News

By Saio Marrah

The Fifty-Fifty Group in partnership with Plan International-Sierra Leone has on Friday 10^th of December 2021 ended the 16 days of activism, a campaign focused on Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) against women and girls.  

The climax of the campaign that ended on the International Human Rights Day, started on the 25^th of November this year with the theme: “Stop Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Sierra Leone Now!”

By Mabinty M. Kamara

Women’s rights campaigners have called for action over the death of Zainab Kamara. The 28-year-old died on the 7 December 2021 after she had undergone a surgery on the 21 October to remove a pair of forceps (scissors) lodged in her abdomen for seven years. The operation took place at the Massanga Hospital in Tonkolili district, northern Sierra Leone.   

By politico staff writer

Omicron, the newly discovered variant of COVID-19 was on the 25^th of November confirmed on an inbound flight passenger from Nigeria who arrived at the Freetown International Airport.

A joint press statement from NaCOVERC and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation acknowledged the presence of the variant in Sierra Leone and equally underscored the need for “vaccination uptake and general precautionary measures needed to protect the population against COVID-19”.

By Mabinty M. Kamara

Ahead of the tribunal to investigate the suspended Auditor General, Lara Taylor-Pearce and one of her deputies, Tamba Momoh, the Audit Service Sierra Leone has on the 9^th of December 2021 presented the 2020 annual report to the house of parliament.

By Mohamed Foday Conteh

Justice Momoh-Jah Stevens has ordered for a pupil, Jacob Musa, to be remanded in prison based on allegations that he sexually penetrated his 17-year-old ‘girlfriend’.

Musa was arraigned at the Sexual Offences Model Court in Freetown on Wednesday 8^th December this year.

New evidence of the matter was revealed in court on Wednesday after the State Prosecutor, Musa Pious Sesay Jr. led Detective Sergeant 11234, Charles Conteh, in evidence as to the third witness for the prosecution.

By Mohamed Macarthy

In their continued fight against Gender Based Violence in Sierra Leone, Plan International Sierra Leone on the 8^th December 2021 advocated for a robust end to Gender Based Violence and other domestic crimes against women and girls.

The advocacy which took place at the Lumley roundabout in Freetown attracted women and girls and other reputable advocacy networks from other districts across the country.

By Saio Marrah

Landowners of Maforkie and Marampa Chiefdoms in Port Loko District have called on the government to make sure Sierramin Bauxite Mining Company pays the two years surface rent and salaries of 394 workers.

They made this request when officials from the National Minerals Agency and Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources went to the Marampa Chiefdom on Wednesday 8^th of December 2021 to update them about the government's decision to cancel the mining license of the company.