Unity Party petitions Bio

Dear Sir,

On behalf of the Unity Party, I wish to state quite openly that we do not and will not support this mid-term census. Our reasons are as follows based on your eight key benefits of the first electronic census.

The timing, 2022, is now upon us the year of local council elections, in short, it’s the start of campaign season that leads into the 2023 general elections. It may be used for gerrymandering.

The cost, with the huge cost of the pending local and general elections how fiscally responsible is your government to justify pouring millions of dollars on a 4 census (mid-term was in 2020), only for the entire process to be repeated in 36 months. Regardless of who donated, granted, or loaned us the money. Could it not be more responsibly spent?

The development, neither you nor your cabinet need the exact numbers of Sierra Leoneans at the tail end of your term in office for you to make effective development plans.

A plan should have been in place even before your inauguration.

You also do not need a 4 term census to do a ‘comprehensive identification of vulnerable persons Sir you drive pass them on the way to and from your office begging for their daily bread around the cotton tree. Stop, wind your window down and talk to them, you will know who they are.

The impact of Covid, again you do not need a mid-term census to tell you this. Sierra Leone was spared from the wrath of Covid by the favour of God/Allah and not by any measures taken by your government that allowed thousands of donated doses of the Covid and Ebola vaccines to expire.

The evaluation of national progress, Sir the children of Kono spoke for all of us, I need not elaborate.

The matemal and childhood Mortality, again sir no need for a % term census, incentivize, pay, monitor, promote, the health workers. Equip, clean, monitor and maintain all health facilities

Rehearsal, can Sierra Leone afford to spend millions of dollars to have a practice census in readiness for 2025? Considering just our weak and inefficient our institutions are, it would be wise to use the next 36 months to strengthen them while a well-planned and executed 10-vear census is done.

V P Juldeh Jalloh Meets Ghana’s Vice President

Sierra Leone’s Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh has paid a courtesy call  on his colleague the Vice President of Ghana, -Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

Speaking during the meeting, Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh briefed his colleague about his mission in Ghana with the Compact Development Team of Sierra Leone and appreciated him and his government  for the hospitality  that was accorded them since there arrival.

He said their mission which was to engage Energy utilities in Ghana on a power compact development, currently been undertaken by Sierra Leone has been a success.

The Vice President also informed  him about the successful meetings and experience sharing engagements  with institutions like the Millenium Development Authority of Ghana(MIDA), Ghana Grid Company Ltd. (GRIDCo), Ministry Of Energy in Ghana and the Energy Commission of Ghana.

He further explained that the attracting investors is key and that in ensuring a country succeeds in that area, the energy industry must be prioritized and given the necessary attention.

Ghana’s Vice President in his  remarks, appreciated Vice President Dr. Jalloh and his team  for making time for a visit and commended Sierra Leone as a nation and the Compact Development Team for choosing  Energy as a compact to be developed.

He assured the team of maximum cooperation and support in putting Sierra Leone’s  Compact together adding that  he is  optimistic of  a brighter future and collaboration for both countries.

 The  Vice President of Sierra Leone  was accompanied  by High Commissioner Francess Virginia Anderson, Minister of Energy Alhaji Kanja Sesay,  Ndeye Koroma of the Sierra Leone Compact Development Team and Joseph Thornton, Head of Chancery of the Sierra Leone High Commission.

 Man Makes 5000 Leones Sports Bet, Sets Record With 500 Million Leones Win

Mercury International pays a record-setting cash prize to a Sierra Leonean man who won five hundred fifty-eight million on one gambling ticket.

7 December 2021 (Freetown, Sierra Leone) – Musa Kamara made history this weekend by becoming the first person to win over 500 million leones on a single sports betting ticket before tax deductions. Kamara bet 5,000 leones on 14 teams at his local Redbox Mercury Bookie at Gabriel Street in central Freetown. He won 558,914,818 leones; a total payout of 448,156,054 leones after tax deductions were paid to the National Revenue Authority.

Kamara had bet just 5000 leones on the outcome of 14 different football matches over the weekend. All the matches ended as he had predicted. He took his winning ticket to Mercury’s head office on Monday morning, and he was paid on the spot!

Kamara said he bets with Mercury International all the time. Two years ago he got really close to winning when he bet on the outcome of a match between Manchester United and Real Madrid, but Man United had lost. This weekend Kamara said his win was just pure luck.

“I had wanted to bet on Marseille. The bookie told me that he had made a mistake, but instead of changing it, I accepted the bet against Marseille. I was in the cinema watching the game. Marseille scored first, and I shook my head in disappointment, but then Brest not only equalized, but they also scored the winner. I was so happy!”

Managing Director of Mercury International, Martin Michael, congratulated Kamara on his historic win and expressed their commitment to Fairplay and speedy pay to all winners.

“Mercury is thrilled to pay today because that’s why we are here; to allow Sierra Leoneans to play our games with confidence whether it is sports betting or the lotto, we will always pay,” said Martin.

Before Kamara’s historic half a billion leone win, Abdul Rahman, a trader in Bo, Southern Sierra Leone, held the record for the highest individual football betting win when he won 311 million leones after-tax deductions Before that, it was Mrs. Sesay, a petty trader in Freetown with a 272,290,000 leone win.

“With such a reputation for a quick payout, it is no wonder Mercury International is the most trusted national sports betting and lottery company in Sierra Leone,” said Kamara.

Mercury International launched its lottery and sports betting products in 2007. Its products include the 5/90 lottery, sports betting, online betting, Zone, Rapids, and Virtual Rapid games. To celebrate the holiday season, Mercury last week launched a 50 percent bonus promotion on winning bets made each Monday and Friday in December 2021.

APC “Kandappers” On The Loose Again

By Pastor Mohamed Sesay

My late mum, Zainab Yayo Lascaff Koroma, had a great fear for people she called Kandappers which was her way of pronouncing kidnappers.

Those of us who were born under the one party All People’s Congress party rule, lived in great fear because of Kandappers.

I was in school one day when the bell rang and the headmaster ordered for the gate to close and messages were sent to parents to come and pick us up because Kandappers had been spotted in Freetown.

In few minutes parents and children were running home to avoid the Kandappers.

Back home, Mum tied pieces of red cloth on all her children’s wrists because, according to her, the Kandappers will not kidnap children on whom they see those red pieces of cloth.

Never mind the red pieces of cloth, it was still very terrifying though since the Kandappers may just easily give blind eyes to those pieces of cloth.

The teachers were to explain to us later that the ruling All People’s Congress party then,  had an insatiable appetite for children but they didn’t tell us for what reasons.

Many days Mum refused to release us to school fearing that we shall encounter those APC Kandappers along the way.

Recently, the Kandappers have emerged and as the leopard cannot change its skin, simple logic will tell you that the Kandappers of those old APC days are back.

The media boss of the police, Mr Kamara, most times downplay rumours about the workings of suspected Kandappers but it is clear that Kandappers must never be underestimated as they have many tactics and could easily  appear anywhere at any time

The police must be extra vigilant to fend up Kandappers who may just happen to be APC operatives on the loose again as they were in the 70’s and 80’s.

High Commissioner Designate in New Delhi

New Delhi, India, Thursday, 9 December, 2021 – Sierra Leone’s non-resident High Commissioner designate to the Republic of India, Rashid Sesay has arrived in New Delhi, capital of India ahead of the presentation of his credentials.

The High Commissioner designate, who resides in Abu Dhabi capital of the United Arab Emirates, will meet with and present his Letters of Credence to His Excellency Ram Nath Kovind, the Honorable President of the Republic of India.

On the edges of his Indian visit, High Commissioner designate Sesay will address a high-level business forum organized by the Indian Economic Trade Organization. During this session, which will bring together various economic actors in India, he is expected to discuss Sierra Leone’s investment climate as well as its enormous investment potentials.

Over the years, the South Asian country has positioned itself as one of the global leaders in the fields of financial services, digital technology, agriculture, vocational training and education, health and infrastructure. India remains one of the major trade partners with Sierra Leone, with a lot of Indian nationals involved in economic activities in the country.

The Sierra Leone Envoy has also been invited as a Guest Speaker on the Occasion of the United Nations Human Rights Day on the 10th December 2021. At this session, he is due to address a global audience on Sierra Leone’s post war democratic consolidation strides and President Julius Maada Bio’s stellar democratic credentials, particularly in the areas of access to justice, rule of law, freedom of information and of the press, gender empowerment and inclusive governance.

New UNFPA Officer-in-Charge pays courtesy call on Minister Kai-Kai

The New Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Sierra Leone, Mr. Ibrahim Sambuli, says the UNFPA will continue to give all the support required to ensure the successful conduct of the 2021 Mid-Term Population and Housing Census that was recently proclaimed by His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio.

He made this statement during a courtesy visit on Sierra Leone’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Francis Kai-Kai, at his Tower Hill Office, in Freetown.

“We want to assure the Government of Sierra Leone of our ongoing commitment to providing the required funding and technical expertise for this 2021 Mid-Term Census. We also want the Minister to suggest ways of improving our relationship with government going forward,” he noted.

Mr. Sambuli expressed his delight at the ongoing regional popularization and awareness raising campaigns on the National Population Policy of 2018 conducted together with the Ministry. He continued to remind the Government of its commitments made at the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25) held in Nairobi, Kenya on the 12th November 2019.

In his response, Minister Kai-Kai welcomed the new Representative Ad-Interim in supporting the government, noting that the UNFPA has been an important organization to work with, adding that the government valued its relationship with UNFPA.

He said despite the delay the government had started implementing the commitments made at the ICPD25 Summit in Nairobi and that the respective government Ministries, especially the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs were fully supporting the process in achieving these commitments, even though the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a serious threat.

Commenting on the Mid-Term Housing and Population Census, Dr. Kai-Kai noted that it was a critical activity for the government, adding that the government continues to be grateful for the support that UNFPA provides in facilitating the successful conduct of the census.

“We are very happy that the Census is a primary activity for the UNFPA and you coming in with such expertise was something I expected. I am looking forward to your continued support. We know you have the people with the expertise and it would be important that we have UNFPA fingerprints on every aspect of this Mid-Term Census process. That is our expectation,” said Minister Kai-Kai.

He called on UNFPA to also provide institutional capacity to the Population Unit of the Ministry to improve on its output.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬 𝗛𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗮 𝗟𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭 – 𝗬𝗢𝗞 𝟳 – #𝟭𝟰

Sierra Leone-United States based Hip-Hop Rapper and CEO of Noble Squad,  Yusuf Osio Kamara, commonly called YOK 7 Da Snipper is one of the industry’s most revered music artistes. 

YOK 7 grew up listening to Tupac, DMX and other American rappers where he sharpened his skills and entered into rap battles. In 1998, he joined a musical group called Planet Sounds Production where he completed an album with the team called “Planet Sounds Compilation Volume 1” in which he has two songs, named “Right Up and How Many”. After a successful launching of the album, YOK-7 started his label called Nobel Squad. The rapper later got the attention of Jimmy B who signed him to Paradise Records.

In 2003, his first solo album called “Palava’ delivered the hit song ‘A-Bo’. The album was a turning point in his musical career giving him the avenue to travel and perform in different European and African countries and also relocating to China where he released another album titled “Ring N The Man” in 2004 with his elder brother known as KOK.

While in Sierra Leone, Da Snipper released another solo album titled “Life and Death”, “Pack N’ Go”, “Bobor For U Mot” and “True Love”. He was crowned as the Best Artist by the People’s Choice Award 2007. The rapper was also awarded as Best Hip-Hop Artiste in Sierra Leone at the Lake Awards for 2011 and 2012 consecutively. He was also appointed as an Ambassador for Amnesty International, Sierra Leone.

After spending some years in Sierra Leone dropping hits after hits, YOK-7 relocated to United States to improve his music career. He linked up with many Sierra Leonean celebrities like Jada Vizzle, A-Klass, MDG, Shady Baby and many others.

In 2015, YOK was nominated at the African Entertainment Awards hosted in the United States and in 2016 he released an album called “Face to Face”, which he launched in a sold out audience in Maryland leaving no shroud of doubt, and toured the US. In 2017, he clinched the best rap artist at the National Entertainment Awards (NEA Awards).

In 2020, he released exceptional songs like ‘Go Study Me Fine’, ‘Fire Dance’ featuring Nigerian famous singer Teni and a social commentary song titled ‘Na Yah We Dae’ featuring Willie J and A-Klass.

The CEO of Noble Squad welcomed 2021 with a rap song ‘The Lione’ which he featured American rapper, Styles P. ‘The Lion’ is the highest viewed Sierra Leonean video for 2021 on YouTube with over 710,000 views thanks to the support of The Marketing Heaven. Without relenting, Da Snipper continue to drop hit songs with international collaborations. He released the most anticipated song title WINE N’ TWERK of which he featured top notch Jamaican dancehall artiste; Demarco. The rapper also shows his versatility with a love song ‘You’ for the ladies. The song features Sierra Leonean American based singer, QueenNak.

For 2021, YOK 7 set a standard by shooting classic videos for all the songs he released in 2020 and 2021. His professional work coupled with other contributions in the entertainment industry has placed him at the #13 spot among the 20 Hottest Artistes in Sierra Leone 2021.