Sacked Sierra Leone VP asks for $ 210 million and reinstatement

 

By Umaru Fofana

Lawyers for Samuel Sam-Sumana have completed filing their case at the ECOWAS Court in Abuja challenging his sacking in March 2015 as Vice President of Sierra Leone.  They are led by Ghanaian lawyer Dr. Raymond Akongburo ATUGUBA and prominent Nigerian lawyer Femi Falana

In a 25-page application, the lawyers are asking the Ecowas Court to order Sierra Leone to pay their client $ 210 million in damages and legal cost. They also want him reinstated as Vice President of Sierra Leone. 

They say his removal from office, the appointment of current Vice President Victor Bockarie Foh and the ruling by the Supreme Court upholding his dismissal should be declared “illegal, null and void”. 

In the detailed submission which catalogues the events leading to those dramatic events in March 2015 when he was first expelled from his ruling APC party and then sacked as VP, they argue that due process was not respected. 

 

The application says Sam-Sumana’s rights were violated including his personal safety and security, participation in government, and even his dignity. They also say Sierra Leone failed to provide an effective remedy accusing the country's Supreme Court, which justified the president's action to sack him, of denying him to "exhaustively present his case". 

Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Joseph Kamara says they've been notified about the matter by the registry of the Ecowas Court but that they are yet to receive the document hence cannot comment on it the substance of the matter. He however says that they are "willing and ready" to defend the action of the President any time, anywhere. 

Sam-Sumana was expelled from the ruling All People’s Congress party in March 2015 and accused of lying about his faith and educational qualification. he was also accused of anti-party activities.

He has been living out of Sierra Leone for exactly one year. 

This is the third time Sierra Leone has been brought before the ECOWAS Court under Ernest Bai Koroma’s presidency. 

Lebanese businessman, Mohamed Wanza sought redress over a questionable gunboat deal he went into with the NPRC junta. A former police officer Mohamed El-Tayyib Bah also challenged his dismissal from the force. Both men won by default after the government failed to represent itself. 

While the government obliged the outcome of Wanza’s ruling by paying for his gunboat, it is yet to do so in the case of the police officer for whom the court asked a financial compensation. 

Ebola-Affected Countries Receive NIH Support to Strengthen Research Capacity

 

The recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa highlighted the need for better global preparedness and response to disease outbreaks. To help address that need in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — the countries most affected by the epidemic — the National Institutes of Health has established a new program to strengthen the research capacity to study Ebola, Lassa fever, yellow fever and other emerging viral diseases. In the initiative’s first funding round, NIH’s Fogarty International Center is awarding grants to four U.S. institutions that will partner with West African academic centers to design training programs for their scientists and health researchers.

The collaborations aim to develop research training proposals that would strengthen the skills required to evaluate vaccines, develop new diagnostic tests and treatments, and identify the most effective intervention strategies for disease outbreaks. These planning grants, totaling $200,000, are intended to help institutions prepare to compete for larger, longer-term Fogarty grants to implement research training programs.

 

“We hope these awards will catalyze efforts to identify existing resources and plan to address development of sustainable research capacity in the countries that suffered so horribly from Ebola,” said Fogarty Director Roger I. Glass, MD, PhD. “By training local researchers in epidemiology and lab skills, and helping them form networks with U.S. scientists, we believe future disease outbreaks can be better contained.”

This new Fogarty training initiative was developed in response to a World Health Organization (WHO) assessment that noted weak health systems, poor disease surveillance and inadequate research and development resources were among the factors contributing to the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic. The program targets the neighboring countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where more than 28,000 Ebola cases and 11,000 deaths were reported, according to the WHO.  The three countries are recovering from conflicts and have fragile health systems. In the first funding round, awards are supporting one partnership in Liberia and three collaborations in Sierra Leone.

Yale University in Connecticut is partnering with the University of Liberia to design a research training program focused on epidemiology and predictive transmission modeling. Based in the capital city of Monrovia, the university is Liberia’s flagship institution for higher education and has a medical school with roughly 200 students. The lead investigators from both countries collaborated on research during the Ebola crisis.

Scientists from Duke University in North Carolina are building on existing relationships with colleagues at the University of Sierra Leone’s College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS), located in the capital city of Freetown. Their joint training plan intends to focus on clinical research for local scientists so they can quickly implement trials for vaccines and therapeutics during a disease outbreak. COMAHS, founded in 1988, is the country’s first medical school and has 1,500 students. Nearby Connaught Hospital, a 120-bed facility, is a partner on the project.

COMAHS is also the collaborating institution on an award to Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. This project aims to plan a research capacity building program in implementation science and clinical trial management to address Ebola, Lassa fever and other viral hemorrhagic fevers. The primary training site will be the Kenema Government Hospital, located in a region with the world’s highest incidence of Lassa fever. The hospital, which contains the country’s only Lassa fever laboratory, has a previously established research relationship with Tulane University in Louisiana. A Tulane scientist will also collaborate on the training project.

Another investigator at Tulane University is receiving funding to assess the research training needs of Sierra Leone’s Njala University, which graduates a substantial number of allied health workers. Its main campus is in Njala, about 125 miles east of the capital, and includes a 50-bed hospital and laboratories that serve the city and surrounding communities. A second campus, about 35 miles away in Bo, has two health centers. The project aims to develop a strategic plan for research training, which may include distance learning opportunities since Njala has already invested in computer labs and high-speed internet.

Fogarty has issued a second call for applications to support further awards under the program, with a deadline of Feb. 22, 2017.

Source: NIH

Maseray Zelda Swarray is the crowned Miss International Africa in the Miss International 2016

 

Congratulations to our beautiful sister Maseray Zelda Swarray is the crowned Miss International Africa in the Miss International 2016  held in Tokyo, Japan. 👸🏾👸🏾👸🏾 🇸🇱🇸🇱🇸🇱

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#InspiringWomen #saloneonline #sierraleone #missinternational2016 #maserayzeldasawarray #ilovesalone #teamsalone 

 

Keystone Bank At The Sierra-Leone Business Awards

 

 

L-r Omobolanle Osotule, Head Marketing And Corporate Communications, Yvonne Isichei, Executive Director, Operations & Technology, Ime Okon, Md, Keystone Bank Sierra-leone, Samir Hassanyeh, Chairman, Keystone Bank Sierra-leone At The Sierra-leone Business Awards on Friday

Should we focus on building a New airport or focus on building our economy, our health system and our education system?

 

The government of Sierra Leone is determined to build a new international airport in the north of the country, financed by a whopping $400 million loan from China. Opposition to this policy decision is strong, including the Word Bank who says that the government simply cannot afford to commit the nation to further debt, with an uncertain economic outlook.

After fifty-five years of gaining independence from British colonial rule, and in spite of huge natural resource revenue potential of over $2 billion a year – with a population of just over six million people, Sierra Leone is rated as one of the poorest nations in the world.

 

Less than half the country’s adult population would live to see their 51st birthday; it’s health service is a death trap, because of the lack of trained doctors, poorly equipped hospitals, and poor access to medicines; education is sub-standard, compared to other countries in Africa; fewer than 30% of the population have access to electricity and clean drinking water.

Sierra Leone is one of the most dangerous countries for a woman to give birth, with a survival rate of less than 80%. Survival rate for newly born children is even more appalling – with more than 30% unlikely to see their 5thbirthday.

Unemployment in Sierra Leone is disturbingly high. Over 70% of the economically active population are out of work, and more than 60% of youths unlikely to have ever worked. Less than 30% of the population can read and write.

The country’s economy has seen its fair share of bad political management, civil war and health epidemic – Ebola. The economy is struggling to survive due to lack of investments and competition from neighbouring countries in attracting foreign investors.

Sierra Leone is massively dependent on foreign aid and debt to make up its annual budget deficit. The country cannot feed itself. Millions of dollars are spent every month on importing its staple food – rice, which it can, not only grow on its doorstep for domestic consumption, but has the potential to feed the rest of West Africa.

President Koroma and senior ministers believe that to fix Sierra Leone’s economic and social problems, there is the urgent need for a new international airport costing $400 million – a decision that most analysts and the World Bank say is seriously misguided. The country simply cannot afford it, nor is the need real.

But what is the real story behind this airport project?

The country’s existing airport -the Lungi International Airport, has the capacity to receive thousands of passengers a day, but daily passenger arrivals is less than 200.

The airport which is now being partly managed by a British company, has received millions of dollars from the World Bank to pay for expansion, upgrading of the runway and facilities to bring it up to international standards. Still, passenger numbers are struggling to rise.

At a cost of $400 million, and with the competing priorities facing the government – health, access to clean water, provision of electricity, education, housing, road renewals and improvement, waste management and sanitation – why is the Koroma government determined to secure a loan package from China to pay Chinese workers to build a new international airport that will be managed by the Chinese for a  fee?

Writing in a three part series of articles for the Sierra Leone Telegraph, Saad Barrie discusses the pros and cons of building a new airport, as well as the political and economic factors that are driving this decision. This is part one of Saad Barrie’s analysis:

The Mamamah Airport and New City is the flagship infrastructure project in Sierra Leone’s current medium term development plan, the Agenda for Prosperity. The indicative cost of the Mamamah Project is US$481 million. The airport alone is estimated to cost at least US$300 million (about 6% of GDP in 2014).

The proposed new airport has been harshly criticised by some of its key stakeholders either for its location, huge cost, or method of financing and the lack of transparency in the negotiations with its financiers and contractors.

Many Sierra Leoneans believe the country does not need a second airport. Not with the perennially low number of flights in and out of the country; total arrivals by air is less than one hundred thousand yearly at its peak.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the country’s main economic advisers and lenders, have weighed in on the debate, saying “now is not the time for a new airport” and that the government “has misplaced priorities” – or words to that effect. The country’s economy has been in dire straits since mid-2014.

Read more 

Telegraph Newspaper

Kei Kamara scored New England's third goal of the match and was handed a yellow card for twerking in celebration

Sierra Leone international Kei Kamara scored New England's third goal of the match and much to the fans surprise he decided to twerk in celebration.

Kamara who scored in New England's 3-0 win over Montreal Impact was penalized for his twerking celebration.

The enigmatic striker completed the scoring in the 71st minute, prompting a twerk - for the uninitiated, twerking is a popular dance move involving thrusting hip movements and a low squatting stance.

The referee who was not impressed, showed a yellow card to the 32-year-old Sierra Leone international player. 

More than half of the population in Sierra Leone facing food shortages

 

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As Sierra Leone recovers from the deadly effects of Ebola, more than half the population face food shortages, and many will not cope if further disasters such as drought or floods strike, U.N. food agencies said on Thursday.

Food shortages in most of the West African are caused by problems that predate the Ebola outbreak, the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

Some 3.5 million people do not have enough safe and nutritious food to eat, the agencies said in a report published on Thursday. 

Of that number, around 600,000 people face severe food shortages and are not prepared for sudden shocks such as food price increases, floods or droughts. 

 

The report said the number of people "severely" affected by a lack of food has increased by 60 percent since 2010.

The Ebola outbreak - now officially over - worsened food shortages in some districts, notably Kailahun and Kenema, but in most of the country the problem is chronic, the report said.

"The results confirm that drivers of food insecurity are low agricultural productivity, poverty and a lack of resilience," Nyabenyi Tipo, FAO representative in Sierra Leone, said in a statement. 

Poor roads, the difficulties farmers face in reaching markets, gender inequality, and a lack of alternative means of generating an income, also play a part, Tipo added.

 

Most of the population relies on agriculture for their survival, the report said. 

Rice production fell by 15 percent over the last five years, and only about four percent of farmers grow enough rice to meet their needs for the whole year, Tipo said.

On average, 99 percent of agricultural workers use manual tools and only ten percent have access to better seed varieties, the report said. 

Ebola killed more than 11,300 people and infected some 28,600 as it swept through Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea from 2013 in the world's worst outbreak of the disease.

During the epidemic, many farmers were unable to grow or sell their crops because of travel restrictions, border closures and quarantines, as well as fear of infection. 

Food production in Sierra Leone's bread basket and epicenter of the epidemic stalled, and weekly markets ceased trading because there was nothing to sell, according to the World Bank.

The World Health Organization declared Sierra Leone free of the deadly hemorrhagic fever on March 17, Guinea on June 1, and Liberia on June 9.

According to Thursday's report, the Sierra Leonean districts of Kailahun, Kambia, Port Loko, Pujehun, and Tonkolili have the highest levels of food insecurity.

By identifying vulnerable regions, agencies hope to improve food production and people's access to food, and help communities become more resilient to future crises, the WFP said. 

(Reporting by Lin Taylor @linntayls, Editing by Alex Whiting; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters that covers humanitarian issues, conflicts, global land and property rights, modern slavery and human trafficking, women's rights, and climate change. 

UBA Sierra Leone Won three awards at Sierra Leone Business Awards.

 

 

UBA SL won three coveted awards for the ”Best Bank of the year 2016”, ”Best Brand Bank of the year 2016”, and ”Outstanding Business Leader of the year 2016” which went to the MD/CEO of UBA SL, Mr. Ndubuisi Ejiofor.
In the words of the Organizing Committee of the Sierra Leone Council of Chief Executives, Mr. Peter SaSellu, ”the following awards come in recognition of your company’s demonstrated support and commitment to good customer services, sound community stewardship, good corporate governance principles, innovative products, business excellence and socio-economic growth in Sierra Leone”.
The event was organized by the Sierra Leone Council of Chief Executives (SLCCE) in collaboration with the African Council of Chief Executives, Inc. (USA) and the Africa Media Corporation, Inc. (USA) at the newly-renovated Bintumani International Conference Center on the 21st October, 2016.

MD-UBA Receiving Award For Best Bank Of The Year

It was an exciting Friday evening as CEOs, business leaders, top government ministers, renowned lawyers, seasoned academics, parliamentarians, senior public servants, top police brass, and many other stakeholders gathered to celebrate and to be celebrated for their outstanding performance in their respective walks of life.
The MD/CEO of UBA SL, Mr. Ejiofor thanked the Sierra Leone Council of Chief Executives for organizing the maiden edition of the Sierra Leone Business and Leadership Awards. He informed the audience that ” at UBA the reward for hard work is more work, and that UBA Plc remains committed to be Africa’s Global Bank and a Pan-African bank.” He further assured the gathering of UBA Sierra Leone unflinching commitment to provide superior customer service to the people of Sierra Leone.

Cancer Treatment center to open soon in Sierra Leone

 

Two of Sierra Leone’s main hospitals, the Princes Christian Maternity Hospital (PCMH) commonly called Cottage in Freetown and the Makeni Government Hospital in the Northern region will soon commence the treatment of Cervical Cancer.
Last week the Well Woman Clinic at Murray Town organized an awareness raising Programme with a walk for breast cancer along the Lumley Aberdeen Beach in Freetown.
They also conducted demonstrations on self-examination for the signs and symptoms of Breast Cancer followed by awareness talk on the signs and symptoms of Prostate Cancer.
According to the Senior Medical Superintendent at the Cottage hospital, Dr. Mohamed Koroma who recently returned from the Republic of Guinea where he participated in a week long intensive training of trainers workshop on screening of Cervical Cancer using Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) and Treatment of Pre-cancer with Cryotherapy organized by the World Health Organization (WHO).
He said WHO has procured all the equipment to start the screening and treatment of Cervical Cancer in Sierra Leone.
He said currently, two screening and treatment centres are being setup in Makeni and Freetown and that once the process is completed, the public will be duly notified when and how to access the facilities.
The doctor went on that clinical practice guidelines have been developed to provide clear guidance on cervical screening and preventative treatment for cervical cancer through early detection and treatment of cancer in these centres.
He said the aim is to provide cervical pre-cancer screening services through a single-visit approach (SVA) with visual inspection of the cervix with 3-5% acetic acid (VIA) and treatment of precancerous lesions with cryotherapy.
He said the overall objective of the course he went through in Guinea was to equip participants with knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to perform VIA and Cryotherapy as part of a client-centred approach to Cervical Cancer Prevention.
According to him, Cancer of the cervix is the commonest cancer and the leading cause of cancer mortality among women in Sierra Leone. WHO, in 2002 he cited, stated that there were more than 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer worldwide, over 90% of which were recorded in developing countries like Sierra Leone.
He said in sub-Saharan Africa, 72,000 new cases were recorded in the same year and 56,000 women died of the disease, adding that high incidences of cervical cancer are reported in Africa at rates exceeding 50 per 100,000 population and age-standardized mortality sometimes exceeding 40 per 100,000 population.
He said the major risk factor associated with cervical cancer is Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection which generally occurs in adolescence after the first acts of sexual intercourse.
Primary prevention of cervical cancer Dr. Koroma went on is based essentially on healthy lifestyles and vaccination against HPV, adding that secondary prevention of cervical cancer is by screening for precancerous lesions and early diagnosis followed by adequate treatment.
He said the main techniques used are cytological screening of cervical cells and visual inspection of the cervix, adding that pilot projects initiated in six countries 5 of the African Region and coordinated by WHO have shown the efficacy, safety and effectiveness of visual inspection as a method of screening.
The doctor went on that tertiary prevention of cervical cancer involves the diagnosis and treatment of confirmed cases of cancer, further noting that treatment is through surgery, radiotherapy and sometimes chemotherapy.
He said palliative care is provided to patients when the disease has already reached an incurable stage, while naming HPV as the main cause of cervical cancer.
He said HPV infection is combined with other risk factors such as sexual history (women who have had many sexual partners or those who had intercourse with a man who has had many sexual partners may be at higher risk of developing cervical cancer) and weakened immune system (infection with HIV or taking drugs that suppress the immune system increases the risk of cervical cancer and that smoking increases the risk of cervical cancer).
He said Cervical cancer is the second most common type of cancer among women adding that nearly half a million women are diagnosed with it every year and just under half of these will die of the disease.
Cervical cancer according to Dr. Koroma is preventable if detected early through screening, noting that precursor lesions can be detected and ablated long before development of invasive disease.

THE 2016 WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY CEREMONY ORGANISED BY ADVOCACY FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS SIERRA LEONE: KEYNOTE SPEECH BY DR. ADONIS ABBOUD

The Chairman,
Honourable Ministers,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
More than a decade after the end of our civil war, I have been left wondering if collectively as a society, we really understood the totality of the impact and ramifications on survivors of that unfortunate experience, especially young men and women.
In coming across several cases, some of which I shall recall shortly, what I have discovered is that our society has failed to bear in mind, the damage to the emotions, behaviour, attitudes and spirituality of victims of the socio-political and economic trauma of our fellow citizens, in the course of their daily existence.
Over the past several weeks, there have been numerous stories, articles, revelations of rapes and other sexual abuses so much so that it is beginning to feel uncomfortable and perversely as if it has become fashionable.
Miss X had a difficult early life, marked by intra-familial domestic abuse. She learnt strategies of conflict resolution that included fighting, and learnt that violence was acceptable. Family life was chaotic and outside of usual societal norms. Miss X in the process may have learnt anti-authority attitudes.
Given her parent’s own difficulties regulating their emotions it seems likely that Miss X struggled to understand her own emotional and psychological life, and had difficulty regulating her own emotions. Her parents abused alcohol. She dropped out of school at an early age.
In early adolescence she moved out of the family home to live with a man and his mother whilst working for them. She was sexually abused by this man.
Through her early life experiences, Miss X may also have learnt that she could be very vulnerable, and that those in positions of power and authority over her were likely to abuse her in various ways. This is likely to have affected trust in her relationships with those in authority.
For the past three years, a mason who once worked for me.. I would rather call him an artist who does beautiful things while building a wall or paving  an incredibly creative mind  started having illusions.  Since then, all that has been happening is that his sister takes him to Kissy Hospital once every month.
Fair enough. The trouble is that he is simply given an injection and sent home. What good is that?
This is the same mental health institution where a man in his 50’s was interviewed for a documentary. From his responses it was very apparent that the unfortunate man did not really need to be kept in confinement. He was simply a man whose collapsed business left him traumatised and with no social cushion.
Listening to him you see clearly that guy does not belong to the category of those who have lost their sanity. More social awareness would have shown that he would have benefitted more from counselling than the indignity of being locked up …he said it himself ” I don’t know why I am here . I had good business in Kono.  I lost all and was penniless …they brought me here …I am better off back in Kono.
What strikes me about Kissy Mess Mess mental Hospital is that it is in a real Mess. Having seen the documentary on the inmates in that hospital, it was clear that several of them merely needed proper counselling.. Instead, what you see is that across board, all that happens is that the inmates are injected periodically with some kind of heavy tranquilisers.
Most traumatic events are experiences that create stressful responses and intense emotional behaviour.
The crucial element is the support that we offer people who experience trauma, crisis and distress as in the cases above. We need to ensure that victims get the kind of care that is needed promptly and appropriately.
What people understand by Mental Health and mental wellbeing is influenced by a combination of their:  Age, Class, and Gender, personal experiences and expectations, ethnicity, cultural and religious beliefs.
SO WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH? Health is described by the World Health Organisation as a state of complete physical mental and social well-being and is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Health is a resource for everyday life, not for the object of living. It is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resources as well as physical capabilities.
The definition of Mental Health as a “positive sense of well being” therefore challenges the idea that Mental Health is the opposite of mental illness.
Mental Health influences how we: think and feel about ourselves; think about our future; think about others; interpret events  or are able to learn, communicate, form, sustain and end relationships  as well as cope with change, transition and life events.
It is a shame indeed that in this day and age, Sierra Leone has just one retired but active psychiatrist and two trained psychiatric nurses for the whole country. This is an indication of the levity with which we treat mental health needs.
The problem is that we are stoking a future that is damaged even before it begins.
When our young men and women have little or no access to mental health care, we seal their fate as we may fail to distinguish between personality disorders, psychological stress and mental health needs and so give appropriate interventions.
How many of us are really aware of the fact that personality disorders are a type of mental disorder that can damage lives and relationships if left undiagnosed and untreated.
People who have personality disorders can express a wide range of emotions and behaviours that are considered detrimental to relationships, causing friends and family to withdraw from the individual.
While some personality disorders border on the mental state of the individual, cognitive therapy and other psychoanalytical treatments are better suited than what presently obtains in our society where we simply classify everyone showing symptoms of mental imbalance as a lunatic.
In this regard, I wish to express a personal gratitude to our hosts – for the initiative to change the “passive culture” among the country’s population by strengthening and supporting their social and cultural environment and to play an active role in promoting the rights of people with mental health illness at community level.
I am particularly elated by the psychosocial interventions in 4 schools in Bo to children who have experienced adverse life events to address their trauma, promote resilience and empower them.
I believe that this will help people understand their personality better and to think about how their personality affects their relationships, emotions and risk.
We all have mental health and it is just as important as our physical health. There are times we feel stressed. Pressures can build across different areas of our lives. We may have a tough time at work. We might be experiencing relationship problems in our families. Financial problems can build. Therefore, mental health problems range from the everyday worries through to anxiety and depression and more serious long term conditions.
Because as individuals we cope differently, such situations can develop into a more serious and long term mental health problem as you move through different stages of our existence.
I wish to appeal to the government through the relevant ministries, to recognise the need for increased and intensified awareness programme on mental health issues.
There is a stigma attached to mental health problems or what is seen sometimes as weakness and inability to cope with setbacks. As a result, people feel uncomfortable talking about how they are really feeling.
Educating the general public is important. It makes people aware of these mental health conditions and, in turn, hopefully reduces stigma. It may also help someone recognize the warning signs of a mental illness that they, or a loved one, have been experiencing; thus leading them to seek a professional diagnosis and treatment.
Unless there is a general awareness about the fact that not all mental health problems are insanity, efforts by organisations such as Advocacy for Mental Health and Human Rights, will amount to a drop in the ocean and invariable be at a huge future cost to the nation.
In the light of this year’s theme  Psychological First Aid  I call on everyone of us to contribute to the goal of taking mental health out of the shadows so that people in general feel more confident in tackling the stigma, isolation and discrimination that continues to plague those with mental health conditions, their families and carers.
Collectively as a society, we need to support one another better and become more of our brother’s keeper.
I think these awareness days can serve an additional purpose. They should remind us that mental illnesses are very real and require real treatment.
It’s also a reminder that we have to educate ourselves and our loved ones (supporters, caregivers) about these conditions so we can live the best lives possible.
I thank you all for your attention and my thanks to Advocacy for mental health for this opportunity.
It is my prayer that this will be the turning point in mental health awareness in Sierra Leone.

Over 1.5m Children Targeted for Free Polio Vaccination

 

By Ibrahim Tarawallie

Programme Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation yesterday revealed that over 1.5million children between 0 and 59 months would be targeted for free Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV).

Dr. Dennis Marke told a presser at the conference hall of the ministry that the fourth round of National Anti-Polio campaign would run from October 28 to 31, 2016 countrywide.

As part of efforts to prevent vaccine preventable, diseases and maintain polio eradication, the health ministry with support from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) conducted three rounds of free polio vaccination in February, April and September this year.

According to Dr. Marke, the aim of the campaign was to ensure the reduction of morbidity and mortality of various life-saving interventions, adding that they were hoping to reach 95 percent of children under five across the country during the fourth round.

"Our focus is to reach as many children as possible with OPV and provide another opportunity for reaching missed children, as an effort aimed at complementing the routine immunisation," he said.

 

He explained that there would be various teams, comprising three health workers, who would visit around 30 to 40 households on a daily basis to administer the OPV.

He continued further that National Supervisors as well as Team Supervisors at district levels would ensure that those in the various teams do their work effectively and efficiently.

Dr. Marke also stated that during the course of the campaign, defaulter tracing would be carried out with routine vaccines administered to all children aged 0-23 months who have missed out on any other vaccines.

Also, UNICEF Specialist on Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Victor Sule, revealed that the last case of polio in Sierra Leone was reported in 2010 and that they hope to maintain such trend.

He said to ensure that the fourth round polio campaign was successful, they have procured 1.6million doses, costing US$250,000, adding that the essence of the free polio vaccination was to get rid of it.

Parliament is the sole authority to increase passport fee, Hon. Bashiru Sidikie

 

Member of Parliament for the country’s main opposition, the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), from Bo district, has said that Parliament is the sole authority to authorise increase in fees of the Sierra Leone Passport.

He made this statement on Tuesday, 25 October, at the Well of Parliament during the approval of presidential nominees.

“There is a deadline for the increase in passport fee and I am urging this honourable House to be proactive. The officials Ministry of Internal Affairs should come before Parliament to explain why they want to increase the fees and who gave them the mandate to do so,” said the lawmaker.

Hon. Sidikie recalled that cost of a Sierra Leone Passport had been increased from Le100,000 to Le500,000 last year, adding that the Immigration Department should not blame it on the devaluation of the Leones as against the United States dollar.

He said Members of Parliament would not accept any new increase in the fees of Sierra Leone Passport, adding that the Ministry of Internal Affairs or Immigration Department should not make any increment.

Another SLPP Member of Parliament, Hon. Paran Tarawally, in his contribution, noted that a news release was making the round about an imminent increase in fees of Sierra Leone Passport from Le500,000 to Le750,000.

“There is another release from the Immigration Department dissociating itself from the said release. However, Netpage is not the authorising institution to increase the fees of the passport,” he said.

Hon. Tarawally made it clear that no other body within or outside Sierra Leone has authority to increase passport fees except the House of Parliament.

He urged the Speaker and Members of Parliament that they should not approve an increment in the fees.

Meanwhile, a release from Netpage – a private company in charge of producing the passport – had stated that each passport will from 1st November cost Le750,000, equivalent to US$100.

“Netpage, the company that prints passports in Sierra Leone, has been producing e-passport at a loss as a result of continued devaluation of the Leone to the US Dollar. The company has been producing e-passport in order to provide continued services but with the removal of the subsidy by the Government since 2015, the price from 1st November 2016 will be Le750,000,” the release stated.

The release also stated that the cost of a biometric passport was pegged at US$100 and Le500,000 was considered the equivalent .

“In the event if the Leone appreciates and stabilises, the price will be adjusted accordingly,” concluded the Netpage release.

However, it seems some lawmakers are unhappy with the decision and have thus urged their colleagues to kick against it. It remains to be seen though whether those words will be match by solid action.

Fazineh Keita creates foundation for change in Sierra Leone

 

Fazineh Keita made his way to Canada in 2007 after finding a way out of the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone where he experienced life as a child soldier. (CBC)

At eight years old, kids are usually thinking about what mom is making for dinner and how long they can get away with playing video games. 

Fazineh Keita's reality was much different growing up during the civil war in Sierra Leone.

Now living in Vancouver, Keita is reflecting on his past while trying to change the future for children in his native land. 

His charity, Innocence Lost Foundation, aims to help provide resources and rehabilitation services to former child soldiers and give kids a chance to be kids.

"What we want is to not only rehabilitate child soldiers or people who grew up as child soldiers, but we want to give them skills-training and therapy," said Keita.

"Our first project is a community centre ... We want to find a way to bring healing and bring these people back to society in a better way."

Life changing instant

Keita was eight when he was forced to become a child soldier during the decade long civil war that ravaged the country.

While staying with his uncle in the diamond-rich town of Tongo, Sierra Leone, rebels raided their home, forcing Keita to join their army of child soldiers.

An "indoctrination process" fed the children a philosophy that condemned their ancestors for not protecting the land and blamed subsequent generations for the famine and poverty facing the country.

"As a kid, it's easy to fall for that without realizing they're also exploiting us because they just want the diamonds," said Keita.

"After that indoctrination process they teach us how to clean an AK-47, dismantle it, put it back together and how to shoot it. That's about it. The rest they expect you to learn as you go."

During a raid on a nearby town, Keita grabbed a school uniform from one of the houses, while the others collected as much loot as they could carry in what they called "Operation Pay Yourself." 

He ran.

"When I ran, I changed from my saggy military pants and put on the school uniform and went to a military checkpoint."

He was able to make it back to Tongo, where he briefly joined the government's forces in order to survive in his uncle's absence.

When Keita's uncle returned, he was able to go back to school.

"After the war ended, with all the trauma I didn't know what to do. I remember one day I was walking around the street and there was so much destruction, all the houses burnt down … I didn't want to be part of that. I just wanted to get out," said Keita and he did.

Facing his childhood

He says he owes a lot of his recovery to his time at the Vancouver Film School, where an exercise helped him face his past after years of nightmares.

The students were seated across from an empty chair and told to put anyone they wanted in that space. Keita chose to put his eight-year-old self on the chair.

"It was like I'm facing this kid for the very first time and seeing the situation he was in, the things he had to do, a war he didn't start. That's the very first time I started forgiving myself, because I usually never even wanted to think about it," he said.

"After that process, I started accepting myself a little bit and now I am here."

The Innocence Lost Foundation will be raising funds for the community centre in Kabala, Sierra Leone with a benefit concert and silent auction this weekend.

The event, Trading a Gun for a Guitar, will be held at St. James Community Square at 6 p.m. PT, Sunday, Oct. 23.