Sewa News Stream

 Togo is home to footballer Emmanuel Adebayor, writers Kangni Alem and Christiane Akoua Ekué, journalist Gnimdéwa Atakpama, artist Emmanuel Kavi, and popular musician, King Mensah . Add a new name to that list of Togolese greats: Eunice "Bazabaza" Mawussi Mawussi is a musician, author, and philanthropist. She has been living in music city, Nashville, Tennessee since 2001. Mawussi grew up a pastor’s daughter with seven brothers and a sister in Togo. Some of her best memories include playing together as a family band in their father's rural church. Nowadays, the family don't rock Sunday church services, but they collaborate on global music production and educational programs. Through the Bazabaza Corporation, founded by Eunice a few years ago, they hope to change the world or make it a little better than they found it. Sewa News spoke to Eunice Mawussi on Sunday, May 31, which also happens to be Mother's Day in Togo and in other French-speaking countri...

Akinwumi Adesina of Nigeria elected 8th President of the AfDB - African Development Bank

Sierra Leone is brimming with hope for Samura Kamara, the country's foreign minister who is one of eight candidates in a tight race to head the African Development Bank.  All week, local radio listeners have been registering their support through text messages, while those on WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook have been posting messages of solidarity, said a report from Amadu Lamrana Bah of the Development and Economic Journalists Association-Sierra Leone. "Dr.Samura our prayers are with you, we believe you will emerge victorious,” read one message sent via SMS to the Star Good Morning Show on Star Radio. Regular updates from Asmaa James, the station manager of Radio Democracy 98.1 FM, are filled with hope for the Sierra Leonean candidate, Bah said. According to Asmaa, who is covering the event in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, momentum on the eve of election continues to intensify with side meetings and lobbying everywhere. Reporting high spirits in the Sierra Leonean c...

On Africa Day Monday, May 25, President Bai Koroma celebrated unity with Ebola survivors as Sierra Leone marked a tough year fighting what has been described as one of the deadliest and most complex outbreaks of the virus disease. Monday’s event is part of a national anti-stigma campaign. The campaign is aimed at people who don’t realize the impact their attitudes and behaviors can have or who don't know what to say and do. The symbolic group photograph taken on the grounds of State House in Freetown will be displayed on billboards across Sierra Leone, with advertising on TV, in the national press, on radio, and online. E arlier in the year, Brussels Airlines launched an initiative called "Africa is not Ebola” During the outbreak, which primarily affected Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Brussels Airlines continued a twice-weekly service, providing essential aircraft for medical equipment and health workers. A t State House Monday, President Koroma said Sierra ...

Air France will resume service to Freetown June 30, 2015, with three weekly flights departing from Paris-Charles de Gaulle. According to Le Figaro ,  one of the oldest national newspapers in France, Air France announced this week it will return to Freetown and flights will be on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Flights will be operated by Airbus A330-200, with a capacity of 208 seats: 40 in Business, 21 in Premium Economy and 147 in Economy. Air France’s announcement to resume service to the capital of Sierra Leone, Freetown, comes eight months after it suspended flights last August because of the Ebola outbreak and at the request of the French government. That decision came a week after the airline's staff signed a petition calling on their employer to avoid Ebola-affected countries for their own safety. Unions representing employees called on the airline to halt its flights to and from the West African countries that were grappling with the Ebola outbreak.

Committee hearing in progress If you are dissatisfied with roads in your area, help is on the way. Sierra Leone’s Parliamentary Committee on Works, Housing and Infrastructure summoned road contractors  this week over delays in road projects around the country. Sall Tee reports A mong contractors that appeared before the Committee hearing held at Tower Hill were Fimnet Benton Villa, Salini, ISU, CRSG TMARC, and Compagnie Sahélienne d’Entreprises (CSE). 'Part of the past, present and future' CSE, headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, has been providing construction services for the past 40 years in Sierra Leone, on projects such as the Freetown-Conakry Highway, Lumley Tokeh Road, Peninsula Highway, and the Hillside Bypass Road, which will improve mobility in Freetown from the center to the Eastern parts of the city. The acting chairperson for the Committee on Works, Housing and Infrastructure Hon. Rosaline J.K. Smith, Member of Parliament for Constituency 103, had fuls...

Sierra Leone moved sharply lower over the past year, as of World Press Freedom Day on Sunday, May 3. The 2015 World Press Freedom Index noted that the West African nation's ranking dropped from 72 to 79 out of 180 countries with an overall score of 28.23 (-0.24 decline from the previous year) and abuses score of 29.44. The good news is that no journalists or net citizens were killed in Sierra Leone in 2014. I n the Mano River sub region, neighboring Liberia is ranked at Number 89 out of 180 countries with an abuses score of 20.79. Liberia’s ranking remains unchanged from 2014, as does Guinea, ranked at 102 out of 180, with an abuses score of 56.20. One journalist was killed in 2014. A ccording to the World Press Freedom Index, Côte d’Ivoire rose sharply in the 2015 index after a deep fall from 2010 to 2012, as it continued to emerge from the political and social crisis caused by the civil war in late 2010. Radio and TV broadcasting is due to be opened up to the privat...