News

By Mohamed T Massaquoi in Bo

The number of deaths due to malnutrition in the southern Pujehun District of Sierra Leone is rising at an “alarming rate”, a health campaign group has warned. 

Health for All Coalition (H4AC) is concerned that malnutrition in the district remains a major concern as children are dying in “large numbers”.

Eighteen Sierra Leoneans have completed an intensive course in disease surveillance as part of the United States government’s support to the country’s preparedness against a public heath emergency.

The US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) conducted the training designed to help Sierra Leone detect and prevent a recurrence of the 2014/15 outbreak of the Ebola epidemic, the US embassy said Monday. It said the training was part of assistance in building Sierra Leone’s capacity to prevent the next Ebola outbreak.

The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRCSL) maintains its Grade A National Human Rights Institution status, according to a ranking by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), a statement by the Commission says.

According to the Chairman of the HRCSL, Brima Sheriff the country is the only one in the Mano River Union and one of only four in West Africa with a Grade A status. 

The commission says the ranking indicates the Sierra Leonean rights monitor has fulfilled its obligations under the Paris Principles, among others.

By Kemo Cham

Sierra Leone will be better off under a parliamentary democracy, argue a group of concerned citizens who are part of a new campaign pushing to return the country to the system it abandoned nearly four decades ago.

The group, calling itself Sierra Leoneans for Parliamentary Democracy (SLPD), says the current presidential system is characterised by ethnic politics and is responsible for the poor state of the nation. 

Liberia has sent a six-member delegation to Sierra Leone to study the country’s Human Rights Commission (HRCSL).

Sierra Leone’s Anti-Corruption Commission says it has uncovered examinations malpractice in the eastern Kono District during the ongoing  West Africa-wide secondary school-leaving examinations. 

A statement from the commission says this came about on Saturday 10th September during “random checks” it conducted at exams centres across the country aimed at “improving integrity” in the education sector.

Police in Sierra Leone have announced a scheme under which informants will receive a cash reward, as part of an operation designed to stem rising youth violence in the capital, Freetown.

Anyone who provides information leading to the arrest of any clique or gang leader who are known as 5’O, will receive Le 2 million (US$ 285), a statement issued this week says.

The statement, signed by the Inspector General of Police, Francis Munu, laments over the rise in youth crime which it says has become a menace to society.