Sewa News Stream

Sierra Leone marks its 58th Independence Anniversary today. The national day celebrated on April 27 commemorates the restoration of  Sierra Leone's sovereignty in 1961 from the Britsh empire. Unfortunately, empty seats photographed on Saturday, April 27 at the national stadium in the capital city of Freetown has raised eyebrows. The stadium has a 36,000 capacity and pulls large crowds during football games.

It's not the first time photos have circulated on social media of what has been described as '24-hour, seven-days-a-week operations to carry hundreds of tonnes of sand from Freetown's beaches and sell it to builders as construction material.' The Earth Day 2019 photos from intrepid Sierra Leonean photojournalist Issam capture how free-for-all sand mining is destroying Freetown’s eco-tourism opportunities. For years, local and international reports have shown round-the-clock sand-mining on beaches within a few miles of Sierra Leone’s capital is having a devastating effect on the coastline, and destroying property. Without permits, hundreds of trucks attack the beaches on a daily basis, hiring local boys as daily laborers to destroy their own communities. Reports say that not much is being done to control the increasing demand for sand to make concrete blocks.

Lara Taylor-Pearce, Sierra Leone's auditor general, was on Radio Democracy 98.1 FM this week to dispute the missing $1 Billion said to have been stolen under the Ernest Bai Koroma administration. The fantastic amount quoted by Finance Minister Jacob Jusu Saffa and Financial Secretary Sahr Jusu was announced to create a false impression, one newspaper said. Almost two weeks ago, Bloomberg's Silas Gbandia reported finance minister J.J.Saffa said on Star Television that  Sierra Leone Public Finance Audit Shows $1 Billion Missing . According to Gbandia, Saffa pledged that the government will recover the funds by June, without specifying how it plans to do so. The report also said that President Julius Maada Bio commissioned the audit into public spending from 2015 to 2018 after his election last year. Sierra Leone's economy measured $3.7 billion in 2017. Numerous news outlets including Sierra Express Media and Cocorioko have reported on the radio interview given by

'Who's Up? Who's down?' No doubt, the most secure places in the world are rich, western nations. They include Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Sweden, where life is generally stable. You don't need data and an index to know the most fragile countries are wracked by conflict: Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Central African Republic, Sudan, and Chad. In the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), many of the 15 members dominate the subset of most fragile states, according to the index. Yet there is a glimmer of hope. Ghana, Benin, and Senegal are where others in the region would like to be. For context, Ghana is the most secure place in West Africa, while Guinea, Sierra Leone's neighbor, is one of the most fragile. Here's how ECOWAS, with all its resource riches, stacked up. Or down. Guinea 11 Nigeria 14 Niger 18 Guinea Bissau 19 Mali 21 Cote d'Ivoire 29 Liberia 30 Togo 38 Sierra Leon