AWE Media Sierra Leone

By: Alhaji Manika Kamara Fatmata Maria Kamara, staff at the Makeni Government Hospital Library, is optimistic that the introduction of passenger trains by ARISE will help to reduce road crashes on the highways while driving to and from the provinces and help save lives. Fatmata was sharing her thoughts on the possible re-introduction of passenger trains that will be plying across various districts if the Government of Sierra Leone honors it agreement with ARISE for the development, expansion, and management of the Pepel Port and Rail.  She said the passenger train will help to ameliorate the suffering of the masses, especially as the pump price continues to increase. She said with the passenger train, people will have to pay less, and the fear of road accidents will be minimized. She appealed to the government and investors to ensure provisions are made for the masses to have access based on affordable train tickets. Ahmad Wurie Jalloh, a businessman, explained that he only s...

By: Abu Bakarr Buzzo'Kargbo in Bo James BoborDeen, a police Brutality victim in Bo who has been suffering from a pelvic injury since last September after five police officers in Bo allegedly assaulted him, his wife, apprentice and passengers was left crippled and unable to do anything for him since the incident took place. The 47 year old was the only Truck Driver pliying from Bo to Kendema village in the Ngalu Mbagbeh chiefdom Bo District since 2010 and has been helpful to the villagers and the traders in local produce in that part of the country. A father of 7 children and two wives has been unable to do his work as the breadwinner of the family. He narrated his ordeal to All out Radio 92.9FM in Bo that on the night of September 10th 2022 that after coming from his usual trip from the village with goods and 6 passengers at around 2am he was stopped by police officers on a patrol vehicle and he was immediately grabbed by his clothes while on his driving seat and was beaten by t...

By: Hawa Dauda and Abu H. Kargbo Following yesterday's goalless draw against AS Mande in the second match of the ongoing CAF Women's Champions League Zonal Qualifiers in Liberia, the management of Mogbwemo Queens FC this evening, Thursday, August 10th 2023 at RLJ Kendeja Resort & Villas engaged both the players and the technical team ahead of the last match on Saturday at ATS against Determine Girls. During the engagement, members of the management expressed their views on the performance of the team describing the outcome of the match against AS Mande as very unfavourable "This was not the journey we anticipated as it is now evident that we can't seal the spot to qualify for the CAF Women's Champions League in Côte d'Ivoire after the goalless draw yesterday, however, you the players have to go all cost to win the match against Determine Girls FC to finish in a position that will courage us the management, as well as it will be appreciated by Sierra Leon...

By: Hawa Dauda and Abu H. Kargbo Promising shots-stopper Mawa Traore, while making her second competitive appearance for Mogbwemo Queens FC was named the Woman of the Match in today's goalless encounter against AS Mande from Mali at the SKD Sports Complex. The 2022/23 Sierra Leone Women's Premier League champions, Mogbwemo Queens FC displayed another impressive performance in their second match of the ongoing CAF Women's Champions League Zonal Qualifiers, however, AS Mande pushed for a draw. Goalkeeper Traore was awarded the Woman of the Match after making crucial saves denying the few chances created by AS Mande while playing on the break. Mawa Traore who is also the favourite starter of the Guinea female national team joined Mogbwemo Queens Football Club from Club Olympique de Ratoma (COR) after she was spotted during her loan spell with Patricia Humu Football Club in the 2022/23 Sierra Leone Women's Premier League season. Meanwhile, Mogbwemo Queens FC remains in...

By: Alhaji K. Tarawally (Laj-K) Ph.D. Candidate (EUCLID, CAR), M.A. IRD (SIU, Germany), MSc IRD (UoR, UK), BA Hons. (FBC, SL),DIP (FBC) International Trips are a crucial part of the President’s responsibility in promoting the interests of Sierra Leone on the global stage. Therefore, President Bio has embarked on those international engagements for the benefit of Sierra Leone. As a result of these international and diplomatic engagements, Sierra Leone for the second time in its history, is set to become a non-permanent member representative of the United Nations Security Council and the sole nominating representative of the West Africa region on June 6th, 2023. This is an important milestone for the African continent as it will hold a seat on arguably the most powerful decision-making body at the UN for the 2024-2025 term. The United Nations Security Council holds annual elections to fill in five non-permanent seats. The elections take place in June of each year, and the newly electe...

By: Charles Champion Conteh -Strategic Communications Unit, MIC On Thursday the 13th of April 2023, the Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, played host to his colleague Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Austin Demby, on “Leh We Tok To D Minister’, the only Minister talk show that has now become the most popular ‘Facebook live’ programme on Government communications. This is a summary of the discourse for the benefit of those who for one reason or the other could not log on in real time. We hope you log into the Live programme next Thursday. During the two hours Facebook interaction, the Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Austin Demby highlighted a range of issues, starting from where the health status quo was and where it is currently and exclusively spoke about the phenomenal growth in the health sector under President Bio’s watch. Dr. Demby emphasised that under his watch as Minister, Sierra Leone has made some phenomenal reforms including...

By Charles Champion Conteh -Stratigic Communications unit, MIC After an outstanding performance in the Education flagship program during his first five years in office, President Julius Maada Bio has pronounced Agriculture as his next flagship program after he wins the June 24 elections and becomes President for another five years. Before winning the 2018 presidential election, President bio made his commitment to human capital development which has to do with Education, Health and Agriculture, as a sector that fully deserves attention if Sierra Leone is to develop. After winning the election, few months later, he successfully introduced the Free quality education as his main flagship program and allocated 22% of the national budget, the highest ever in the history of Sierra Leone and in the West African Region. Over the past five years of his first term, Sierra Leone has been recognized for her outstanding performance in the sector, which has also made his administration worthy of...

By: Charles Conteh, Guest Writer The aftermath of the well-known uprising that occurred on August 10, six months ago, continues to be a painful experience for the Sesay family in Black Hall, a suburb in Sierra Leone’s capital city, Freetown, as well as in the towns of Makeni, Lungi, and Kamakwie in the Northern provinces. The Sesay family say they’re devastated over the sudden disappearance of their son, Sheik Umar Sesay, who went missing last August whom they have not seen or heard from him for over six months. What adds to their distress they say is a recent raid conducted by the police on their house, resulting in the destruction of his property, but the police claim that Sheik as a suspect is wanted to face further interrogation for allegedly inciting youth to participate in the August 10 demonstration protesting against the high cost of living. According to Sheik's parents, their son was known for his cheerful nature and was beloved by his peers and the elderly for...

MEDIA REFORM COORDINATING GROUP (MRCG) CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT AT THE PRE-LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON THE PUBLIC ORDER (AMENDMENT) ACT 2020 AND THE INDEPENDENT MEDIA COMMISSION ACT 2020 AT THE COMMITTEE ROOM IN PARLIAMENT ON MONDAY 13TH JULY 2020 Photo of MRCG CHAIRMAN Dr. Francis Sowa Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members, Hon Minister, President of SLAJ, all protocols observed. Mr. Chairman, for 55 years, a giant has stood on top of the media fraternity and industry. It may be like Goliath in the Bible, or in more recent times, it can be linked to the Police Officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck for about 8 minutes. Floyd called for help, but got none. Mr. Chairman and Hon. Members, we in the media are calling for help like Floyd. Our eight minutes have started long ago. We may be in our final minute. The media industry like Floyd, is shouting “it can’t breathe.” Unlike Floyd, we at the Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG), comprising 10 national media organisations, are optimistic that our ...

By: Sumner Kongbap The Registrar of the Cooperative Department under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr. Newton Marlin has informed farmers in Moyamba District that the global corona virus pandemic should not prevent them from cultivating their farms otherwise the country would be faced with another challenge of hunger stressing that the global pandemic should not stop farmers from planting, weeding and harvesting their various crops. With support from the government of Sierra Leone and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Department donated preventive materials also trained farmers in basic financial and management skills and visited some of the farms in the District.    How to add value to their produce at the market price, improve production standards, market prices and the exchange rate were some of the topics discussed as all the speakers commended the idea of establishing a farmers’ cooperative in the district and pledged to disseminate the knowledge al...

By:Sumner Kongbap Last Monday, residents of Fonima, Funkia, Sherbro Town, Bush Water, Adonkia, Gbendembu among other areas in the Goderich community pledged their loyalty and unflinching support to the principal, administration and staff of the Milton Margai College of Education and Technology (MMCET) polytechnic to among others protect the college land, property and other facilities reiterating that they are at all times ready to support and collaborate with the college administration.   They made this assurance at a dialogue meeting of stakeholders representing the various communities at the Great Hall of the college campus, Goderich in Freetown during which Mr. Malagie Kamara explained the reasons for the dialogue meeting and introduced members of the community. The principal of the college, Dr. Philip John Kanu enlightened that government has secured huge funds from BADEA to advance the college that cannot be actualized without land, that his three main objectives to impr...

By Amin Kef – Ranger Pavi Fort-Sierra Leone, Chief Executive Officer, Alimou Barrie and his team were in Bo District on the 23 rd June 2020 to give humanitarian support geared towards providing assistance to curtail the chain of transmission of the coronavirus in that part of the country. It was a continuation of Pavi Fort’s nation-wide donations of cash, food items and protective equipments targeting all the 16 districts in the country.   The CEO and team donated 120 bags of rice, 40 gallons of hand sanitizer, a 10 million Leones cheque, 5 million Leones cash, and 3,000 N95 face masks all totalling 120 million Leones to the BO DICOVERC during a well-attended ceremony that took place at the Bo District Council.   Handing over the donation to the Bo DICORVERC Coordinator, David Fortune, the Chief Executive Officer of Pavi Fort S/Leone, Alimou Barrie, intimated the gathering that he decided to join in the fight against COVID- 19 out of the passion to complement Govern...

ENEMY of the STATE Tribute:  45 years ago today he fell fighting for freedom, but he’s never dead -------------- By: Ahmed Sahid Nasralla (De Monk)✍️ -------------- First published in July 2007 He hailed from Matotoka, in the Tenneh chiefdom, Tonkolili district and started off as a teacher at the Bo School in Bo before taking up a job with the Mobil Oil Company at Kissy, Freetown. But he was soon sacked because of his political tendencies. Consequently, Ibrahim Bash-Taqi  entered active politics by joining the All People’s Congress (APC) political party, where a union man named Siaka Probyn Stevens was already mobilizing. Bash-Taqi established a newspaper called ‘We Yone’ which he used to publicize his political ideas. Within weeks in the market the newspaper became very popular. It was the period of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) in governance, under the leadership of Sir Albert Margai. Albert wanted to entrench a one-party system of governance, but ‘We Yone’ was out-rightl...