For Adoption of Constitution… APC Diaspora say Thank You

By Alhaji Turay

The All Peoples Congress (APC) Diaspora has sent a thank you message to all members of the party for adoption of the new constitution few days ago.

Over the years, the Diaspora has become a great source of skilled human resource as well as political party in Sierra Leone. We believe this decision was collectedly,

Logistical, financial, and moral support for the party and the country in general.

This assemblage of Sierra Leoneans under the political arena of the APC party has proved to be a decisive factor in the political and socio-economic development of Sierra Leone.

In the recently concluded, APC emergency National Delegates Conference (NDC) on the 17-19 September 2021 in  Makeni, the Diaspora was recognized and ratified as a Region in the constitution of the APC political party in Sierra Leone; we believe such decision was the collective effort of several political parties in Sierra Leone.

As stakeholders in the party “we are very grateful,

Foremost, the Diaspora would like to convey unreserved thanks and appreciation to the political party in Sierra Leone; we believe this decision was collective.

National Chairman and Leader, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma, National Secretary General, Dr Alhaji Osman Foday Yansaneh, political parties in Sierra Leone                      

We believe this decision was the collective’’.

 National Advisory Committee (NAC), Diaspora Coordinator,Comrade Leonard Balogun Koroma and all other organs of the party for initiating and supporting the discussion to include the APC Diaspora in the APC constitution.

Is another Testimony of the great value that you place on the Diaspora? ‘’We would also like to express our Gratitude to all the delegates at the National Delegates conference of 2017 for voting in favor of the Diaspora which set the stage for subsequent deliberations on this recognition and Ratification’’.

‘’Gratitude to all the delegates at the National Delegates Conference of 2017 for voting in favor

Of the Diaspora which set the stage for subsequent deliberations on this recognition and Ratification.

The decision of the delegates at the recent NDC to vote in favor of the Diaspora’’

The APC Diaspora has come a long way since its inception over half a century ago. To this

End, we would like to acknowledge the remarkable commitment and effort of past and present Chairpersons, executives, and members of the various Branches that make up the Diaspora.

As Diaspora, ‘’we would continue to uphold the philosophy of the APC supports the ideals and aspirations of the party, and work assiduously to bring the APC party back to power in 2023.

A special thank you to all affiliate groups of the APC Diaspora for your tremendous support towards the APC while in governance and now in opposition.

 We also want to extend our gratitude and appreciation to the 21-man Technical Committee for conducting the delegate’s elections in all the constituencies of Sierra Leone, and to planed and execute the emergency NDC in line with the orders of the High Court of Sierra Leone.

Judiciary Looks to God

The Judiciary of Sierra Leone Communications, Saint George’s Cathedral, George Street Freetown, 27^thSeptember 2021: The Judiciary of Sierra Leone on Sunday, 26^th September, 2021 ended the judicial service as part of activities marking the official opening of the 2021/2022 Judicial year.

Preaching at the Saint George’s Cathedral on the theme, “For we’re his workmanship created in Christ Jesus onto good works, which God hath before ordained that We should walk in them,” His Lordship Bishop Thomas A. I. Wilson, Bishop of the Anglican Dioceses of Freetown admonished Judges and staff members of the Judiciary to dispense justice with the fear of God and in the interest of all.

He told the congregants that his attention had been drawn to various media outlets about remarkable reforms in the Judiciary under His Lordship Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards, Chief Justice of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

He told the congregation that those reforms have justified the need for God’s continued direction of the leadership of the Judiciary.

Scripture readings were done by the Honourable Chief Justice and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Anthony Y. Brewah.

The activities commenced on Tuesday, 21st September with the opening of the High Court Criminal Session with a total of 96 cases which were presided over by Honourable Justice AlusineSesay (JSC), who later assigned those cases to various Judges.

On Friday 24th September 2021, the Honourable Chief Justice, Judges of the Superior Court of Judicature as well as members of staff converged at Masjid Hamdallah on Naimbana Street in Freetown, where Muslim prayers were observed.

Delivering his sermon during the Jumaah prayer on Friday, Court of Appeal Judge, Honourable Justice AlhajiMomoh-Jah Stevens admonished worshipers to be humble in the discharge of their duties regardless of status.

He reminded worshipers to have and practice the fear of God in every sphere of their lives and to be mindful of the day of accountability and stewardship before Allah on the day of judgement.

Justice Momoh-Jah Stevens used the occasion to briefly introduce Honourable Judges of the Superior Court of Judicature to the public and other administrative staff, and implored worshipers to uphold the tenets of Islam especially the paying of zakat, which is one of the pillars of Islam.

The service was held in recognition of God’s Supremacy and rulership in the affairs of men and from whom all strength is drawn in the discharge of our daily activities.

The activities will continue on to the 1st of October 2021 when the Civil Session of the High Court will also be opened to mark the full commencement of the 2021/2022 judicial calendar.

INFORMATION MINISTER HOSTS BRITISH HIGH COMMISSIONER TO SIERRA LEONE

The Minister of Information and Communications Honourable Mohamed Rahman Swaray played host to the British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone Lisa Chesney at his Youyi Building office today Monday the 27th September 2021.

The British High Commissioner and team were warmly welcomed by the Minister as they discussed government’s interventions in improving media freedom in Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone and Britain have enjoyed long standing bilateral fraternal ties and cooperations  geared towards promoting the socio-economic development of both countries.

In her statement, the British High Commissioner commended Sierra Leone for being the 5th African country to join the Media Freedom Coalition which according to her is a big step in the right direction. She applauded government’s bold steps in repealing the criminal libel law, abolishing the death penalty, strengthening the IMC act and enacting the Cyber Security and Crime Act.

The High Commissioner who was not around when the Cyber Security and Crime act was enacted was curious to know more about it, which the Honourable Minister took the opportunity to enlighten her on the processes which the bill underwent before it was eventually passed into law.

Minister Swaray explained to her about government’s continued commitment in protecting press freedom, privacy and Human Rights of citizens. The Minister said, more than 80% of the population are connected through mobile voice and 25% are either on one social media platform or the other. “The government didn’t want to leave that space unattended to owing to the fact that the cyber space is now prone to all kinds of abuse and threats,” said the Minister.

Mr. Swaray informed her of thorough consultations with stakeholders and the eventual passage of the Bill with a clean bill of health which got endorsement from all political parties in Parliament.

The Honourable Minister assured Lisa Chesney that after the President would have assented to the Cyber Security and Crime Act, there will be massive sensitization all around the country to keep the citizens abreast of the act.

Lisa Chesney asked the Minister what kind of Sierra Leone he would want to see after signing up to the Media Freedom Coalition, to which he responded by saying “this is a country where His Excellency the President Dr. Julius Maada Bio is known globally as a champion of free speech so I want to see Sierra Leonean remains so. A nation where journalists practice freely that is why the IMC act is callings for journalists to be paid just to improve their work.”

Both of them spoke briefly about climate change and COP 26 which will be held in Glasgow. The High Commissioner said Sierra Leone will be presented with the opportunity to tell the world their own story on climate change.

President Xi Urges UNGA to Address COVID &Climate Change

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the General Debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly via video link and delivered a statement entitled “Bolstering Confidence and Jointly Overcoming Difficulties to Build a Better World”.

President Xi expounded on China’s positions on a range of important issues and made the following four points:

First, we must beat COVID-19 and win this decisive fight crucial to the future of humanity.

Second, we must revitalize the economy and pursue more robust, greener and more balanced global development. 

Third, we must strengthen solidarity and promote mutual respect and win-win cooperation in conducting international relations.

Fourth, we must improve global governance and practice true multilateralism.

President Xi also reiterated China’s pledge to provide an additional three billion US dollars of international assistance in the next three years to support developing countries in responding to COVID-19 and promoting economic and social recovery.

.Agric. Personnel Visit Vegetable Farm

AgriculturalPersonnel, District Office and farmers of the Rokundor village at their vegetable farm

By: Amara Kargbo

Technical Agricultural personnel at the District Agricultural Office in the  Western Rural and Urban Districts have last week carried out a site visit and supervision exercise to a vegetable farm at the Rokundor Village, Western Urban and commended farmers for using improved seeds and dedicating commitment to make agriculture a real phenomenon in their community.

LahaiBangura, Crop officer, explained that they were satisfied with the improvement of the vegetables, ultimately most of the assistance they had provided to the farmer through the devolved function of the Western Rural District Council revealed positive outcomes. He affirmed that the office is keen on having potential farmers and Abdul ZalaKargbo will exceptionally do more if he has the supports.

The group was made of farmers that converged themselves to undertake such framing activity for not only subsistence farming but also focusing on commercial farming purposes which in many ways will help mitigate hardship and generate income for them.

Madam Jane FeaKabbaSeiSillah, District Agricultural Officer of Western Rural and Urban Districts outlined that one of the objectives of their mandates is to find out about farmers in the districts and encourage them to register and become a member of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, a strategy which will enable them to gain benefits as other farmers across the country are earning supports.

She explained that the chairperson of the Rokundor village farm officially paid a visit and complained that pests are disturbing their plants, the office proactively responded by visiting the vegetable site and discovered that pests have destroyed a quantum of vegetables which were pepper, cucumber, eggplants and garden eggs. Expediently intervention of the District Agricultural Office personnel, a crop officer was assigned at the site to be supervising the garden, as well as technical advice, was given to the farmer which effectively made a bravura difference to the plants.

MadamSeiSillah identified that one of the major challenges the District Agricultural Officer which is encumbering their field visitation, at the amid of raining season that the terrine are miserable, besides,   the vehicle that was administered to her by the ministry of agriculture is not in good order for several months now, this has caused a setback to execute their routine activities across the districts. Presently, farmers in far-reaching villages or towns do sometimes provide a vehicle for the office to visit their farm sites.

She kindly requested the ministry to provide the district with a sound vehicle.

Abdul ZalaKargbo, Master,  Rokundor Village, Western Rural District described that cultivate high-yield farming, requires labor, he started the vegetable farm with a small unit of five-acre land.

He explained that the village people were so passionate about agriculture but they did not have enough knowledge on how to grow certain crops, however, the village indigenes embraced and rendered physical support through labor to him to cultivate farm crops in the above acre of land, additionally, Abdul ZalaKargbo in return empowered them on how to grow certain crops and now most of them had got farms on their own.

$22.47M Grant for Education in Sierra Leone

Following the Global Education Summit in London in July, the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Dr. Moinina David Sengeh, has received a letter of confirmation from the Chief Executive Officer of Global Partnership for Education, Alice P. Albright that Sierra Leone can start the process to access the System Transformation Grant for up to US $22.47 million.

It could be recalled that in July, H.E President Bio was invited as one of few World Leaders who participated at the Global Education Summit in London. This is the latest example of how President Bio’s foreign travels have not only financially benefitted Sierra Leone but also regained donor confidence in Sierra Leone.

Don BoscoFambul Launches 2021/22 Campaign on Stop Child Exploitation

By Anthony Vandy

The Don BoscoFambul has officially launched the 2021/2022 campaign on “lef me bodi” stop Child Exploitation.

The campaign is aimed at raising awareness among the population about the issues related to sexual exploitation and how to prevent them.

However reaching out to those that could be potentially affected is a vital way of preventing response efforts.

This campaign involves community stakeholders, policy makers, child protection partners SGBV partners law makers and law enforcement agencies across Sierra Leone.

Speaking to this medium, the head of Family Support Unit Madam FatmataDabohKamarasaid” “On behalf of the family support Units been a crucial partner which is a specialized units attached to the Police Station across Sierra Leone with a mandate to investigate all forms of child abuse and violence against children. This includes sexual and physical abuse, exploitation, including commercial exploitation, internal and cross-border trafficking”

Madam FatmataDabohKamara added that the main aim of the campaign is to raise the number of conventions in courts and thus bring justice to survivors.

Amanda Helen Clemens is the Communications person for Don BoscoFambul while giving her key note address said based on statics in 2020, 2,138 children in distressed called the Don Bosco child line In the same year Rainbow Initiative recorded 2,322 cases of sexual assault on minors nationwide, according to Family support Unit of the Sierra Leone police 915 cases of sexual exploitation cases were recorded between January and April 2021 alone.

Amanda Clemens added that the “Lef Me Bodi” campaign is aimed at raising awareness amongst the population about the issues related to sexual exploitation and how to prevent them. Reaching out to those that could be potentially affected is a key part of prevention and response efforts.

She ended up by saying they will do interactive school workshops that will train school going pupils about the dangers of sexual exploitation and how to spot and avoid them as school plays crucial roles in the campaign to prevent sexual exploitation against minors.

The “Lef me bodi” campaign is a prevention- oriented advocacy campaign that aims to strengthen children’s ability in spotting threats and repelling them. It Is said that strong confident children are less likely to become victims and more likely to report.It is however believed that children can be superheroes that they can speak up and refuse to be touched.

The Assistant Director for Children’s Affairs Daniel Gbow on behalf of the minster said He Ministry does not work in isolation and therefore has been working with key partners in ensuring children and especially girls are being protected from any form of abuse and violation.

He said one key mandate of the ministry is to protect women and children of Sierra Leone through monitoring, partnership, and the review of the child protection and gender policies.He however said sexual exploitation is a menace in the society and the country as a whole.

Fact and figures reported cases of domestic violence sexual penetration and rape

From January to December 2020 through the child line of Don BoscoFambulrecord 2,138 calls of children in distress.Therefore, it beholds on all to be actively engaged as much as possible to prevent abuse before it happens.