News

By Kemo Cham

The Sierra Leone Airport Authority (SLAA) briefly detained an Air Cote d'Ivoire plane on Friday, preventing it from leaving Freetown over unpaid tax. The flight was supposed to be the last by the Ivorian airline which announced last week that it was suspending its operation in the country due to poor business performance, thanks to the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A source within the airport management confirmed the development but declined to comment further because they were not permitted to do so.

By Prince J Musa in Kenema

The United Methodist Church (UMC), one of the leading Christian missions in Sierra Leone, has ended its bi-annual conference for 2020 with the theme: “Forget what is behind, press forward toward the goal’’.

The purpose of the conference, authorities say, is for circuit members and Bishops to make a formal presentation of their yearly reports to the council members.

The two-day conference attracted mission clergies across the country.

By Francis H. Murray

A coalition of rights-based Civil Society Organizations (CSO) has called on the leadership of Parliament to reinstate four of its members who were suspended from participating in parliamentary committee proceedings.

‘‘We hereby urge the Speaker of Parliament and the leadership of all the political parties represented in parliament to immediately take steps to re-instate all parliamentary entitlements and privileges to the affected parliamentarians,’’ the coalition noted.

By Mabinty M. Kamara

Members of the Sierra Leone Parliament have committed to play their part towards the eradication of malaria in Sierra Leone, as part of the global eradication goal target for 2030.

The Director of Communications at the University of Sierra Leone, Dr. Tonya Musa has in a telephone interview with Politico on Friday disclosed that Fourah Bay College students will start residing in the refurbished and newly constructed dormitories between January and March next year.

Dr. Musa said by that time, two remaining tasks, the installation of the pre-paid meters and reconnecting of the water supply system to the hostels would have been completed.

By Kemo Cham

The Council of Churches Sierra Leone (CCSL) has appealed for calm, amidst rising tension as a result of the recently published Commissions of Inquiry (COI) reports and the subsequent government White paper.

By Francis H Murray

Magistrate Hannah Bonnie in Freetown has expressed disappointment at the conduct of deference lawyers, which she said often result in unnecessary delays of court proceedings.

She described the attitude of some defence lawyers in respect of their representation of litigants as appalling, noting that it conflicted with the principle of expeditious trial.