Sewa News Stream

Mr. Alpha Kanu, Sierra Leone's minister of information and communications, is the official spokesperson of the Koroma administration. Last week, when news broke that nine soldiers at a garrison in the district town of Makeni had been arrested over the weekend for planning a protest during a visit by President Ernest Koroma to his hometown, Kanu's words at his ministry's weekly briefing were seen to reflect State House's position of strength. "We are not expecting any coup d'état, but if there is an attempt, those behind it will be arrested by the people and torn apart," the minister reportedly said. "Sierra Leoneans- including government-will go after assailants, arrest them and tear them [into pieces] as the government was legitimately elected by the people for a five-year term," he noted, adding. "We have been reliably informed that the meeting at Teko Barracks by nine military personnel, including one senior officer, is now being inv...

Our country has the deepest tradition of written constitutionalism in West Africa, starting with the constitution fashioned by Granville Sharpe for the freed men and women of the Province of Freedom, to the Blackhall Constitution of 1863, the Slater Constitution of 1924 and the Stevensons Constitution of the 1950s. We gained independence with a constitution modeled along a monarchist Westminster model; we established a republican presidential system in 1971, a one party constitution in 1978 and reverted to a multi-party system in 1991. - President Koroma,  Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee Justice Edward Cowan Two weeks after President Koroma launched Sierra Leone's Constitutional Review Committee at Miatta Conference Hall there's still no official announcement on the selection of appointees. "This is a committee constituted from people of every region, political affiliation and socio-economic group to perform a sacred task," said President Kor...

Michael Bengah, a senior at Sierra Leone Grammar School in Freetown, won the national essay contest for secondary school students organized by the Sierra Leone Conference on Development & Transformation: Charting the Next 50 Years Forward. Bengah's prize-winning essay "Sierra Leone To Announce Launching of its First Space Craft" describes the Sierra Leone he would like to see in twenty-five years. Click here to read the winning essay.

Sierra Leone's constitutional review, which was not expected to resume until after the 2012 elections, finally kicked off last week. President Koroma officially launched the national Constitutional Review Committee at the Miatta Conference Center in Freetown on Tuesday, July 30. The move is part of his government’s steps towards modernizing state governance and actualizing the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Lome Peace Accord respectively,  Awareness Times reported. The current Sierra Leone constitution has been in effect since 1991, when the country was under one party rule. In one archive report, a coalition of civil society groups that spearheaded the campaign said that the constitution, crafted in a transitional period that was interrupted by the eleven-year civil war, had surpassed its relevance as Sierra Leone`s democracy grows. The report also said major issues for review include a clause on the declaration of state of emergency, the deat...

June Scarbough is a teacher. She has a doctorate degree in curriculum and instruction. "I was 8th-grade level chair last school year, so I was of great assistance to the grade level principal. My duties included teaching, ensuring that classes were covered in the event of an absence; supervising and monitoring students, creating assessments, tasks and rubrics, communication, and scheduling conferences with parents, facilitating team/grade level meetings. "I enjoy teaching students and it brings me great joy when they grasp a concept and demonstrate mastery. I also enjoy mentoring and counseling students when necessary. "I dislike what I consider to be unnecessary paperwork and the extra things that I feel add to the already heavy workload. "A person entering this field must be creative, flexible and wear a thick skin. A person entering this field must be committed, especially spiritually, have a passion for teaching and, the children; be able to wear var...