The Sierra Leone Telegraph

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 19 May 2026: African leaders are sharpening their focus on digital sovereignty, warning that the continent’s economic future will depend not just on connectivity, but on who controls its data—and where it is stored. At a high-level roundtable during the 58th [Read More]

Africa pushes for data sovereignty and digital Independence

Africa Finance Corporation US$100 Million to accelerate Africa’s Digital Industrialisation

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 19 May 2026: Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) the continent’s leading infrastructure solutions provider, today announced that its Board has approved a commitment of up to US$100 million to invest in Africa-focused technology fund managers. The launch comes at a pivotal moment for Africa. The continent’s digital economy [Read More]

Ubuntuverse Institute launches field-defining playbook to unlock Africa’s $3 Trillion green industrial opportunity

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 19 May 2026: The Ubuntuverse Institute has released The 3 Trillion Corporate Advocacy PlayBook: Africa’s 10× CAMPs Accelerating Just Clean Energy’s Green Industrialisation, a field-defining framework charting how corporate actors can unlock the continent’s $3 trillion clean energy opportunity. Drawing on evidence from the IEA, IRENA, the [Read More]

Sierra Leone’s President Bio in another vanity trip to London

May 18, 2026 0

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 18 May 2026: While Many in Sierra Leone are struggling to put food on their table and cope with the daily grind of electricity power cuts that is crippling the nation’s hospitals and small businesses, President Julius Maada Bio has once again arrived in London, this time [Read More]

Sierra Leone’s president Bio’s frequent overseas travels – a waste of public funds

May 18, 2026 0

Yankuba Gbassa Kai-Samba: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 18 May 2026: Given the unprecedented frequency of President Bio’s overseas trips to attend meetings, there is significant public concern that public funds are being wasted. Critics accuse him of seeking validation abroad while failing to deliver for the people at home. Why not [Read More]

Sierra Leone’s Auditor General’s Report – A nation’s tragic mirror

May 18, 2026 0

Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 18 May 2026: The numbers are staggering. (Photo above: President Julius Maada Bio). The silence is deafening. The 2024 Auditor General’s report being the latest release, does not merely point out errors, it reflects a national tragedy. According to the findings, over 243.9 million [Read More]

Bolle Jos presence in Sierra Leone has generated enormous international embarrassment and concern – says parliamentary opposition leader

May 16, 2026 0

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 16 May 2026: Sunday, 10th May 2026. Your Excellency President Julius Maada Bio President of the Republic of Sierra Leone State House, Freetown. Dear Mr. President, AN OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT JULIUS MAADA BIO ON THE GROWING INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING LINKS TO SIERRA LEONE As [Read More]

FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund awards grants to first group of community-based organizations

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 13 May 2026: Global Citizen and FIFA today announced the first round of grant recipients from the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. 27 grassroots organizations from 10 countries around the world have been selected to receive awards ranging from USD $50,000–$250,000 to further their vital work providing [Read More]

Sierra Leone’s Chief Minister’s Leicester delegation and the visa question nobody is answering

Mohammed Kroma: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 13 May 2026: On 12 May 2026, the British High Commission in Freetown issued a public statement distancing itself from a report in Sierra Leone’s Global Times newspaper. The report had alleged that unnamed UK diplomats warned that visa applications from twenty-three Sierra Leoneans — [Read More]

ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development strengthens commitment to private sector

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 13 May 2026: As part of its GRO Strategy, the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) is strengthening its commitment to private sector and SME financing, key drivers of economic growth in West Africa. In this context, EBID is organising a high-level webinar on: “Navigating a [Read More]

African Mining Week 2026 to spotlight domestic funding avenues as Sovereign Wealth Funds hit $164 Billion

May 12, 2026 0

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 12 May 2026: Africa’s sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are increasingly being positioned as active financiers of the continent’s mining sector and a vital tool for unlocking its over $8.5 trillion in untapped mineral resources. With combined assets now exceeding $164 billion, SWFs are emerging as a potential [Read More]

Readiness for whom? Lungi’s hajj preparations cannot mask last week’s immigration collapse

May 12, 2026 0

Mohamed Kroma: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 12 May 2026: On 8 May 2026, the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority (SLCAA), in collaboration with the Presidential Hajj Task Force, convened a strategic coordination meeting at Freetown International Airport, Lungi, to strengthen preparedness for the 2026 Hajj operations. Sierra Leonean pilgrims are expected [Read More]

Journalism is dead – funeral arrangements will be announced later – Op ed

May 12, 2026 0

Abdulai Mansaray: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 12 May 2026: In May 1789, Louis XVI summoned to Versailles a full meeting of the “Estates General” attended by the First Estate – consisted of three hundred Nobles, the Second Estate – three hundred Clergy, and the Third Estate – six hundred Commoners. Some [Read More]

Drugs kingpin Bolle Jos linked to record cocaine seizure at sea

Dutch NEWS: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 11 May 5, 2026 Dutch drugs baron “Bolle Jos” is suspected of being behind a record shipment of more than 40 tonnes of cocaine that was intercepted by Spanish police off the coast of Africa, according Dutch News. Members of the Guardia Civil boarded the [Read More]

ECOWAS parliament receives report on community work programme

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 11 May 2026: The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu TOURAY, has presented the Status of implementation of the ECOWAS Community Work Programme to the 2026 First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja, Nigeria. Delivering what will be his final presentation to Parliament [Read More]

New report questions Africa’s oil and gas promise

David Akana / Mongabay: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 11 May 2026: Fossil fuels have enriched a wealthy few, undermined economic development and left African economies exposed to external shocks, a new report published May 8 in Nairobi, Kenya, argues. Examining 13 oil- and gas-producing African nations, the report concludes that decades of extraction [Read More]

InvestHK promotes Hong Kong as strategic gateway for African enterprises to expand in Asia

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 11 May 2026: Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) is set to broaden its strategic engagement with the African continent as Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion Ms Loretta Lee today (May 10) embarks on an eight-day visit to Johannesburg, South Africa, and Kigali, Rwanda. The mission aims to strengthen [Read More]

Sixty five years of Sierra Leone’s independence – who benefitted?

May 10, 2026 0

Basita Michael: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 10 May 2026: I wasn’t born in the 60s but sometimes I wish I was, if only to understand more closely the hopes that accompanied our independence. But even from where I stand, one thing is clear: for 65 years, the system has worked remarkably [Read More]

UN and government of Sierra Leone track progress in delivering Sierra Leone’s Development Plan

May 9, 2026 0

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 9 May 2026: The United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2025–2030) sets out how the UN Country Team, comprising 18 resident and non‑resident agencies, funds and programmes, supports Sierra Leone’s development aspirations. Aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, the framework mirrors the country’s Medium‑Term National Development Plan [Read More]

Sierra Leone’s National Security and Intelligence Act 2026: A shadow government dressed as a war cabinet

May 9, 2026 0

Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 9 May 2026: When the government slipped the National Security and Intelligence Act 2026 through the cracks, they told us it was to safeguard Sierra Leone’s internal and external security. The Act created a “War Cabinet.” (Part II Section 4(2)(e)) Seated at this table [Read More]

Our view on the record cocaine seizure linked to Sierra Leone

May 9, 2026 0

Bai Bangura: Sierra Leone Telegraph: On behalf of the West West District of the council APC affiliate groups, we are appalled but not surprised by the international report of a record cocaine seizure linked to a vessel from Sierra Leone. This is the direct consequence of over 8 years of [Read More]

FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund awards grants to first group of community-based organizations

Sierra Leone’s Chief Minister’s Leicester delegation and the visa question nobody is answering