News

By Crispina Taylor

Members of parliament have asked the Sierra Leone Roads Authorityto further consult with relevant parties, the construction company China Railway Seventh Group and the ministry of transport, involved in the Wellington-Masiaka road construction agreement.

By Kemo Cham

A landmark High Court ruling in Freetown has rendered null and void a deal involving a Chinese company that has been accused by locals of illegally acquiring vast portions of land for plantation purposes.

Orient Agricultural Limited was recently ordered to restore some 1, 486 acres of land to dozens of families in the eastern Kono district, lawyers representing the land owners have told Politico.

By Crispina Taylor

Member of Parliament, MP, representing Constituency 105 in central Freetown, Ibrahim Kamara, has accused insurance companies of misappropriating monies paid to them as contributions by agencies and individuals.

Making his submission at a pre-legislative meeting on a bill titled: “The Insurance Act of 2015”, Kamara said vehicle owners paid contributions to insurance companies only because it was a legal obligation, noting that most survivors and relatives of deceased in accident situations received no compensation.

By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay 

The Sierra Leone government has rejected calls by civil society activist and a consumer protection body to reduce the pump price of fuel which stands at Le3,750 per liter, citing heavy burden caused by subsidy.

The campaigners cited the sharp fall in crude oil prices on the global market in the last few weeks as a compelling reason to get the government to reduce the pump prices, drawing examples from neighboring countries where governments had yielded to public demands.

By Mustapha Kamara Junior

South African based global charity, ActionAid International, has called on Sierra Leone and other low income countries review their tax treaties as a way of maximizing their revenue bases.

The organization said that revenue generation from taxes levied on multinational companies in lower income countries could ensure a lasting change on the socio-economic development of their people.

By Kemo Cham

Sierra Leone has concluded a four-day anti-polio campaign with a nationwide mass vaccination exercise.

About 1, 493, 785 children were targeted in the first round of the Polio campaign planned for 2016 as part of the Child Health/Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) revitalization plans.

The exercise, which ran from Friday February 26 to Monday February 29, was supported by the UN agencies WHO and Unicef.

By Kemo Cham

A study released last week has indicated that the experimental Ebola treatment ZMapp has promising potential in treating patients of the deadly viral disease.

The study findings show that the drug sharply increases the chance of surviving virus, according to details released at last week’s medical conference in the US.