News

By Mustapha Sesay

Parliament on Tuesday approved Mohamed Alie Bah as the new Minister of State in the office of the Vice President.

Mr Bah, who replaces Harriet Turay, a respected veteran women`s rights activist, was approved together with seven other Presidential appointees who would serve as board members in different government parastatals.

Nine leading newspapers and about 15 journalists in eight West African countries have highlighted a dysfunctional health system in the region and called for action by the authorities and the public through demanding accountability.

A press release issued Monday by “Ouestaf News” operated by the nine newspapers says “the extent of the Ebola outbreak…has exposed the dysfunctions and mismanagement of health systems and services in the region”.

By Umaru Fofana just back from Kailahun

The community health officer at the Buedu health centre in the eastern Kailahun district has complained bitterly over the non-payment of hazard allowance to him and his staff even before the abolition of the special incentive.

Amadu Kanneh, who supervises health centres in the Kissi Tongay chiefdom, told Politico that he had still not received his hazard pay for January, February and March and that many of his colleagues were still owed for October 2014 to March 2015.

By  Mustapha Kamara Jnr

The executive director of the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL), Ibrahim Tommy, has called for an urgent reform of the justice sector to halt prevalent violations of fundamental human rights of citizens.

Pope Francis, in his characteristic way of attacking controversial issues often ignored by others, have taken on the weapons industry, saying all those involved in it can`t call themselves Christians.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church told a rally of young people on Sunday that people who manufactured weapons or invest in the weapons industries were hypocrites if they call themselves Christians.

“Duplicity is the currency of today ... they say one thing and do another,” the Pope said in the speech dedicated to war, trust and politics.

By Septimus Senessie in Kono

The Koidu City Council has handed over an American Ford ambulance to officials of the Government Hospital in Kono as a donation to the district.

The council said the gesture is in fulfillment of its mandate to improve the health care delivery systems in Kono District. The vehicle is second-hand and commissioning and handing it over was done at a ceremony at the Sahr Musa Sessie Gbenda Hall in Koidu city recently.

By Allieu Sahid Tunkara

After 22 years the Mass Communication Department at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone (USL), is set to get a new curriculum. The document which underwent a validation exercise last week contains an expanded communication and media courses, from undergraduate to doctoral degrees.