AWE Media Sierra Leone

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson Public places including market places, night clubs and some strategic meeting points on main streets in the Northeastern regional headquarters Makeni were for the first time all empty on Tuesday between the hours of 4-10pm local time. The emptiness some residents have told Awoko Newspaper is as a result of the announcement of the final presidential election results on the day that confirmed incumbent Julius Maada Bio, presidential candidate of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) as the president elect with a record votes total of 1,566,932 equalling 56.17% of the total votes cast. The result saw Mr. Bio being declared winner of the historic polls by the Returning Officer and Chief Electoral Commissioner of the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone (ECSL) Mohamed Kenewui Konneh, because of the total number of votes casted across the 11,712 polling stations nationwide on Saturday in his favour had surpassed the 55% constitutionally required percentage requir...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson 29 years old Isatu Kanu, a mother of two, says voting on Saturday, June 24 for the first time in the general elections of her country was “bitter-sweet.” Kanu who whose current age makes her eligible to would have first voted since 2012 said she could not exercise her franchise although eligible to vote in her nation’s last two general elections because of pregnancy and hunted by fatigue to show up at registration centres for the successive voter registrations. Thankfully, when the voter registration started for the June 24, 2023 election I was not pregnant this time, I was excited and had to show up early at the registration centre in my area and registered then showed up also for the verification and as early as 6:45am on Saturday, I had already joined other eligible voters at the Baptist primary school, Lady’s Mile, Makeni in readiness to vote, but my experience here today is a memorable one, Kanu explained. “Although I arrived early at the centre to vote ...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson Yesterday, June 24, during the voting in Makeni city, hundreds of eligible voters queued to vote across their respective centers but Sinnah Koroma and her 8-month-old child were spotted by AWE-Media.SL queuing for over three hours before she voted. Moved by her courage to wait that long on the queue together with her child, I waited patiently after she had successfully casted her vote at the Church of God, Makeni polling center 4190 and approached her for an interview about what kept her strong while queuing anxiously with her child waiting to vote, among other things. In her response, Koroma, 41 said spending hours at the center which is the largest in Bombali district comprising 8 polling stations never borders her. “While I was in the queue waiting to vote I was praying silently to God for my preferred candidates to emerge victorious, so I didn’t even noticed I had stood longer in the queue because I was also excited to take part in the 5th general electi...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson Covering the crucial match day-5 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations encounter between Sierra Leone and Nigeria at the host’s new found home venue SKD Stadium in Monrovia, my camera lenses spotted a somewhat empty stadium. Except for the presidential stand and a few cover stands that were encouragingly occupied, all the other stands in the stadium were either relatively empty and a few had a countable size of spectators. It was the many empty stands at the stadium that motivated me to interview some fans of the host nation, Sierra Leone - a country believed to be playing its home games previously in front of thousands of supporters at the Siaka Steven Stadium in Freetown, about what it means playing away from home? Lamin Sheriff, who said he was visiting Monrovia for the first time, said he was there from Kenema where he had lived for 34 years since he was born said supporting Leone Stars in the last three years has help him “to travel to different places o...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson Yesterday, hundreds of cars, motorbikes and residents of some places in the Northern city of Makeni tasted the effect of unrestricted littering of wastes disposal, cutting down of trees and related environmental degradation practices. Along the main Mabanta-Lunsar road, Magburaka-Kamal Streets Junction, lower banana street, Lady’s mile to name but a few like residents of some houses in the areas spent hours bailing out water from their rooms, cars, motorbikes and pedestrians similarly floated and sunk on roads and streets where a Tuesday 5 hours long down pouring of rain gave birth to a flash flood. It’s the first time environmental degradation is fighting back since heavy rainfall, storm and flooding destroyed houses in Makeni municipality and its environs in the early morning hours of Tuesday, June 28, 2022 that ignited some responses from a few community based organisations, as well as cosmetic risk prevention cleaning of streets and irrigation of canals...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson Even though his nation’s 2023-TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nation in Cote D’Ivoire was shattered by their Nigerian on Sunday, Leone Stars and Bo Rangers forward Musa Noah “Tombo” remains by far the most popular player from his nation. Kamara who’s soon to clock 23 on August 6 this year became the fans center of attraction at the SKD-Stadium in Monrovia when he replaced Mustapha Bundu during Sierra Leone’s must-win AFCON 2023 qualifier match against Nigeria despite his side bowing 3-2 to the visitors. Liberians, Nigerians among other spectators including President George Weah, a former Lone Star skipper and World Best Player enjoined Sierra Leoneans to cheer up the 22-year-old talismanic goal-machine. As if that was not enough, fans led by a teenager identified as one of the admirers of Musa “Tombo” jumped over the perimeter fence and hugged the player for photographs. From different angles in the stadium fans were shouting the football’s name in anticipation...

By: Alusine Rehme Wilson Sierra Leone, one of Africa’s Football loving nations whose supporters dearly anticipated making it to the finals of the 2023-TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations tournament proper in Cote D’Ivoire qualification hopes ended on Sunday evening at the SKD Stadium in Monrovia. Despite putting out what is believed to be a good show against their Group-A opponents (Super Eagles of Nigeria) whose in-form forward Victor Osimhen took advantage of John Keister’s disorganized back-four twice to have a brace to his name before the first quarter hour mark. In the last five minutes to the end of the first half Sierra Leone’s forward Mustapha Bundu renewed hopes for this side as he pulled once back to make it 2-1 in favour of the visitors from Nigeria. Returning from their dressing rooms, Sierra Leone’s coach John Edward Keister introduced some fresh legs when he substituted Mustapha Bundu for Musa Noah “Tombo” Kamara and Saidu Fofanah for skipper Steven Caulker, a move t...