah was entrusted with the not too easy challenge of doing general reporting.
As we hope to expand our production and reach, to cover other areas in Sierra Leone by 2024, we wish to engage online production more, given the demand for such content and the hike in the cost of printing materials. We will activate our social media pages including our website to ensure they are regularly updated with content as and when stories break.
In 2023, like every other year, we reported on many issues ranging from development, politics, human rights, health, economics, water, and sanitation to infrastructure amongst others. But the one that saddened us the most was the story of the young university student Namisa whose death remains a mystery for which nobody has been brought to court.
She mysteriously went missing for days after doing her normal routine of leaving her mother’s place to go to the residence of the Bobani-Browne family; a family friend of the deceased to assist with some domestic chores. Her family was later alerted by the daughter of the Bobani-Brownes. According to what we were told, the lady came home from work and discovered that Namisa was absent from home and the gate of the compound was wide open with the TV tuned to her favourite channel Zee World and her slippers, earphones all found in the living room.
Her decomposed body was later found in a shallow grave in the same compound at Sumaila Town in Freetown by some youths playing football. The young boys had gone into the compound to fetch their ball that had strayed there.
After several reports and calls for action and justice from family members, the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sierra Leone Police could not prosecute the matter claiming that the evidence available to them did not reach the threshold to prosecute.
We will not rest in the New Year until someone is held accountable.
Please remember to stay safe and cooperate with the security sector as you enjoy the holiday amid the current security situation in the country caused by the November 26 security incident which the government now says was a coup attempt.
Happy New Year from all of us at Politico.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (22/12/23)
