Sewa News Stream

' Yeah, can Sylvia Blyden live? ' is an odd headline. But Jay-Z's 1996 song symbolizes the increasing frustration some of us feel with the escalating harassment of Sylvia Olayinka Blyden.   'So, what do you want to do with Sylvia?' I recently asked one of her detractors. Those who write about  Sierra Leone's most vocal critic  in violent and aggressive ways.  'Do you want to kill her?' I pressed.  Plus, I added, any country with a president who orders three police truckloads to surround his critic's house is THE banana republic. Sylvia Blyden is no more an enemy of the state than all the revolutionary united front (RUF) sympathizers and combatants in government. If Sylvia's detractors consider her actions self-serving, why bother with a sledgehammer for such low-level agitation? I argue Sylvia is a target for broadsides and innuendoes because the preferred candidate was roundly defeated in the recent election.  Sure, some Sierra Leoneans I know d...

Julius Maada Bio has been president of Sierra Leone since April 4, 2018. One hundred days from that date is Friday, July 13, 2018. So why are Sierra Leoneans talking about his “First 100 Days” more than two years after he took office? What's the importance of his first 100 days as a  benchmark for an administration when non-mining activities are still constrained by the lack of access to power and good roads; and corruption and undeveloped human capital continue to deter investors? Sierra Leone still ranked 43rd among 47 countries in the region, and although its economic freedom improved earlier in the decade, Sierra Leone fell back into the repressed category in 2019 and remains there in 2020.  An influential public policy organization in the United States calls Sierra Leone 'one of the world’s 10 most impoverished and least developed countries' with the most pressing areas for improvement being financial freedom, government integrity, and labor freedom. Moreover, Sierra...

Yada Williams & Associates, barristers, and solicitors in Freetown, Sierra Leone have written a letter to the president of the Bar Association about what they call 'unworthy attack on the persons and integrity of senior legal practitioners in the course of carrying out their duties.'  Dear Sir, RE: THE UNWORTHY ATTACK ON THE PERSONS AND INTEGRITY OF SENIOR LEGAL PRACTITIONERS IN THE COURSE OF CARRYING OUT THEIR DUTIES; INTRODUCTION: We refer to the above-mentioned matter and write to convey our dismay and dissatisfaction with the findings of Honourable Sir Justice Biobele Georgewill against Ajibola Emmanuel Manly-Spaine Esq. and the firm of Basma & Macaulay, legal practitioners and members of the Sierra Leone Bar Association, whilst sitting as the Chairman and Sole Commissioner in Commission of Inquiry No. 1 and to call for action against the said findings by the Sierra Leone Bar Association. ACCOUNTABILITY & THE RULE OF LAW: Diverse occurrences in Sierra Leone conf...

Two years ago, an executive director at Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority told everybody who would listen that the Savage Street Bridge was a disaster waiting to happen. “I would like to fix it if I had the mandate,” he reportedly told officials from the Ministry of Finance at public budget hearings held in Freetown. A prescient remark, given that Savage Street Bridge collapsed today.  This  May,  David Panda Noah, described as — one of the brains behind the SLPP election team, which engineered access to the electoral commission’s election database in 2018 — took office as Sierra Leone's  Minister of Internal Affairs. No doubt about it, Noah has his work cut out at internal affairs.   Y ou can't help but wonder what he  c ould have done differently. Or what he would say if Awoko  reached out for comment.  ( Savage Street Bridge is a disaster waiting to happen, says SLRSA Boss, by Zainab Iyamide Joaque ) Press release from the Sierr...

In case you missed it, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal has announced that the ICSID, a World Bank Group, has refused to restrain the west African country from pursuing criminal proceedings against several employees of the claimant’s local subsidiary. According to Global Arbitration Review, a business law website, the subsidiary had " been accused of inciting a deadly riot before the case was dropped without charge ." In October 2019, a subsidiary of a London-based commodity trader applied to a court in the United States of America to confirm an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) emergency arbitrator order that directedSierra Leone to lift measures prohibiting the export of high-grade iron ore – a dispute that has also given rise to the threat of an ICSID claim. ICC is the institutional representative of more than 45 million companies in over 100 countries. According to their website , their "mission is to make business...

The International Monetary Fund's African Department has called Freetown's City Council (FCC) Property Tax Reform "good reform" in a statement released this weekend. According to Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, the rate for 80% of residents in Freetown, #SierraLeone, is still less than 500,000 Leones ($52) per year. Or 42,000 Leones ($4.50) per month, so the FCC can deliver services they couldn’t deliver before. The African Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) oversees the IMF’s operations and engagement with 45 countries across Africa, spanning the three main pillars of IMF work—policy advice, lending operations, and technical assistance. Their responsibilities also include building strategic partnerships and dialogue with senior policymakers and institutions across the region. "We fully support the reform that appears to be in line with the best regional practice," they said of the Freetown City Council's Property Tax Reform. "Whil...

Dr. Sheikh Umarr Kamarah is an American citizen of Sierra Leonean descent who needs your support. He has been unfairly accused of and detained for crimes in Sierra Leone that he did not commit. Dr. Kamarah’s family, friends, and broad community demand his immediate release. He is scheduled to return to the US with a repatriation flight on June 9 that he must be allowed to board. His arrest appears to be highly politically motivated though he is not a politician. Dr. Kamarah cares deeply about his native country, his American home, and his family. He is a devoted husband, father, brother, and uncle. In the US, he is a linguistics professor at Virginia State University, but he currently works in community relations and development for SL Mining in Sierra Leone. When he found out he was wanted, he righteously turned himself in to police, but we are demanding all charges against Dr. Kamarah be dropped. To support Dr. Kamarah, please call the following offices and assert that Dr. Kam...

“It’s very difficult to reflect this neglect through photography, In Sierra Leone, a prisoner is nobody, and a young prisoner is nothing.” ~ Fernando Moleres© Fernando Moleres Since the resident coordinator of the United Nations in Sierra Leone released a statement condemning the violence in the post-war country,  President Julius Maada Bio has accused the main opposition party of orchestrating the violence while refusing to allow human rights sources to identify those who were killed by security forces on April 29, or addressing the arbitrary arrest of Sylvia Blyden and others. Amnesty International Sierra Leone has called for their release.  Reaction to the president's speech has been swift. “It is shocking, the claims the president is making,” said party spokesman Sidi Yayah Tunis. Representatives of the Christian community comprising the Catholic Mission, the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone, the Evangelical Fellowship of Sierra Leone, the Pentecostal Fellows...

The resident coordinator of the United Nations in Sierra Leone has released a statement condemning the recent violence in Freetown. Brutal killings have sent shockwaves around the post-war nation, which marked its 59th Independence anniversary on April 27 as COVID-19 infections spike.  Read the full text below: Freetown, 1 May 2020. The United Nations in Sierra Leone expresses serious concern over the violent incidents, which occurred on 29 April 2020 in the Central Correctional Facility at Pademba Road in Freetown. The United Nations regrets the resultant loss of life, injury and damage to property, and further condemns all forms of violence. The United Nations extends its sincere condolences to the bereaved families and wishes the injured speedy recovery. The United Nations in Sierra Leone recalls the commitment made by the Government of Sierra Leone, under international conventions and treaties, including the Nelson Mandela Rules, to protect and respect the human rights of ...

A month before Sierra Leone marked 59 years of independence on April 27, the Smallholder Commercialization Program or SCP quietly closed its doors on March 31. According to the Global Agriculture & Food Security Program website, the program with a $50 million price tag was a success. The project reached 377,412 poor Sierra Leoneans, of whom about 47 percent are women. All told, the SCP is expected to benefit a total of 500,000 people, one-half of them women. The project improved drainage services on 1,150 hectares for a total of 5,256 water users and aims to reduce the supply-demand gap in rice as well increase incomes for 100,000 farm households.   The SCP also rehabilitated 6,300 hectares of tree crops: 2,800 hectares of cocoa, 3,000 hectares of new oil palm, and 500 hectares of cashew. The project is piloting climate change technologies, such as rainwater harvesting. In addition, the project established financial services associations and community banks resulting ...

Abou Whyte, popular folk artist and lead vocalist for Muyei Power, died in New Jersey, USA, this week from complications related to the coronavirus disease. He was 76 years old. According to AYV Newspaper, the veteran Sierra Leonean musician has been laid to rest . Whyte was born in the Fourah Bay community in Freetown, said VertexMedia SL, who shared one the last images of the singer on stage. Click  here  to watch a biopic of the late singer. Whyte belongs to the generation of big bands like Afro National, Sabanoh 75, and Super Combo. He is fondly remembered for songs like ' Good Morning Sierra Leone ,' 'Jakitomboi,' 'Yamba Sowe,' and 'Wali Bena' The musician's career reportedly started with the Merry-Go Jazz Band in 1964, after which he joined the Orchestra Muyei Power Dance Band, formed by music promoter Abu Sillah in 1971. In February 2018, Soundway Records, founded by label owner Miles Cleret, posted a full album stream of " Muyei Power...

The world is seeing unprecedented events during the global pandemic, as the hunt for COVID-19 treatment and vaccines continues. While Sierra Leone, which was adversely affected by the Ebola epidemic in 2014, now struggles to protect people and prevent the coronavirus from spreading, there's fear and anxiety regarding personal security. Read today's blog written by Tracey Marke.   W e were told that this new direction with the lands ministry would be a force for good— make things better. But instead, it appears that the lands ministry is a law unto themselves, seizing and molesting, disadvantaging and dispossessing and downright stealing lands from communities who have legal title to private land. Time and time again we have watched as people with legal long-held title have been targeted, bullied and harassed and yet we have seen no change or halt to the lands department's modus operandi of pouncing on people’s legally held land.  In November I became one such a...