Part of Sierra Leone’s History Is Being Dismantled Board by Board

This is an atticle from New York Times, written By TOMMY TRENCHAR
On JAN. 19, 2016. It will be of interest to you. 

Please continue reading from New York Nimes

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — On a busy roundabout in the heart of this nation’s capital stands an ancient cotton tree, marking the spot where Freetown was founded by freed slaves from North America more than 200 years ago. Walk for a few minutes toward the 

southeast, past the vendors who line the derelict remains of Victoria Park and through the bustling streets of the city center, and you will find at the corner of two rutted dirt roads a house that looks more suited to the American South than to a steamy West African capital.

The Young House, as it has been known for as long as anyone can remember, is a two-story dwelling constructed primarily from wooden boards and painted a bright lemon yellow, clashing starkly with the squconcrete buildings around it.

It is what is known here as a board house (or bod ose in the local Krio language), one of an ever decreasing number still standing in the capital and the surrounding villages. Its style is as old as the city itself, brought over from the Americas by the settlers who arrived in several waves from 1792 onward.

urbanization, rampant poverty and a cultural preference for concrete, this architectural legacy of the city’s founding is fast disappearing.

“Every day, more are being pulled down, to be replaced by modern concrete-and-glass buildings,” said Isatu Smith, who as the chairwoman of the country’s Monuments and Relics Commission is responsible for making sure that does not happen.

Ebola in Sierra Leone: New case spreads community fear

Leone has now been infected with the virus, heightening fears of a fresh flare-up just days after West Africa was declared officially free of the disease.

The second case to be identified in less than a week is a 38-year-old woman who had helped to care for last week's victim, Mariatu Jalloh, health ministry spokesman Sidi Yahyah Tunis said according to a report by Reuters news agency.

WHO on Thursday also confirmed the second Ebola case in Sierra Leone, saying new patient was Jalloh's aunt. 

The 38-year-old woman "was a primary caregiver during the young woman's illness," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told the AFP news agency in an email, adding that she had developed symptoms of the deadly virus on Wednesday while she was being monitored at a quarantine facility.

"The patient is being treated now," Jasarevic said.

Jalloh, a 22-year-old student who died from the disease on January 12, tested positive for Ebola after her death, which marked a further setback in efforts to end a two-year epidemic that has killed more than 11,300 people across West Africa.

The new cases come as reports emerge that fear and suspicion in the country, which had been declared Ebola-free in November, were hampering attempts to stop the spread of the virus.

According to Reuters, internal health reports showed that at least 50 people linked to Jalloh - who were potentially exposed to the virus - have gone missing.

At least a dozen of them are considered at high risk of infection.

"Community very uncooperative and unwilling to direct us to the missing contacts", one of the health reports said.

Sierra Leone to cleanse payroll

Sierra Leone has announced an exercise aimed at cleansing its payroll, an official disclosed Friday. Mohamed Samuel Jalloh of the Human Resources Management Office (HRMO) said a private company has been hired with the task of creating a database of all workers in the government’s payroll.

He said a head count will be done in all government ministries, departments, and agencies along
with verification.

The Sierra Leone government say it losses a huge amount of money due to salary payment and it believes much of it is due to illegal payments.

This exercise will therefore not only prevent that but it will also restore donor confidence, said Jalloh.

A huge chunk of Sierra Leone’s annual national budget comes from donor support, and a large part of it goes to remuneration.

Civil servants have been warned to ensure they are captured or risk delisting. “If you are not on the database and are on the payroll, that means you are not a genuine worker,” Jalloh said.

Sierra Leone: Final census report to be released soon– official

The final report of Sierra Leone’s National Housing and Population Census conducted at the end of 2015 will be released in December, the head of Statistics Sierra Leone (SSL), which conducted the exercise, said Thursday.

Speaking at a news briefing organized in response to claims by some sections of the population, especially in the Western Area, which include the capital, Freetown, that they had not been counted during the two weeks exercise, Dr Sullay Kamara, Chairman of SSL, also said the provisional report was expected in March this year.

“I am aware from some media institutions that some houses were left out,” he said, adding, “[But] I think if they were serious they would have engaged Statistics Sierra Leone so that they can be counted.”

While admitting that there were challenges faced by the enumerators during the exercise, Mr Kamara insisted that 99 percent of the population was covered.

Among the challenges that the SSL officials highlighted was the fact that some communities were found to have grown “significantly” after the cartographic mapping had been done, long before the counting, which made it difficult to cater for everyone in such communities.

To add to the credibility of the process, the Statistician General Mohamed King Koroma said this is the first time international observers have monitored the census process in Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone: Final census report to be released soon– official

The final report of Sierra Leone’s National Housing and Population Census conducted at the end of 2015 will be released in December, the head of Statistics Sierra Leone (SSL), which conducted the exercise, said Thursday.

Speaking at a news briefing organized in response to claims by some sections of the population, especially in the Western Area, which include the capital, Freetown, that they had not been counted during the two weeks exercise, Dr Sullay Kamara, Chairman of SSL, also said the provisional report was expected in March this year.

“I am aware from some media institutions that some houses were left out,” he said, adding, “[But] I think if they were serious they would have engaged Statistics Sierra Leone so that they can be counted.”

While admitting that there were challenges faced by the enumerators during the exercise, Mr Kamara insisted that 99 percent of the population was covered.

Among the challenges that the SSL officials highlighted was the fact that some communities were found to have grown “significantly” after the cartographic mapping had been done, long before the counting, which made it difficult to cater for everyone in such communities.

To add to the credibility of the process, the Statistician General Mohamed King Koroma said this is the first time international observers have monitored the census process in Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone agrees to take in Lebanon trash

: Sierra Leone reportedly informed Lebanon that it has agreed to take in the small Mediterranean country's trash, local daily As-Safir said Saturday.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry received a letter Thursday from Sierra Leone authorities informing it of the country's willingness to accept Lebanon's waste.

The letter, which was originally directed to Holland’s Howa BV firm, is allegedly signed by an adviser for Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma.

As-Safir newspaper said that Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, consented on the condition that the waste be free of toxins, underlining that the approval remains at a preliminary stage until Sierra Leone's government and president confirm the deal.

Lebanon is bound by the U.N. Basel Convention on hazardous waste to sort this refuse, thought to have exceeded 100,000 tons, though waste specialists admit that it will be difficult because it is infectious and compacted.

The Lebanese government has yet to finalize trash export contracts with the two selected waste-to-energy firms.

The two firms, Britain’s Chinook Urban Mining International and Dutch Howa BV, have drawn considerable media attention for being selected at a closed-door Cabinet meeting in December, but there is evidence that they have directed multimillion-dollar waste projects in Europe.

Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb, who has been overseeing solutions to resolve the country's waste crisis, told As-Safir that the Council of Development and Reconstruction finalized the translation of contracts from Arabic to English.

He pointed out that the initial signing of the contracts has been carried out by the government and the two companies after the firms paid the required assurance of $2.5 million (LL3,779,550,000) for each.

Chehayeb added that the second phase of the deal awaits approval of the concerned countries which will receive Lebanon's exported trash, revealing that the Dutch firm has managed to attain such endorsement.

"We are seeking to prepare 2,000 containers in order to load the waste, get the docks at the port ready for them and lift them to the ships, in addition to preparing the cycling plants in Karantina and Amrousieh," the minister said, noting that recyclable material will remain in Lebanon in order to preserve the work of several firms in this regard.

Chehayeb also confirmed that the waste that will be exported is free of toxins.

"Exporting trash is a crazy decision. But it's a must," the minister concluded.

The Cabinet's decision to export trash has caused uproar among civil activists who are demanding to be informed about the details of the plan

#Travel: Africa tipped to become surfing capital of the World

Many emerging tourism destinations in Africa have identified surfing as a target market, reveals the WTM Global Trends Report (2014), in association with Euromonitor International.

South Africa has an established reputation with the international surfing community but other countries are gaining a foothold. Sierra Leone hosted a week-long competition and festival this September while Ghana will host the Africa Surf Series next year.

Some specialist tour operators are already active in the region – the report reveals. Family surfing holidays in Madagascar, Zanzibar and Mozambique are available from South African tour operator All Aboard Travel, while UK-based Errant Surf includes Morocco, Ghana, South Africa and Mozambique among its surf adventures itineraries.

Other countries with potential include Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cape Verde and Senegal.

The International Surfing Association has made expansion of the sport on the continent a major priority, aiming to stimulate and develop local economies by increasing tourism and creating new jobs.

Estimates suggest that some 35 million across the world are regular surfers. Traditionally more popular in the Americas, Europe and Australasia, surfing is also growing in popularity across African countries, benefitting intra-regional and domestic travel.The WTM Global Trends Report 2014 suggests that “combining a surf holiday with traditional African tourist attractions such as safaris is an effective way for travel retailers to attract older surfers who are prepared to spend more”.

World Travel Market, Senior Director, Simon Press said: “Surfers are adventurous travellers and Africa offers them a vast coastline with undiscovered and uncrowded beaches.”

 

Doubt on Yumkella’s honesty regarding his membership of the SLPP party.

Just when the rank and file members of the Sierra Leone opposition SLPP party are breathing a sigh of relief that the party is now on the road to rebuilding cracks and heal the wounds, opened up by a vicious attack on the credibility of Dr. Kandeh Yumkella (Photo) by Julius Maada Bio and his supporters, comes another divisive media briefing, casting doubt on Yumkella’s honesty regarding his membership of the party.

Buried deep within the subtle nuances of a press statement released today, 8th January 2016, by the Julius Maada Bio Media and Communications Team, titled: “Welcoming Dr. Kandeh Yumkella to the SLPP family”, is the continuing provocative narrative that speaks of Yumkella’s ‘un-bona fide’ membership of the SLPP party.

Maada Bio is today alleging that throughout the past seven months, since Yumkella declared his intention to stand for the SLPP 2017 presidential candidacy, Yumkella has been a bogus member of the party, until his registration at the party offices in Freetown yesterday, 7^th January 2016 to regularise his membership.

This new row in the SLPP comes as the ruling APC and its Koroma government, continues to ineptly bungle their way through the morass of lawlessness and abject poverty, created in the country after eight years in power.

Sierra Leone Brewery produces 25 million bottles yearly

The Chain Manager of the Sierra Leone Brewery Limited has disclosed that the company is producing twenty five million bottles yearly.

Mr. John Richardson made this disclosure at the company’s annual press tour of their equipment and facilities last week.

He said his intension is to transform the company to international safety standards with a state of the art laboratory for good water quality coupled with the corporate guild lines of Heineken standards and training for staff on international standards.

He also stated that the company has utility plants like a cooling plant, compressor, refrigerator, and jack which produce cool liquid and carton, an organic storage system for sorghum.

He further explained that they intend to bring a waste water treatment plant to reduce water wastage at the packing site and that the tanks are multipurpose tanks that produce all Brewery products. He also stated that these tanks are cleaned up carefully with caustic soda which he pointed out is a good alkaline detergent but noted that there are plans to replace the tanks.

Mr. John Richardson also explained that it will be difficult for the company to start using cans as they will have to import them since there is no company in the country that manufactures cans or bottles hence the need for them to be using bottles to prevent unsanitary disposal of bottles taking into consideration that the country lacks standard waste practices.

He mentioned that the company’s market strategy is to compete with imported beers as their Community Revenue Enhancement through Agriculture Technology Extension (CREATE) project is a strategy to combat imported beers.

He pointing out that very soon they will kick start the production of one hundred percent sorghum beer as their standards continue to improve.

In his remarks, the Managing Director, Mr. Alphonse Willy Ngana, said as a company they believe in the country and its people hence the reason they continue to invest in the communities.

He further stated that the company has employed seven thousand workers directly or indirectly with three billion three hundred million Leones invested in the communities and spent one billion three hundred million Leones on medical support and cash aid in the fight against Ebola.

He said the company is producing and distributing alcohol and non alcohol products with one hundred and eighty billion Leones for a three year capital investment aimed at upgrading the company, noting that they are contributing to the Agenda for prosperity through agriculture in line with the Local Content Policy.