News

By Mabinty M. Kamara

The Sierra Leone Police (SLP) has announced Elizabeth Augusta Turay as the new Deputy Inspector General of the force. She becomes the first woman to occupy the position.

The announcement was made by the SLP on Thursday after approval by the Sierra Leone Police Council.

DIG Turay joined the SLP in 1988 as a cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police and has risen through the ranks in the last three decades. Until her new appointment, she was the first woman to become Head of Operations in the force.

By Francis H. Murray

Detective Inspector Joseph Abubarkarr Sanu of the Scientific Support unit of the Criminal Investigations Department has told a high court in Freetown that he was on duty at the CID headquarters on the 30 March 2020 when Detective Inspector Aminata Kamara of the Breaking and Larceny Syndicate submitted specimens to him for expert examination on behalf of Detective Superintendent M. K Allieu, the operations officer at the CID.

By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay

The Minister of Information, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, has told Politico that the government is still committed to repealing the Criminal Libel in the Public Order Act, despite a setback in parliament.

On Tuesday the House of Parliament withdrew the bill that’s expected to bring to the over half a century-old law journalists and other human rights campaigners say hinder their work.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Swaray said: “Government is still irrevocably committed to repealing the Criminal Libel Law.”

By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay

The Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) and the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) have praised Heal Sierra Leone (HSL) for its new e-learning platform initiative.

Officials from both institutions were part of the official launch of the platform on Wednesday, at Heal Sierra Leone’s Head Office in Freetown. The launching comes after months of work behind the scenes to build the system and the studio.

By Kemo Cham

There has been a drastic reduction in hospital attendance in Sierra Leone’s eastern Kailahun District due to fear of Covid-19, a new report has revealed this week.

By Umaru Fofana

At least 124 Sierra Leoneans are stranded at the fringes of the Sahara desert town of Agadez, in Niger, after their failed bid to make it to Europe.

A spokesman for the stranded migrants, Osman Koroma, told Politico that they’re all men who left home between six months and three years ago but were turned back when some of them reached Algeria and others Libya.

He said they were taken to the Algerian border with Niger from where they trekked to the desert town of Assamaka in northern Niger.

By Mabinty M. Kamara

Some residents under quarantine in Freetown have accused officials of the National Covid-19 Response Team of neglect and discrimination, which they say have made life in isolation unbearable.

Besides prolonged delay in providing test results, which lengthens the period people spend in quarantine, the EOC is also accused of failing in its responsibility of providing support in the form of food or medication for people in quarantine.