AWE Media Sierra Leone

Statement by President of SLAJ, Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, at the official launch of SLAJ @ 50 Date: Saturday, 6th February, 2021 Venue: Harry Yansaneh Memorial Hall, SLAJ Headquarters, 56 Campbell Street, Freetown IT’S A JOURNEY Salutations HOW FAR SLAJ HAS COME Some 50 years ago brave men and women came together and found an association that will serve as a torch for not only a profession that is called journalism but for society at large. At a time when the country had just introduced the one-party and critical voices were almost silenced and a law that was like an albatross on the neck of journalists had been introduced to silence a beautiful profession that comforts the afflicted, our SLAJ was born. TRIBUTE TO THE FOUNDING FATHERS AND FALLEN HEROES Mr Chairman, permit me to pay glowing tributes to our icons, ie our founding fathers and mothers some of whom are still around. These heroes and heroines deserve a special place in our association's history book. They laid a foundation t...

By: Ibrahim Jalloh - (Jallomy) The rancour and stampede around the normal and desired activities of the First Lady of the republic of Sierra Leone are not only unimaginary but ridiculous and revealing of a society in desparate and unexplained search for political capital. The truth is some innocent people and some ill didposed politicians find it difficult to adjust to the cultural shift in the conduct and activities of the First Lady in the State. Madam Fatima Bio has chosen to be not just a mere state decoration but an effective and functional First Lady with unpredictable zest to support her husband, President Bio, to fulfill his political commitments to the people of Sierra Leone with whom he signed a Social Contract in 2018. In that situation, some Sierra Leoneans stand in awe and bewilderment either out of ignorance or the supplanting of every effort of the state at nation building. First Ladies have come and gone from the days of Sir Milton to the last days of former president K...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson Eight players were crushed to death while returning from a rural football match at Batkanu town in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The incident took place between Makoth and Makarie axis along the Makeni-Freetown in the evening hours of Sunday February 28, 2021 when the vehicle carrying the players collided with a truck carrying timber logs.    A total number of sixteen players returning from a football assignment for Makarie community were involved in the fatal accident, eight died on the spot, one more has passed on at 17:05GMT on Monday, 1st March, 2021, five out of the sixteen have been referred to the Emergency Hospital in Freetown while the remaining three are still admitted at the Northern Regional Hospital in Makeni, a medic attached at the hospital told AWE Media Sierra Leone. Six out of the nine departed players have already been buried but all football activities in the region including the ongoing Second Division League in Bombali District ha...

The reckless exploitation of fuel dealers and "Jebu traders": By: Ibrahim Jalloh -(Jallomy) Fuel and its price have sky rocket today in the North Eastern Capital of Makeni City. Today, February 1, and days to come will be economic burden and social discomfort to residents of Makeni City and her immediate environs and, of course, the territorial communities of North East Region. A liter of fuel today in Makeni is costing between le 12,000.00 and 15,000.00.  The reason is hopelessly hopeless: Tanker drivers and mates heading up to Makeni from Freetown refused to take the test, the result of which is a major and absolute requirement to enter and exit the Western Area who has epidemiologically graduated as epi center!  Those violaters were refused entry and hence the shortage of fuel. The reckless situation is now being exploited by fuel dealers on the ground by facilitating a parallel market.  No action from any quarters: the police is complacently absent and a field day is comm...

By: Ibrahim Jalloh (Jallomy) Like in most chiefdoms with an awakened citizenry, the local governance transitional moment (chieftaincy elections) in Sanda Tendaren Chiefdom has triggered endless debate and massive show of interest in a transition process that is yet to unfold.  As democrats and Political protagonists calling for urgent and compelling reforms in the institution of paramount chieftaincy, we welcome the debate and massive interest shown in the process. This is indicative of growth in democracy and citizens participation in the governance process of the state at the local level Paramount chieftaincy was a colonial creation for the expressed purpose of administrative oversight and convenience. The Colonial masters judged that a permanent grip on the predatory provincial people, especially those revolutionary elements, can be achieved by creating a dictatorial suprintending structure labelled paramount chieftaincy. From inception, paramount chieftaincy was designed to be a co...

By: Ibrahim Jalloh (Jallomy) Like in most chiefdoms with an awakened citizenry, the local governance transitional moment (chieftaincy elections) in Sanda Tendaren Chiefdom has triggered endless debate and massive show of interest in a transition process that is yet to unfold.  As democrats and Political protagonists calling for urgent and compelling reforms in the institution of paramount chieftaincy, we welcome the debate and massive interest shown in the process. This is indicative of growth in democracy and citizens participation in the governance process of the state at the local level Paramount chieftaincy was a colonial creation for the expressed purpose of administrative oversight and convenience. The Colonial masters judged that a permanent grip on the predatory provincial people, especially those revolutionary elements, can be achieved by creating a dictatorial suprintending structure labelled paramount chieftaincy. From inception, paramount chieftaincy was designed to be a co...

By: Ibrahim Jalloh (Jallomy) akempi@yahoo.com Yenya is a patch of land on the eastern fringes of Sierra Leone in the historic district of Kailahun. The district of Kailahun poignantly shares boundary lines with the neighbouring republics of Guinea and Liberia.  These are two countries that have long standing diplomatic ties with Sierra Leone. Particularly Guinea, history has cemented a perfect bond, anthropological connect and an undisputable sociological mix with the country and people of Sierra Leone. Inter marriages, trade links and political maneuverings have characterized the compact and relational identity of the two sister republics. Yenga is a border community between Sierra Leone and Guinea but geographically Yenga falls in the map of Sierra Leone and as such an integral part of the sovereign territorial space of Sierra Leone, an independent country, a member of the ECOWAS, African Union and an effective player in the Mano River Basin. The sovereign right of Sierra Leone over ...