News

By Crispina Cummings

Five journalists appointed by President Ernest Bai Koroma to serve as commissioners on the board of the Independent Media Commission were interviewed by the Committee on Appointments in parliament on Monday.

University Lecturer, Williette James – nominated to become Chairperson of the commission – described herself as “a bold, resilient and strong woman” assuring that she had “what it takes to effectively run the IMC.”

Britain is building and staffing three new laboratories in Ebola-struck Sierra Leone which will speed up the time taken to diagnose the disease and help to stop its spread across the country.

The Department for International Development (DFID) has pledged £20 million in new funding for the labs, where blood samples and swabs from all over the country will be tested for the deadly virus.

The first of the labs opened beside the UK funded Ebola treatment centre at Kerry Town last week.

By Crispina Cummings

Parliament in Sierra Leone has moved a motion to set up a committee that will monitor funds meant to contain the Ebola virus in the country.

Majority leader, Ibrahim Bundu, said it was necessary for a special committee to be established “to monitor implementing partners and public officials who have responsibilities in the fight against Ebola.”

By Joseph Lamin Kamara

CEO of the body coordinating the fight against Ebola has said Sierra Leone needs more help to tackle the spread of the disease that has claimed more than 1,000 lives since May this year.

Rtd Major Paolo Conteh said that the National Ebola Response Centre, NERC, needed “more support and we need it quickly if we are to bring down the rate of infection and get ahead of the disease.”

By Mustapha Kamara

Chief Executive Officer of the local film producer The Ushers has said that Sierra Leone has won the United Kingdom’s Black Entertainment Film, BEFFTA, award for 2014.

Pastor Aiah Momoh told journalists at their Railway Line office in Freetown that the movie ‘The Devil in Sierra Leone’ won best movie for 2014 at the England based award group.

By Mustapha Kamara

Staff of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation have urged the country’s anti-corruption commission to investigate their Director General, Gbanabone Hallowel, whose four-year mandate ended in September.

The aggrieved employees laid down their tools and blamed their boss for “mismanagement and one who has carried out other dubious activities all through his four years in office.”

By Allieu Sahid Tunkara

Principal statistician at Statistics Sierra Leone has disclosed that the inflationary trend in the country “has risen and will continue to rise due to restricted movements in farming communities and the depreciation of the country’s currency.”