Sierra Leone Telegraph

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 28 September 2016

There are unofficial reports this afternoon of rioting in the capital’s eastern suburb – Rokupr.

It is not clear what sparked the social upheaval, but eyewitnesses say that groups of youths have blocked the main road leading to Rokupr.

It is understood that riot police are trying to bring the trouble under control, and that angry youths are burning tyres in the middle of the road to prevent police vehicles from entering the community.

This social disturbance comes just weeks after police shot and killed three youths in the northern district of Kabala, after a peaceful protest about the relocation of a proposed community project to another district.

Some reports from Rokupr say that today’s riot was started after police demolished properties in the community without any advance warning.

But the government has always made it known that the illegal construction of property on government land and environmentally protected areas will not be tolerated, and that they will be destroyed.

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Sierra Leone Telegraph:  28 September 2016  

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published its latest report on the state of Sierra Leone’s economy, following a review by senior staff. It makes for mixed reading.

But the Sierra Leone Telegraph can confirm that the IMF report contradicts a statement made last week by the country’s energy minister, who blames the IMF for the government’s decision to increase electricity tariff paid by households by 15%.

Speaking to journalists in the capital Freetown, the energy minister – Henry Macauley said that: “The 15 percent GST is included in the tariff adjustment because that is IMF conditionality.”

But it is now clear from the published IMF report that this is a lie. The IMF has not imposed electricity tariff conditionality on the government of Sierra Leone, in respect of drawing down on the agreed extended credit finance facility.

Those old enough to remember the political, social and economic effects of IMF conditionalities imposed on the Momoh government in the 1980s, will know too well that it marked the beginning of the end of the APC government, whose poor governance and weak economic stewardship are being repeated today.

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Sierra Leone Telegraph: 27 September 2016

Kandeh Yumkella, presidential flag-bearer candidate for the opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) has arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, for the Expert Group Meeting and Workshop on South-South Cooperation for Ecological Civilization.

The event is taking place at the headquarter offices of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). It is sponsored by the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, and the Global Green Grown Institute.

UNEP is the global environment agency charged with promoting the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development with the United Nations.

The event which brings together experts that are charged with bringing forward a set of recommendations on how China should channel its huge portfolio of technical assistance and international cooperation (about $5 billion) for climate change and sustainability, will be chaired by Yumkella.

Erik Solheim, Executive Secretary of the UN Environment Program and Gu Xueming, President of the Chinese Academy for International Trade and Economic Development will deliver the opening statement.

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Sierra Leone Telegraph: 25 September 2016

As the government of Sierra Leone prepares to resume the death penalty, despite recent commitment to abide by United Nations’ and other global human rights conventions, questions are being asked about the rationale for such retrograde policy decision.

If president Koroma was to be credited for any aspect of his two terms in office, it would have been his decision to stand by the moratorium on the death penalty, which has been in force since 1998.

But with the government now poised to start its policy of state killing in retaliation to the significant rise in violent crimes in the country – especially murder, critics say that president Koroma and his ruling APC party would be putting the final nail on their poor record in office.

And with general and presidential elections taking place in less than two years, there are suspicions that the gallows is now being prepared for the cold blooded execution of political opponents, reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s.

But some government officials have told the Sierra Leone Telegraph that with the rise in murder cases in the country, the government has no choice but to end the moratorium on the death penalty as a deterrent.

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