Sewa News Stream

In this undated photo, Health Minister Miatta Kargbo speaks to the press Some say the immediate Ebola crisis may be almost over, but others aren't so sure. As efforts continue apace to contain the outbreak in Sierra Leone, the nation’s Minister of Health and Sanitation, Miatta Kargbo, is facing the fallout. This is Africa reports that Kargbo, on Monday, blamed those suspected to have died from Ebola fever responsible for their own deaths The lash back came swiftly on social media but there was one editorial that stood out in its vehemence. The New People Online, which often runs strident criticism of government, accused Minister Kargbo of “ordering the kidnap and secret killing of dying Ebola virus patients.” New People's Abdul Fonti also implied misjudgment when the ministry dismissed Sylvia Olayinka Blyden’s initial reports. Blyden, a medical school graduate turned publisher, currently serves as a special executive assistant to President Koroma. Fonti wrote tha...

The World Health Organization (WHO) was notified on Sunday, May 25, 2014 of an Ebola virus disease outbreak in Sierra Leone. Preliminary information received from the field indicates that one laboratory confirmed case and four community deaths have been reported from Koindu chiefdom. This chiefdom shares border with the current Ebola virus disease hotspot Guéckédou in Guinea. The laboratory analysis of the case was done at the viral hemorrhagic (or haemorrhagic) fevers (VHF) laboratory in Kenema, Sierra Leone . While waiting for additional epidemiological information, the following measures have been initiated by national authorities with support from the WHO: 1. Meeting of the national emergency Ebola task force to discuss the current situation and proposed preventive and response to be implemented immediately; 2. Deployment of a team to the field to conduct epidemiological investigations and initiated preliminary response measures and development of funding proposals bas...

Self portrait of the artist Fouad Ayoub in 1998 Fouad Ayoub couldn’t be clearer about what he's into. His e-mail handle reads Leonardo Da Vinci .   Those are big shoes to fill. And fine art experts would agree, but if  Shakespeare’s “ Juliohs Siza ” was translated and appropriated into Krio, then so can Leonardo’s smoke technique, dramatic landscapes, and evocative coloring find different strokes. For decades, talented Sierra Leoneans have opened up world literature.  In the 1920s, '30s and '40s, music composer Nicholas Ballanta set operas in West African villages. During the post-Independence era, playwright Tommy Decker looked to the Bard for inspiration when he wrote a full-length adaptation of the world’s most quoted play. Now, contemporary artist Fouad Ayoub aka Leonardo Da Vinci is bringing the legacy of one of the world’s greatest painters to a new audience in a way only art can: with a universal appeal crossing cultural bounda...

 The 27th of April celebrates the adoption of Independence from British colonial rule by Sierra Leone. High we exalt thee, realm of the free Great is the love we have for thee; Firmly united ever we stand, Singing thy praise, O native land. We raise up our hearts and our voices on high The hills and the valleys re-echo our cry; Blessing and peace be ever thine own, Land that we love our Sierra Leone. One with a faith that wisdom inspires, One with a zeal that never tires; Ever we seek to honor thy name, Ours is the labor, thine the fame. We pray that no harm on thy children may fall, That blessing and peace may descend on us all; So may we serve thee ever alone, Land that we love, our Sierra Leone. Knowledge and truth our forefathers spread, Mighty the nations whom they led; Mighty they made thee so too may we Show forth the good that is ever in thee. We pledge our devotion, our strength and our might, Thy cause to defend and t stand for th...

In 2011, Sierra Leone spent more on tax giveaways than on its development priorities, with mining firms the biggest beneficiaries. The following year, the tax exemptions amounted to more than eight times Sierra Leone’s health budget and seven times its education budget. The losses arising from the GST waivers granted to the six mining companies alone (Le 648bn) far exceed all the actual GST revenues collected by the government (Le 410bn). If tax expenditure continues on its present trend, it is likely that Sierra Leone will lose more than US$240m a year from tax incentives. This is based on an average of US$199m a year of losses from customs duty and GST waivers during 2010-12 and an additional projected revenue loss from corporate income tax averaging US$43.7m a year during 2014-16. The losses to the country are likely to be even greater, amounting to around 10 per cent of GDP. The above facts are from a recent report: “Losing Out”, based on research by...

(Photo courtesy of Orinoko42) In 2005, Frank Timiș, a Romanian-Australian businessman, decided to buy 30 percent of the Sierra Leone Diamond Corporation (SLDC). According to someone familiar with the deal, Timiș turned to Tony Baldry, a former law chambers colleague of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, then president of Sierra Leone. At the time, Baldry was chair of the British Parliament's international development committee and had close links with Sierra Leone. Timiș’s application was assigned to an unnamed officer in Sierra Leone's Ministry of Mineral Resources, who served as gatekeeper to the mining program. By phone, the officer alerted Baldry that the ministry was seeking $2 million and a $500,000 deposit. Baldry responded that if it was okay with the president (Tejan Kabbah), it was fine with him. The ministry’s approach to Timiș reflected a broader strategy. Back then, the Mines and Minerals Amendment Act of 1994 and the Mines and Mineral Amendment Act of 2003...

In this undated photograph, athletes gather for training at the Siaka Stevens Stadium in Freetown, Sierra Leone It’s three days to the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but the Sierra Leonean athletes scheduled to take part in the annual track and field competition April 24 th – 27 th April are still stuck in Freetown. With little financial support from the government or the national Olympic Committee, it’s been one hurdle after another. Michaela Kargbo, Rebecca Ansumana, and Agnes Mansaray finally got a visa from the Embassy of the United States in Freetown last week, but they still have to raise enough money to fly out from Lungi. The team hopes to be led by former national sprinter James Davies (Turbo Ben), and will be joined by Matu Davies, a rising star who lives and trains in Nairobi, Kenya. On the line from Freetown, Dauda Sundufu-Sowa, the secretary general of the Sierra Leone Amateur Athletics Association, told African Sports Monthly ’s Leslie ...