Abdul Aziz Carew, a dedicated and strong supporter of the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) was on Friday 14th July, 2017, confirmed dead after according to family sources, he was admitted at Satellite Hospital in Freetown, when he earlier got at attack. Abdul Aziz Carew, SLPP District chairman in Constituency 104 (Fourah Bay, Ginger Hall and Kossoh Town communities) was a dedicated member of the SLPP PAOPA fraction, and 2012 Member of Parliament candidate for the constituency. He was a resident of Canton Street, off Salvage Square, Fourah Bay Community. Abdul Aziz Carew was a Muslim and yesterday Sunday 16th,July 2017, there was a laying out ceremony for him between 10:00-11:30AM at the SLPP National Headquarters. That was followed by another laying out at his residence at Canton Street, off Salvage Square. He was finally interment at the Aku Muhammadan, Fourah Bay Cemetery, Kennedy Street, Freetown, immediately after the 4 ‘O’ prayer. 

Chairman…SLPP Member in Constituency 104; Aziz Carew is Dead!

As PAOPA Mourns Strong, Dedicated and Selfless Chairman…SLPP Member in Constituency 104; Aziz Carew is Dead!

 Five new ambassadors from Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, Morocco, United Arab Emirates and Indonesia presented their letters of credence to His Excellency President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma at State House this morning Friday, 14th July 2017, to mark the beginning of their mission in Sierra Leone. The President reiterated the country’s determination to strengthen the economic, social and cultural cooperation between Sierra Leone and their respective countries. As Chair of the African Union Committee of Ten Heads of State and Government on the Reform of the United Nations Security Council, President Koroma also canvassed the support of the newly accredited ambassadors for the Common African Position as espoused in the Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration. A quarter guard was mounted by a detachment of the 1st Infantry Battalion of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) 

President Koroma receives five new ambassadors

Sierra Leone News : President Koroma receives five new ambassadors

 Prominent female Sate Prosecutor in the case between the state and Chairman and Leader of the Alliance Democratic Party (ADP) Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray and other, has said “I never abused my colleague’s mother.” Umu Sumaray Esq made this statement yesterday Sunday 15th July 2017, during a telephone call interview with Awareness Times Newspaper whilst reacting to social media reports that alleged the prominent female prosecutor abused the mother of one of the male defense lawyers. When explaining, Umu Sumaray Esq said, “whilst we were in court last Thursday, I presented my witness. During the cross-examination, Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai, Lead Defense Lawyer, referred to my witness as an APC thug.” The erudite female State Prosecutor added “On three occasions he referred to my witness as a thug sent by the APC to attack his client. I objected to that and I said as far as I was concerned he was just prevaricating.” At this juncture, the female State Prosecutor said he asked if she could refer to the accused as a thug, then what would be of the court hearing. Therefore, she said, she stood her grounds to protect her client against being intimidated by the defense lawyer. Umu Sumaray Esq added that as she was about to protect the right of her client then Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai Esq made harsh remarks at her, saying “he told me that as a fifty year old I don’t know how to behave and that I am unbrought up.” Umu Sumaray Esq further stated that at this point of the argument in court, and as a result of the statement made against her by the defense lawyer, stating that she is “unbrought up” that she then commented “I told him that the way he has been abusing me in court l suppose that’s the way he talks to his mother. So did l abuse his mother? No. If you tell me that I say I am fifty and I can’t comport myself and can’t behave well and that I am unbrought up, that was when I said, oh yes because that’s the way you talk to your mother.” Meanwhile, it could be recalled that Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai in a social media post alleged “I was cross examining a witness she had led in examination in chief and she gave several unfavourable undertones. I told her it was unprofessional and wrong for her to do so. She retorted that she was older than me and I should not talk to her ‘anyhow.’ That I should be talking to my mother not her.” Against this backdrop, Umu Sumaray Esq said that that allegations made against her are completely bias and they are geared towards tarnishing her long earned reputation. She said, “Those who know me well will definitely not believe that I will do such a thing.” She assured that she is very focused and that actions of such are just about tarnishing her long standing reputation as an outstanding female lawyer. 

Sierra Leone News

Sierra Leone News :“I never abused my colleague’s mother,” Female State Prosecutor Rubbishes Fake Social Media Reports

 When African leaders met in Addis Ababa for the 29th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union Summit from 3rd July to 4th July, 2017, they took an important decision that will have great impact on international peace and security in the future . They unanimously endorsed the 19th report of the Committee of 10 African Heads of State on the ongoing negotiations for the reform of the UN Security Council. The decision of the African heads of state meant a successful outcome for the C-10 Heads of State Consultative Summit held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea from 14th to 17th May, 2017. The endorsement in Addis was an approval of the significant decisions of C-10, spearheaded by President Ernest Koroma, during the consultative conference with his peers in Malabo. By endorsing the report with acclaim , the AU leaders were expressing profound confidence in the diplomatic capabilities of C-10 President Koroma, as well as giving full marks to the President for his leadership role in successfully steering C-10, which is a committee mandated to canvass, promote and propagate the Common African Position on the UN Security Council Reform Negotiations. According to Ambassador Adikalie Foday Sumah, Sierra Leone’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, who was at both Malabo and Addis , the unanimous adoption of the 19th Report , which contained the decisions and recommendations of C10 at the Malabo Consultative Conference, was a reflection of the tremendous respect AU leaders have for President Koroma and the total approval of his leadership of C10. It was also a further demonstration of the fact that C10 is in very capable and competent hands and that the future of the Common African Position is becoming brighter every day since President Koroma assumed the role of Chair of c-10 in 2007 when he became President of Sierra Leone. African news outlets which covered the Malabo Consultative Conference lauded President Koroma’s staunch stand for speedy progress in charting the way forward for Africa in the Security Council Reform Negotiations. The Namibia Broadcasting Corporation ( NBC ), the African News, the Lusaka Times and the Zambia Daily Mail all reported about President Koroma’s strong and unequivocal stand that the historic injustice to Africa needs to be urgently addressed and the continent given the full representation it deserves at both categories ( Permanent and Non-Permanent ) of the United Nations Security Council . According to NBC, “Koroma told the gathering that the options are; that seats are made available with equal voting powers – or voting powers are scrapped in total. He further noted that more drastic actions are needed, as it has been 12 years that Africa has been calling for reform. The Committee of Ten argues that suitable seats on the UN Security Council, is the only way to reflect Africa’s right to redress historical injustices done to the continent. “ At Malabo, C10, in cooperation with President Koroma’s stance , decided that the Common African Position as espoused in Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration continue to be the only viable option to redress the historical injustice done to the African Continent and the reform of the UN Security Council should be comprehensive in accordance with Decision 62/557 of the UN General Assembly. Secondly, C-10 stressed the critical importance for heightened engagement with the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council. Thirdly, C-10 instructed the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the C-10 to come up with a proposed DECISION on a progressive approach for advancing the Common African Position on UN reform process, to be tabled at the AU Assembly in July 2017. President Koroma’s performance at the Equatorial Guinea consultative Conference drew commendation right there in the Communique signed by the C-10 heads of state , which highly praised the President, in the following words : “The Heads of State commended the efforts of the Coordinator, H.E. Dr Ernest Bai Koroma for his strong leadership and commitment in spearheading the pursuit of the C-10 mandate and advancing the objectives of the Common African Position on the reform of the United Nations Security Council.” President Koroma’s determination to have the wheels of the reform negotiations accelerated fruitfully saw him sending his Foreign Minister, Dr. Samura Kamara, to New York last month to hold discussions with the AU Permanent Representatives at the UN as a follow-up on his request for greater integration of the African Union Commission and African institutions into the negotiations. President Koroma is not only a star at home , whatever could be said by his detractors about the challenges facing the nation. He is also an international star and his name will forever be engraved in the annals of the AU for the exceptional work he has done for Africa as Chair of C-10, which will eventually address the historical injustice to the continent with Africa ultimately represented in the Permanent and Non-Permanent Categories of the UN Security Council . Credit will also be given to the competent men he has at the Sierra Leone Permanent Missions in New York and Addis, his foreign ministers and the Permanent Representatives of C10 at the UN, as well as the experts. It may happen during the tenure of the President or it might not; but whatever the case, President Koroma and his team have already entered the hall of fame and victory for the brilliant initiatives they have masterminded in the negotiations to reform the UN Security Council. In Part 11, I will examine the decisions taken by C-10 and endorsed by the AU leaders and then look at the road map to their implementation. A plan of action will be taken during the big C10 retreat scheduled for August. It must be noted with pride to the nation that the proposed big push for the implementation of the decisions of the C10 , which will start with an engagement of the 5 Permanent Members of the UN Security Council , was a novel idea of Ambassador Sumah , as we will discuss also in Part 11. 

AU leaders give President Koroma full marks

NEWS AU leaders give President Koroma full marks for his outstanding role as major player in the UN Security Council Reform negotiations

 Abdul Kabia Youth Activist Reporter Despite a century of government reforms, nothing much has changed at all levels of governance. ( My Vote, My Life) campaign by Institute for Governance (IGR) Reforms ahead of the 2018 elections points out solid awareness messages of civic education among other things. This campaign require all to stick with coherent strategy directed towards the improvement of social service delivery in all spheres of life. Our democracy should leads us to make frequent changes in leadership, and new policy makers or duty bearers must overcome the tendency of lip service , which has been the case over the years and to date. If politicians can locate young people during election campaign to canvass for votes, why can't they use similar approach to tackled youth unemployment headlong with their resources and focus on improving the lives of these young people. Attempting to assess present-day Sierra Leone, historians of the next century will no doubt fall back on Charles Darwin's theory " Survival of the Fittest , that at least captures the spirit of the prevalence of predicament now unfolding. Even in the best of times criticism serves only one legitimate function to stimulate change, without that objective, it is cynical and counter productive. We do have problems to solve.The simple fact remains that Sierra Leone's governance faces a productivity crisis. This assertion is neither name-calling nor carping criticism. Constructive criticism is the lifeblood of healthy organisations, just as it is the keystone of democracy. With it, conditions may be improved, without it, progress never occurs. It is the engine of change and renewal. We have lost our edge, and that poses dire consequences for our county's future. Apparently, our politicians are not working enough to meet present-day demands.Moreover, standing still while countries on the Continent make giant steps forward. We have spent the better part of the last decade grappling to improve social service delivery that augurs well for the future. But somewhere along the line we confused short lived development and sustainable development , they are not even close The bottom line is we must translate passion for improving social service delivery Durable solution don't just appear from nowhere and then disappear again at night. It all boils down to repetition which brings perfection. Youth Activist. Abdul Kabia! Reporter: Beware of the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.The bottom line is we must translate passion for improving social service delivery Durable solution don't just appear from nowhere and then disappear again at night. It all boils down to Reporter: Beware of the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems, they're trying to solve their own problems of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind. They will say all sort of things in the course of campaigns to canvass for votes. Present day Tanzania is seeing unprecedented turnaround because of good and selfless leadership. The politics of deceit must stop , it has not helped our nation and never will. We are blessed with the richest and overflowing deposits of diamonds, yet poverty remains unacceptably high among many households. Let's checkmate how we lavish our nation's cash in counter productive ventures day in, day out. What the nation is witnessing today is the direct cost of neglect. Our democracy now has a big question mark so to speak. And this is making Sierra Leone an object of paradox discourse. Youth Activist. Abdul Kabia! [7/6, 12:11 AM] Dulse Reporter: THE BALLOT IS STRONGER THAN THE BULLET. Please Fellow Youth. What good do we realize from the decisions we make every election year? Do we get better or bitter after the election? Our choice of leadership should be made in full awareness of the nation we want to see, and who or which arrangement that will truly make our dreams and aspirations come true. The dream of a prosperous nation, the dream of getting a workable social security and insurance scheme, the dream of having a clean and safe drinking water, the dream of seeing our graduates gainfully employed, the dream of having a buoyant economy and the dream of having a contemporary education that answers questions of the our time. Hello youth of mother Sierra Leone we have a owe this nation a sacred duty! A duty to see that our decisions on elections day usher honest servants and not looters. Employment Exchange. In Sierra Leone there is a lot being talked about development. But time and again development is just seen as economic growth, which is simply one aspect of the whole-some Looking closely at the Sierra Leonean society in the context of development. livelihood among other things is widely perceived as a clear cut definition for development.Sustainable development is a subject of increasing interest to us all. Practically, it is about Reporter:Abdul Kabia Youth Activist repetition which brings perfection. Youth Activist. Abdul Kabia! 

Abdul Kabia Youth Activist Reporter

Despite a century of government

 Mamie Gibila travelled across choppy waters for almost four hours last week to reach a hospital. She was midway through labour with twins. The first baby was born at home, but she was unable to deliver the second and urgently needed medical attention. Gibila lives in the town of Mina in the district of Bonthe, which comprises several islands off Sierra Leone, and the closest hospital is 105 nautical miles away. The journey, she says, was foul. When she arrived, it was too late to save her second baby. This was her third pregnancy and her new baby boy, not yet named, is her second living child. She says she is 26 years old, but the doctor is sceptical. “From the looks of her she is less than 19 years,” says Dr Samuel Massaquoi, the district medical officer in Bonthe. The district – where nine doctors serve 200,000 people spread across several islands that are not easily reached – illustrates the extreme challenges facing maternal health in Sierra Leone. The country has one of the world’s highest teenage pregnancy and maternal mortality rates. A third of girls aged 15-19 have children, and less than half (44%) of all births are attended by a nurse or midwife. Poor access to medical facilities and a lack of trained midwives mean that for every 100,000 births, 1,165 mothers die. Half of them are teenagers. Just over a year since the country was declared free of Ebola, the government has pledged to prioritise fixing the dire state of maternal and sexual health services. One of its aims is to increase the proportion of women using contraceptives, from 23% to 33.7% by 2022. “The targets are ambitious but they’re only ambitious because of where we are [as a country],” says Dr Kim Eva Dickson, the UN population fund (UNFPA) country representative. “Are they ambitious compared with where the country should be globally? Not really,” she says. Still, the country faces an uphill battle. When the Ebola epidemic began in 2014, social services collapsed and schools were closed for almost an entire academic year. As health teams focused their efforts on disease control, family planning services ground to a halt. In a year, 18,000 teenage girls became pregnant – a “huge spike”, says Dickson. To make matters worse, global commodity prices plummeted, further battering the country’s fragile economy. As aid money was redirected towards Ebola, and humanitarian crises elsewhere, funding for family planning fell sharply. Over the past three years, the amount allocated to the UNFPA for family planning in Sierra Leone has fallen by more than half from $3,503,000 in 2014 to $1,358,260 this year. Last week, at a global family planning summit in London, Melinda Gates, the American philanthropist, said she was “deeply troubled” by Donald Trump’s decision to stop US funding for international family planning. The US has also cut support for the UNFPA, which faces a $700m shortfall until 2020. “For this year we’re OK, but we don’t know where we’ll be in November,” says Dickson, adding that the agency pays for 95% of contraceptives in the country. “We’re looking to the Nordics, Sweden, Norway. We were hoping for the UK but we don’t know – with a change of government, Brexit, it is a big problem.” Guardian Morning Briefing - sign up and start the day one step ahead Read more Already, important services are being scrapped. Clinics that are unsafe and in need of renovation have been left untouched, while activities aimed at raising awareness and creating a demand for family planning have been slashed. In Bonthe, a boat service that offered family planning stopped running in December 2016. Before, a team used the boat to provide contraceptives to communities on the remote islands, and take people to hospital. Now, family planning services are sparse and it’s even harder for patients to get help. “In these island communities people don’t come to the hospital until they are deeply sick,” says Amara Lebbie, who is in charge of outreach at Marie Stopes Sierra Leone. The boat, which cost $35,000, didn’t just save lives, it built trust. “You cannot provide family planning to people who feel frustrated, people who feel they have lost their mother or daughter because somebody didn’t respond to take them to the hospital,” he says. In these island communities people don’t come to the hospital until they are deeply sick Amara Lebbie of Marie Stopes Building relationships is essential in places where myths about contraception are still common. Mary Magdalene Koroma, 18, who lives on Sherbro island, and who has had a contraceptive implant since she was 16, says few of her peers use family planning. “My friends said that if you start taking the pills you won’t be able to have children even in the future. And they don’t want to be faced with that,” she says. Koroma’s mother, Alice, encouraged her daughter to use contraception because she wants to ensure that nothing jeopardises her education. Many of Koroma’s friends are now pregnant, which means they are excluded from school until after they have given birth. Even then, many will not have the money to continue studying. Not all parents think like Koroma’s mother. Standing outside a packed community hall in the capital Freetown, where a family planning outreach session is being held, Gladys Goba, programme coordinator at the Planned Parenthood Association, says some young people will use contraception without their parents’ knowledge, especially if they are from very religious families. “Some say I want the captain band [an implant in the arm] because they will not see me taking the pill every day, they will not see me having an injection every three months. It’s easy and the parents don’t see the arms of their child,” she says. “That’s why the young people are coming [now],” adds Humama Kagbo, mommy queen, a woman leader, in the Dwarzak community. She points to the trickle of young people coming through the door: “They don’t want to get caught.” Earlier in the day it was mostly older people waiting in queues; now teenagers are arriving for contraception and reggae music has started pumping from the hall. Young volunteers at the PPA are using WhatsApp and Facebook, as well as visits to communities, to spread the word. Health workers are also asking local priests and imams to raise awareness, with mixed results. There are still some taboos, says Goba. “There’s a perception that when a female gives a male a condom she’s a prostitute.” But attitudes are changing. When the outreach visits first started three years ago, some women would hide visits from their husbands – now men are more involved. 

End of Ebola sparks crisis for Sierra Leone’s teen mums

A year after the country was declared free of the virus, maternity care and family planning remain starved of funding