By Olusegun A. Ogundeji – The Sierra Leone legislative arm will tomorrow ratify the long awaited Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill after it had been read and debated previously and sent to the Legislative Committee for some amendment. This will make Sierra Leone be one of the few countries in Africa with an enated FOI law which will allow individuals or institutions to request any public information from any public or private institution leading to speedy cross-checking of information in the country. The Minister of Information and Communication, Alhaji Ibrahim Kargbo said the ratification of the bill is an indiation... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Wednesday, March 9th 2011 |
By Olusegun A. Ogundeji – To boost water supply and proper sanitation in Sierra Leone, the country has signed a US$19 million loan agreement with the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) in Vienna, Austria. According to the Sierra Leone Embassy in Berlin, the money will be used to implement water and sanitation projects in the three provincial headquarter towns of Bo, Kenema, and Makeni. Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to Germany, HE Jongopie S. Stevens, who also doubles as Sierra Leone’s Permanent Representative to all UN Agencies including international organisations in Austria, thanked OFID for ‘the timely intervention to improve the... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Friday, February 25th 2011 |
By Olusegun A. Ogundeji – The ministry of trades and industry has placed temporary ban on export of locally-produced rice and palm oil with immediate effect. It said the move was as a result of the concerns raised by the ‘escalating costs of basic commodities such as rice and palm oil’ as they are part of the commodities that are usually transported illegally across the border in huge quantities every week. The ministry added that the alarming rate of the illegal export of these local produce stands the risk of introducing acute food shortages and price hikes. Law enforcement agencies... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Friday, February 25th 2011 |
By Olusegun A. Ogundeji – Members of the Sierra Leone Policy Watch (SLPW), a public policy think-tank and a civic engagement group that seeks to promote transparency, accountability, responsible and responsive government through missions of investigative reporting, litigation and public policy advocacy, empowering citizens through civic education has completed a draft bill titled “Diaspora Voting Right” on behalf of all Sierra Leonean residents in the Diaspora. Whereas, the constitution of Sierra Leone has conferred the right to vote to every Sierra Leonean as enshrined in Chapter IV Section 31, this proposed draft bill is in fact, an affirmation of such... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Monday, February 21st 2011 |
By Olusegun A. Ogundeji – The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone has launched a gender policy which emanated from the need to create an environment within the institution and countrywide that allows for the promotion of gender sensitive practices and policies. According to the Vice Chair of the HRC, Commissioner Yasmin Jusu- Sheriff, it was incumbent on the Commission to take an introspective look at its policies with a view to put mechanisms in place for redressing the structural barriers that constrain women from enjoying their political, social and economic rights. ‘’As an independent body set up by Government... Continue Reading
Publish Date: Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 |
