News

By Mabinty Kamara

Religious leaders have voted unanimously against the ‘Safe Abortion Act 2015’ at the end of an interfaith summit convened to discuss the increasingly controversial piece of proposed legislation.

The summit hosted at the Saint Anthony’s Church on Syke Street in Freetown was called by the Inter Religious Council (IRC) which was leading a campaign against what it believed would set the country on the path to moral decadence.

By Mabinty Kamara

The Sierra Leone National Commission on Small Arms (SLNCSA) has announced a 90-day amnesty to allow people with unregistered guns hand them over or have them licensed.

The amnesty runs from between 1, January and 31, March 2016, said (Rtd) Colonel Saa Anthony Sinah, Deputy Commissioner, SLNCSA, adding that it covered non-military weapons allowed to be used only for gaming and security purposes.

As the Ebola outbreak keeps ebbing and flowing a giant step has been taken to prepare Sierra Leone against infectious diseases generally - including the Ebola virus.

On Friday 22 January 2016 Minister of Health, Dr Abubakarr Fofanah officially opened Sierra Leone’s first ever research laboratory for infectious diseases complete to do genome sequencing.

Former United Nations Undersecretary General and presidential candidate for the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), says Sierra Leoneans are suffering and “things are very bad in this nation”.

Speaking to Politico, Dr Kandeh Yumkella said most of the major investments in the country had collapsed.

“The mining sector is in the doldrums, two of our big investments - one in diamonds, the other in bioenergy - all in trouble” he said, adding: “there are many things wrong here about wealth creation and jobs that he should be focusing on” instead of the “More Time”.

By Kemo Cham

Sierra Leone is playing host to a delegation from the United States as part of efforts to advance the Global Health Security Agenda(GHSA), the US embassy in Freetown has announced.

The visit which, started yesterday and would continue till 29, January this year would see the US Government team hold discussions with their Sierra Leonean counters, together with international partners on how to push ahead with the initiative in line with the country’s post-Ebola recovery agenda.

By Kemo Cham

Hygiene and sanitation issues have led to deadly outbreaks and continuously put people’s health at risk, a senior health official has said.

Madina Rahman, Deputy Minister of Health and Sanitation, said the situation had placed the country’s fragile health system under tremendous strain.

She was speaking at the official opening of a forum organized to chart the way forward in dealing with Sierra Leone’s growing problem of waste management.

By Kemo Cham

The United Nations country office has launched a nationwide campaign with a photographic exhibition geared towards propagating the new global development goals, dubbed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs are a set of 17 development goals adopted at the last UN General Assembly in September last year. They replaced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which came to an end after 15 years serving as blue print for global development agendas.

The new goals had been set to be achieved by 2030.