Sewa News Stream

"Last year I commented that we had a long way to go in improving the quality of public financial management in Sierra Leone. ... While any improvement is better than none the findings from our audits suggest that advancing public financial management continues to require urgent attention by the government and public officials." -- Lara Taylor Pearce, Auditor General of Sierra Leone http://www.auditservice.gov.sl/report/assl-auditor-general-annual-report-2011.pdf

Most of the sand used for building in Freetown, Sierra Leone is from the beaches in the Western area. But sand extraction isn't just of interest to the construction industry in the nation’s capital. It's also of interest to Sierra Leone’s Ministries of Tourism; Lands, Country Planning and the Environment; Local Government and Rural Development; and Mineral Resources. Sadly, the roles of the various ministries are not clear and environmental problems abound.  In places like Lakka, a small coastal village near Freetown, several houses are now under the sea. According to one of the nation’s largest engineering and management companies, Sierra Leone’s sand and aggregate sectors are in a big mess. Governance is extremely poor, with overlapping mandates or sometimes no mandate at all. In a 2008 report presented to the Government of Sierra Leone, Construction, Engineering, Manufacturing, Management And Technical Services (CEMMATS) Group Ltd said sand mining is mainly done by ar...

University of Sierra Leone (USL) Press Release | Education and the Rule of Law The public is hereby informed that letters conveying various sanctions levied against students of Fourah Bay College (FBC) for various acts of gross indiscipline, were recently given to the affected students, following the meetings of Court and Senate of 18th and 20th December, 2012, respectively. The University Court had the painful duty to re-affirm disciplinary decisions which had been made on August 1, 2012, but which the students had resisted resulting in threats and multiple acts of vandalism, and general indiscipline. It should be recalled that following the disturbances in the operation of the end of the Second Semester activities of the University in August 2012, a process of investigation was initiated which culminated in disciplinary actions against those found guilty. Having been informed by the Administration of their rights to appeal as stipulated by the Universities Act 2005, most o...

In recognition of the impact women in technology and women entrepreneurs are having in Africa, the Department of State announced in March that the TechWomen program will expand to eight new countries in 2013. These countries include seven from Sub-Saharan Africa. Eligible women from Sierra Leone who are looking for an opportunity to be mentored by women at leading companies in Silicon Valley are encouraged to apply. For more information on eligibility criteria and how to apply, please visit www.techwomen.org The application deadline is February 22nd, 2013.

In the early hours of January 6, l999, rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) launched an offensive against the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown, capturing it from government troops and the soldiers of the Nigerian-led peacekeeping force known as ECOMOG, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Cease-fire Monitoring Group. The battle for Freetown and the ensuing three week rebel occupation of the capital was characterized by the systematic and widespread perpetration of all classes of atrocities against the civilian population, of over one million inhabitants, and marked the most intensive and concentrated period of human rights violations in Sierra Leone’s eight-year civil war. -  Sierra Leone: Getting Away with Murder, Mutilation, and Rape On January 6, the rebels entered Freetown, destroying properties and killing indiscriminately. We spent most of our days and nights indoors, trying to protect ourselves from the bombing and stray bullets, and also not ...

In words that echoed around the world, a commission of inquiry in Sierra Leone held the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) responsible for extrajudicial killings in1992. The junta's attempt to justify these executions retrospectively by decree, on the basis that the 26 people were alleged coup plotters, was an unlawful abuse of executive power, the commission said. In particular, the Commission found that the deputy chairman of the NPRC, Solomon A.J. Musa, was personally responsible for acts of torture on detainees. They called the executions a flagrant violation of international standards.   Among those executed on December 29, 1992, were: Lt. Col James Yaya Kanu, former commanding officer of the 4th Battalion James Bambay Kamara, former Inspector General of Police Corporal Mohammed Mansaray, alias Candapa of the 1st Battalion Warrant Officer Class 1 Kargbo, alias Fernando of the 1st Battalion headquarters Lieutenant colonel (Rtd.) Kahota M.S. Dumbuya, Army Head...

A Sierra Leonean Online:  A little over a month since the elections we've had a lot of academic analysis on why the SLPP  [Sierra Leone Peoples Party]  lost. Very impressive displays of our best intellect. However,  I’ve learnt that people rarely make decisions based on intelligence and logic; emotion has a lot to play when choosing a leader. SLPP lost simply because they failed to listen to the people. Taking the voters for granted after being in power for a while is a political disease so easy to catch and SLPP is no exception. After Kabbah’s successes, especially ending the war, they failed to recognise that people were disappointed with his second term. To the ordinary man the war was over but there was no progress. Simple. They failed to listen that people didn’t want the shadow of military coups in our future and that Maada Bio would be a hard sell. Even then, they might have stood a chance if they hadn't embarked on the most disastrous campaign eve...