News

British army personnel, 85 in number, mostly medics, arrived yesterday in Sierra Leone to respond to the Ebola disease which is spreading thick and fast and wide in the country.

Civilians waved to the troops welcoming them to the country amid scenes that looked like an enactment of the war days when British troops were given a messianic welcome.

By Steven Bockarie Mansaray

There was panic in the northern Koinadugu district, until recently the only Ebola free district, after news of a confirmed case of the deadly virus was reported by a local radio in Kabala on Monday.

This was confirmed by the chairman of the district Ebola taskforce, Dr. Fasineh Samura.

By Septimus Senessie in Kono

Chairman of the Kono district council was called in for questioning by the police in Freetown on allegations that he “converted food donated by the World Food Programme, WFP, for Ebola victims for selfish benefit.”

Aiah Abdulrahman Koninga was invited at the Criminal Investigations Departmenton Pademba Road after authorities in Freetown were asked to account for 300 bags of rice and an equal number of bags of bulgur they got from WFP.

By Bampia James Bundu

There was commotion yesterday at the Dwazark junction after another clash ensued between commercial bike riders and the Sierra Leone Police, leaving over twenty motor bikes and riders arrested and the park closed.

Police Superintendent, Ambrose Sovula, who spoke to journalists at the scene said the riders had been transporting passengers to and from the Central Business District, CBD, where they had been banned.

By Joseph Lamin Kamara

Madingo Jamma’t in Freetown has yesterday received its own share of the pecuniary legacy of late former president Tejan Kabbah who died at his Juba residence in Freetown on March 13 this year.

Family lawyer, Alhaji Amadu Deen Tejan-Sie, said Kabbah had dedicated 5% of his wealth to his brothers, sisters, his longest serving staff and the Madingo Islamic organisation at Magazine Cut, east of Freetown.

By Bampia James Bundu

Stakeholders in the northern town of Lunsar have warned a local radio station to stop “reckless journalism and avoid fanning the flames of discord in the community”.

The community leaders of Marampa chiefdom claimed that they had to stop the Radio Lunsar,which broadcast talk show programmes at weekends, to stop attacking personalities of people in the community.

By Mustapha Kamara

Handicap International, a local non-governmental organisation in Sierra Leone, has called on the government to “pay special attention to Persons With Disabilities, PWDs, and protect them against the deadly Ebola virus”.

In an interview with Politico, its Social Inclusion and Rights Coordinator, Amanda Crookes, said that many disabledpeople in the country were living in the slums, adding that that had made them “two times vulnerable to contracting the disease than other citizens because of their situation”.