News

By Crispina Cummings

A special parliamentary select committee on nongovernmental organisations has ordered the Environmental Justice Foundation, EJF, to stop operations.

EJF is an organisation operating in and dedicated to marine and related issues in the Bonthe district.

The committee chairman, Claude Kamanda, MP, said they had reached that conclusion after they found out that the organisation was operating "illegally" in the country.

“They have not renewed their operations license since it expired in 2012”, he said.

By Crispina Cummings

Parliament on Wednesday engaged top officials of the Sierra Leone police on information-sharing and the need for continuous dialogue.

Deputy Speaker, Chernor Bah said the police and parliament needed to work together in to enhance mutual development, adding that the two institutions co-existed to maintain peace and security in the country.

By Bampia James Bundu

Telecoms operator Africell is set to give away a whooping sum of Le 500 million to subscribers taking part in the “Play and Win” promotion.

At the launch in Freetown, chief corporate affairs officer of Africell, Joe Abass Bangura, explained that the “Play and Win” campaign would allow subscribers to win cash prizes on a daily basis.

...As Sierra Leone sacks Chief of Staff

President Ernest Bai Koroma last night sacked his Chief of Defence Staff, Dr Richard Konteh. A press release from State House gave as reason the allegation that "he was not open and transparent in the conduct of official negotiations for a mining agreement with a private sector operator, thereby violating established policy, undermining existing institutional arrangements, and exposing government to potential loss of revenue". It is not clear which mining company it is.

There appears to be no let-up in the Ebola menace in Sierra Leone. Just two weeks since the haemorrhagic fever was first confirmed in the country the death toll is rising fast.

Sierra Leone's Director of Disease Prevention and Control, Dr Amara Jambai says at least 12 people have died of the disease, doubling the number of deaths just last week.

"It is very difficult for us to ascertain community deaths at this moment, but the 12 deaths are the ones the hospital can definitely confirm to have died of Ebola", inferring that the death toll could be much higher.

A commercial motorbike (Okada) rider in Bo died yesterday after a bike chase on the Kenema highway. The chairman of the Bike Riders Association in Bo said that it all started on Monday morning when the deceased was trying to avoid arrest by a traffic warden because he was allegedly riding without a crash helmet.

Sorie Saccoh told Politico that the rider was trying to avoid arrest by taking a sharp bend along the Kenema highway when his bike skidded and fell on the ground, hit his head on a brick and apparently died on the spot.