News

By Kemo Cham

Four presidential aspirants in the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) have thrown their weight behind Alpha Timbo who last week formally announced his candidacy for the flag bearer ticket.

The SLPP is due to go for its much anticipated convention which is slated for an unknown date.

Alie Kabba, Francis Lahai, Munda Rogers and John Oponjo Benjamin joined Mr Timbo in Makeni last Saturday, April 30, where he announced his intention to run for the party’s ticket to contest the presidency in elections slated for 2018.

By Septimus Senessie in Kono

Alocal civil society organisation operating in the eastern region, Dignity Now, has awarded Le180 million grant to 30 youth and women’s organisations in the region that promote democracy and the rule of law.

The beneficiary groups are based in the three districts of Kailahun, Kenema and Kono which make up the region.

By Mustapha Sesay 

As the world celebrates World Press Freedom Day on May 3^rd, members of the Sierra Leone Association Journalists (SLAJ) have again called on government “not to pay lip service” but to go further and “demonstrate true commitment to press freedom” in the country.

Politico reporter in Kono District, Septimus Senessie, has reported a death threat allegedly issued by supporters of the Acting Mayor of Koidu, Aiah Bartholomew Boima Komba.

Senessie, who was recently attacked by men known to be loyal to the mayor, said they accused him of reporting negatively on his office and the Council.

The reporter also accused the local police chief of Tankoro Division, Chief Superintendent David Sahid Koroma, of making similar threats on allegation of bias reporting.

By Mabinty Kamara 

A 2015 report from the Needy Child International indicates that forty nine thousand six hundred and ninety-six (49,696) Sierra Leonean children work and live on the streets.

While two thousand seven hundred (2,700) live permanently on the streets, forty-five thousand (45,000) children between the ages of 6-15 in the Western Area of Sierra Leone are not going to school but are engaged in stone mining.

By Mustapha Kamara Jnr

In a bid to empower film makers in Sierra Leone, ‘We Own TV’, a local media organisation in the country, is planning to disburse a $60,000grant to seven film makers in the country.

Arthur Pratt, Co-founder, We Own TV, told a presser in Freetown that the amount,equalled Le 360 million, was meant for individual documentary film makers, who had sent in proposals of documentary projects in February 2016, to be implemented during the “We Own TV Story Challenge”.

By Hassan Ibrahim Conteh

President Ernest Bai Koroma has on Monday launched the National Employment Policy Strategy and implementation plan.

The policy aims at ensuring rapid economic growth and promotion of sustainable development. President Koroma, speaking at the occasion organized to commemorate Workers’ Day, said the launching of the policy document was in line with his government’s commitment to address the challenges affecting the administration of some of the employment sectors in the country.