APC Abandons High Level Meeting
The Main Opposition Party, All Peoples’ Congress (APC) has cancelled a high level profile meeting it was scheduled to hold to day Thursday 19th March, 2020, for senior members of the Party. A statement issued yesterday, 18th March, from the party’s Secretariat said that ‘’the meeting that was scheduled for Thursday 19th March2020 on the Corona Virus Disease sanitization and the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA) 2020 Verification and Registration Exercise has been cancelled until further notice’’ According to the statement, the meeting was for Members of Parliament (MPs), District Council Chairmen, City Council Mayors, Regional Chairmen and Secretaries, District Chairmen and Secretaries. However, the statement which was signed by the Party’s Secretary General, Ambassador Dr. Alhaji Osman Foday Yansaneh did not give reasons for the cancellation of the meeting. But said, ‘’The Party regrets any incontinence this may have caused and counts on the understanding and usual cooperation,’’ It said. Gov’t Officials at Quarantine Facilities Government officials including the Chief Minister, Professor David Francis, and Minister of Health, Professor Alpha Tejan Wurie, yesterday, 18th March, 2020 paid an unannounced visit to the three quarantine facilities in Lungi designated for the coronavirus. The facilities are stationed at the in Lungi International Airport, north of the country. The two senior government officials who were accompanied by other members of the committee set up to handle the prevention of the virus have been asked by the President Dr Julius Maada Bio to get first-hand information on the status of people being accommodated in places transformed into such confinement facilities and to further gauge the preparedness level of health workers at that entry point. The minister of health encouraged people, who had arrived into the country by air from different parts of the world, to allow to be quarantined as part of the measures in place to manage any possible case of the coronavirus, adding that they might be aware of the strangeness of the infectious disease ravaging the world partly because of the difficulty in detecting it without having to quarantine them for 14 days of the incubation period for the coronavirus. Professor Wurie stated that so far that was one of the most effective ways to make sure that people coming from different countries protect themselves and their families. “We started quarantining passengers from 4 February 2020, but this is the first time we are having a larger number of passengers in quarantine. We have released 68 people and none of them showed any sign of the virus. We have not said you are infected with the virus, but also we have no reason to believe that you don’t have the virus. We want you to show this country that you are patriots by staying away from society for 14 days, after which everyone will be allowed to go about their normal business,” he explained. The Chief Minister, Professor Francis told passengers that their instruction from the President was to visit the said places and see what obtained on the ground, adding that the coronavirus was a global problem challenging bigger economies with advanced and sophisticated healthcare systems. “Sierra Leone is the only country within the Man River countries that has not recorded any case of this deadly virus. We are here to assure all of you that we are trying our best as a government to ensure that there is no case of coronavirus in Sierra Leone. But if accidentally we record any, we will be on better grounds to eradicate it immediately and entirely,’’ he said. He assured them of three meals per day in all quarantine facilities, adding that all essential items that would keep them safe during the 14-days period would be provided by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. He further stated that it was difficult for people to be quarantined, especially when they would have travelled for long and wanted to see their family members. He, therefore, admonished them to show the highest level of compliance and ensure that the protocols and guidelines stated by the World Health Organization for people in quarantine were observed. BAR ASSOCIATION OPENS Book OF CONDOLENCE FOR LATE Solomon BEREWA BY FEIMA SESAY The Sierra Leone BAR Association in collaboration with the Judiciary of Sierra Leone on Wednesday 18th March, 2020 at the High Court No1 Building opened a Book of Condolence in respect of the late Solomon Ekuma Berewa Esq. Prior to the signing of the book, the Acting Chief Justice of the Judiciary Justice, Nicolas Brown Mark in his tribute described the late man as a very dedicated and hard working lawyer who contributed immensely to the development and expansion of not only the Judiciary but the Country as a whole. He said he came to know the late Solomon Berewa in 1975 and that they both worked together at the Law Officers Department. He revealed further that it was due the hard work and dedication of the late man that the Director of Public Prosecution officer was established in 1978 under the constitution of the country. Justice Mark explained that the former Vice President was appointed Acting Senior State Counsel for Bo district and was later transferred to Kenema as the Regional State prosecutor. He said the deceased was a distinguish personality during the time he was practicing law but said he left the Law Officers Department in 1980 and later in 1981 went to the Gambia when prosecutors were needed in treason case where Mr Berewa worked . He noted that he was very methodical and one of the best in their generation, adding that the late man did very well in the 1975 seditious libel law trial and was very effective in discharging his duties. Justice Mark extended his condolence to the Bereaved family, adding that the death of Berewa was not only a big loss to their family but to the country as a whole. The Attorney General Minister of Justice Dr Priscilla Schwartz in her stated that the late Solomon Berewa was
