News

By Newman Anthony Levay

School bus drivers in Bo have raised concern over suspicious deductions from their monthly salaries by the City Council.

The aggrieved drivers said the Council told them that the deductions were for their contributions to the National Social Security and Insurance Trust.

By Hajaratu Kalokoh

An injunction on the elections for the student leadership of the Law Department at Fourah Bay College (FBC) sparked violence on Wednesday at the college’s campus on Mount Aureole.

The students were demanding that the elections, which had been scheduled for the day, be held as planned.

The college’s administration and the general Student Union had postponed the vote due to alleged constitutional violations by some of the candidates. 

The protest degenerated into physical assault against innocent students.

By Kemo Cham

An aggrieved Sierra Leonean passenger is angry with Asky Airlines over how it is handling his complaint of missing baggage.

Sheku Kamara, who traveled from China to Freetown onboard an Asky flight on November 21, 2019, said on arrival at Lungi he couldn’t locate one of his baggage. The flight transited in Accra, Ghana, where Kamara said he last saw the missing luggage. 

By Kemo Cham

Some 8-years after his unceremonious departure from Sierra Leone, German diplomat and ex-UN official, Michael von der Schulenburg returned to the country a triumphant man.

Mr Schulenburg was honored with one of Sierra Leone’s highest awards - Grand Commander of the Order of the Republic – by President Julius Maada Bio last week.

A statement from the presidency on Friday said the German born diplomat was recognized for his “exceptional contribution” to sustainable peace and democracy in the country.  

By Kemo Cham

The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has ordered the Gambian government to pay 10 opposition figures $100,000 each over a 2016 incident in which they were detained and tortured.

The complainants include Ousainou Darboe, the country’s main opposition leader and head of the United Democratic Party (UDP), as well as nine other top members of the party.

By Mabinty M. Kamara

Relatives of a recruit who died while on training have questioned the process of training of recruits by the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF).

Twenty-six year old Sulaiman Marrah, a journalist, died on training in Makeni. Sources said he collapsed while he and his co-trainees were engaged in a running exercise.

By Francis H. Murray

Sierra Leone has moved ten places upwards in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (TI-CPI), according to the latest [2019] report.

This is the most drastic improvement the country has ever made in the last five years, indicating that the Bio administration’s clampdown on corruption maybe working.