News

By Septimus Senessie in Kono

Last season’s wildfire outbreak left a massive destruction in its wake in Kono, development and agricultural officials have said.

Farmers are the most affected by the infernos that affected about half a dozen chiefdoms in the district known best for its diamond reserves.

By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay 

The head of Project Implementation at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), Dr Saran Kamara, has said the ministry has a plan to save the lives of up to 600 women and 5000 babies by 2018.

This plan is part of the President’s Recovery Priorities (PRP) that is set to be launched shortly. The PRP is the second phase of the post-Ebola recovery programme of the government. It succeeded the Post Ebola Recovery Plan [first phase].

This second phase is expected to last from April 2016 through July 2017.

A civil society developed manual that will boost local council efforts at becoming viable through local economic development around natural resource extraction has been unveiled to trainers in Bo, southern Sierra Leone.

By Kemo Cham

The Sierra Leone government is set to reject repeated advice by World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) not to go ahead with its project to build a new airport  at Mammamah just outside the capital.

The second such facility after the Freetown International Airport in Lungi has been a thorny issue, with the two international lenders vehemently opposing the idea, citing its effect on the country’s ability to service the funding involved.

By Mohamed T Massaquoi 

NGOs in Pujehun are working in isolation and in effect misusing donor funds, members of the Pujehun District Disaster Management Committee have claimed.

The committee, at its weekly meeting last week lamented that lack of cooperation between the relevant authorities and NGOs meant that everyone was working on their own projects so that the outcomes impact less on the targeted communities.

By Mabinty M Kamara

Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have met for the validation of their score cards on the implementation of the National Anti Corruption Strategy (NACS), a dispatch from the Anti Corruption Commission said.

The validation of the performance score cards is in line with measures taken by the MDA’s to address key corruption areas that hinder service delivery in Sierra Leone, the Commission said in a report.

Lungi airport

By Umaru Fofana

Reports are just emerging of a major security breach at the Lungi international airport as a man attempted to board an Air France plane with petrol, a matchbox and a cigarette lighter on him, among other things.