By Kemo Cham
Abuses of power leads to an increase in poverty and deprives people of basic needs, Transparency International warned on Tuesday as it unveils its latest report on bribery which ranks Sierra Leone among the top five corrupt countries in Africa
‘The People and Corruption: Africa Survey 2015’ report indicates that Sierra Leone is among the African nations where bribery rates are far higher than the regional average.
By Kemo Cham
The high command of the Sierra Leone military has warned its men against pedaling rumor, equating it to incitement.
Chief of Defense Samuel Omar Williams said incitement was punishable by military regulations. He was addressing soldiers at the Wilberforce military barracks on Tuesday in response to ‘rumor’ within the army about financial misappropriation involving monies allegedly meant for peacekeepers who recently returned from Somalia as part of the African Union Mission (AMISOM).
By Crispina Taylor
Sierra Leone government spends US$230, 000 yearly to treat postpartum complications, mostly as a result of unsafe abortion, a civil society activist said on Tuesday.
Valerie Tucker, Country Representative for Ipas Sierra Leone, an organization championing women’s reproductive health issues, told MPs that this money could be better used in preventing these complications and spent on some other pressing national priorities.
By Kemo Cham
Over 1 million children are being targeted for mass vaccination in the first large scale maternal and child health campaign underway in Sierra Leone since the end of the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
Locally dubbed ‘Mami and Pikin Welbodi Week’ [Maternal and Child Health Week (MCHW)], the campaign aims at vaccinating 1.3M children for measles.
By Kemo Cham
The experience in the fight against the 2014 Ebola outbreak makes a case for an Open Data system in Sierra Leone, a World Bank Consultant has told Politico.
Ms Jeanne Holm said effectiveness in containing the spread of the virus depended on availability of information on the number of cases which guided the nation on the goal of attaining zero cases before been declared epidemic-free.
By Kemo Cham
An agreement for a four-year grant aimed at boosting electricity and water supply in Sierra Leone has been signed by officials from the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Millennium Challenge Coordinating Unit (MCCU) at the Office of the President.
The MCCU is a Sierra Leone government agency set up to work with the MCC which is a US government agency that provides development aids to developing countries who meet specific criteria aimed at promoting democracy and good governance.
By Crispina Taylor
Ibrahim Kamara, MP of Constituency 105, has said in parliament on Tuesday 17th November that internal auditors in Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) were supposed to be independent just like those working with the Audit Service Sierra Leone. He said over the years a lot of monies had been allocated to local government for councils for which many local authorities couldn’t account.
Supported by: Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA)
