FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — It has been four months since Messia Dukuray has had any physical contact with her husband. They don’t sleep in the same bed, hug or even share food. Her husband is a surgeon at a hospital in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, and although he doesn’t treat Ebola patients, they decided to be extra safe.

Romance (file photo)

Eleven doctors in Sierra Leone have died from Ebola since the outbreak began, and she worries about her husband’s safety. They have been married for three years, and she said abstaining from any physical contact or affection is one of the most difficult things she’s had to do.

The deadly virus ravaging Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids, including semen, saliva, sweat, diarrhea and vomit. Fear over contracting or spreading the virus has transformed romantic relationships and affected how people interact in general.

“I really want to have kids, but we don’t do anything — no kissing, no sex,” said Dukuray sitting on her porch in Freetown. “I need my husband, but it just seems too risky.”

This Ebola outbreak, which has killed nearly 7,000 people, began in Guinea and then spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia. There have also been cases in neighboring West African countries, the United States and Europe. On Dec. 9, the World Health Organization said Sierra Leone has overtaken Liberia as the country with the most cases.

Over 2,000 people had died from the virus in Sierra Leone as of Dec.19, according to the country’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation’s latest figures, released Dec. 19.

Men who survive Ebola also have to take precautions in the months after having the virus. According to the World Health Organization, Ebola can be present in the semen of survivors for up to three months after they have recovered. The organization advises Ebola survivors to abstain from sex for three months to protect their partners from infection.

Lansana Conteh, the program manager in the health education division for the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, said it is raising public awareness about the practices of safe sex through radio announcements and by having counselors talk to survivors.

“We want people to know the risk involved, and we tell them with condoms, there are still risks involved, so it’s better to abstain altogether for the three months, if possible,” he said.

He added that the ministry is starting programs to provide therapy for couples dealing with Ebola.

Nongovernmental organizations are stepping up to raise awareness.

Freetown’s office of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, which previously focused on HIV/AIDS prevention, is now also teaching safe sex practices to prevent Ebola.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in October warned that without international intervention, Ebola could become the next HIV/AIDS.

Idrissa Sanoh, a 21-year-old who survived Ebola in September, said he’s choosing to abstain from sexual activity. His girlfriend died from Ebola while the two of them were helping care for his father, who also died from the virus.

“At times I feel frustrated. I miss my girlfriend. But I leave it to God,” he said. “I thank him I’m alive.”

Hasan Bangura, 26, said he and his girlfriend stopped having sex for a couple of months starting in August because they were scared and didn’t understand how the disease was spread.

He said they decided it was safe to become sexually active again because they know how to protect themselves from contracting Ebola from others in their daily routines, such as proper hand washing. They are in a monogamous relationship and use condoms. He said most of his male friends are not taking the same precautions.

Ebola has also affected relationships between those living in the country and abroad.

December is normally the most festive month in Sierra Leone, with the diaspora flooding into Freetown to reunite with friends and family. Many return home for weddings, but there appears to be a lull this year, according to wedding planner Rugie Wurie, who is based in the United Kingdom and is from Sierra Leone.

She said her business has come to a standstill since the Ebola outbreak. All five weddings she was arranging in Sierra Leone were canceled this year. She estimates that she lost approximately $40,000 in decorations and stock she bought in expectation of the events.

She said the hardest part, though, is watching her country fall apart. It was just starting to get back on its feet after a brutal 11-year civil war and was moving toward becoming a tourism destination. She had hoped to contribute to that through her wedding planning business.

“I wanted to put us on a map for something positive,” Wurie said. “Sierra Leone is stylish in its own way and so beautiful. Our people, our beaches — I wanted to package that and sell it to the world. But I’m not giving up. One day Sierra Leone will be a destination wedding place.”

Theresa Tenneh Conteh, who lives in Freetown, was supposed to get married this month to her husband, who lives in the United States. They’ve decided to postpone.

“I miss him, and he can’t even come to Sierra Leone because when he returns to the USA, he may be put into quarantine,” she said. “We haven’t been refunded for many of the things we paid for up front, such as catering. It’s putting a strain on the relationship, and we are finding it difficult to hold the love alive.”

Nina Devries (aljazeera)

Freetown – West Africa’s fight to contain Ebola has hampered the campaign against malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that is claiming many thousands more lives than the dreaded virus.

In Gueckedou, near the village where Ebola first started killing people in Guinea’s tropical southern forests a year ago, doctors say they have had to stop pricking fingers to do blood tests for malaria.

Guinea’s drop in reported malaria cases this year by as much as 40 percent is not good news, said Dr. Bernard Nahlen, deputy director of the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. He said the decrease is likely because people are too scared to go to health facilities and are not getting treated for malaria.

“It would be a major failure on the part of everybody involved to have a lot of people die from malaria in the midst of the Ebola epidemic,” he said in a telephone interview. “I would be surprised if there were not an increase in unnecessary malaria deaths in the midst of all this, and a lot of those will be young children.”

Figures are always estimates in Guinea, where half the 12 million people have no access to health centers and die uncounted. Some 15,000 Guineans died from malaria last year, 14,000 of them children under five, according to Nets for Life Africa, a New York-based charity dedicated to providing insecticide-treated mosquito nets to put over beds. In comparison, about 1,600 people in Guinea have died from Ebola, according to statistics from the World Health Organization.

Malaria is the leading cause of death in children under five in Guinea and, after AIDS, the leading cause of adult deaths, according to Nets for Life.

Ebola and malaria have many of the same symptoms, including fever, dizziness, head and muscle aches. Malaria is caused by bites from infected mosquitoes while Ebola can be contracted only from the body fluids of an infected victim — hence doctors’ fears of drawing blood to do malaria tests.

People suffering malaria fear being quarantined in Ebola treatment centers and health centers not equipped to treat Ebola are turning away patients with Ebola-like symptoms, doctors said.

WHO figures from Gueckedou show that of people coming in with fever in October, 24 percent who tested positive for Ebola also tested positive for malaria, and 33 percent of those who did not have Ebola tested positive for malaria — an indication of the great burden of malaria in Guinea.

Malaria killed one of 38 Cuban doctors sent to Guinea to help fight the Ebola outbreak. One private hospital had a kidney dialysis machine that could have saved his failing organ but the clinic was shut after several people died there of Ebola.

The U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative ground to a halt in Guinea months ago and the WHO in November advised health workers against testing for malaria unless they have protective gear.

The malaria initiative is doing a national survey of health facilities and elsewhere to try to find out “what’s actually happening here … where people with malaria are going,” said Nahlen, of the U.S. campaign. There was some positive news in Guinea — it had just completed a national mosquito net campaign against malaria when Ebola struck, he said.

Neighboring Liberia, on the other hand, suspended the planned distribution of 2 million nets, said Nahlen.

In Sierra Leone, the third country hard-hit by Ebola, Doctors Without Borders took unprecedented, pre-emptive action this month, distributing 1.5 million antimalarial drugs that can be used to both prevent and treat, aiming to protect people during the disease’s peak season.

“Most people turn up at Ebola treatment centers thinking that they have Ebola, when actually they have malaria,” said Patrick Robataille, Doctors Without Borders field coordinator in Freetown. “It’s a huge load on the system, as well as being a huge stress on patients and their families.”

He said a second distribution is planned in Freetown and western areas most affected by Ebola. Robataille said the huge delivery of antimalarial drugs was “in proportion to the scale of the Ebola epidemic — it’s massive.”

The epidemic has been a shocking wake-up call to the world. Minds and money are now concentrated on clearing Ebola from west Africa.

Could Ebola, the global health disaster of this year, be cleared from west Africa in 2015?

(file photo)

It would be rash to try to predict when that may happen. In Sierra Leone and Liberia, where I’ve been travelling, nobody is willing to hazard a guess. It has already been in Guinea for an entire year – the first case, which for so long went unrecognised, was in December 2013.

Ebola is not a single epidemic. It is like a series of bushfires – as one is contained, another one sparks somewhere else. Quarantines, curfews and roadblocks haven’t stopped the spread. It isn’t possible to contain people for months, particularly when they live in dramatically impoverished circumstances.

If they don’t get out of the house or the village to find the support of extended family and friends elsewhere, there is a good chance they will starve. There are attempts by NGOs to provide food and essential supplies to quarantined homes, but it isn’t happening everywhere.

Talk of changing behaviour is easy. But when you think about the sort of behaviour that needs to change, you realise it’s very hard. How many of us could bear to watch our mother die without holding her hand, and then allow her body to be sprayed with chlorine, removed in a double body bag from the house, be loaded on to the back of a pick-up truck with several others, and taken to the cemetery for rapid interment with little more than a cursory prayer?

More than one British civil servant in Sierra Leone, working on the international response which the UK leads, made a wry face to me and said that it would be equally hard for any of us at home to accept that sort of behavioural change.

Calling the command centre to take away the sick is equally hard. It is your duty, in the interests of your own and the public good, to pick up the phone, but the reality is that, if you do, you may never hug your sister again. You can visit her in the treatment centre and talk across two fences. The fortunate will be reunited. For the rest, the future is the body bag.

There is little difference between this west African agony and that of the people of Oran in Camus’s The Plague, for all that the fictional events took place 70 years earlier. Sadly, infectious diseases still have the ability to devastate individuals and communities.

My feeling is that it won’t end without a vaccine. There may be one by the middle of next year, although it may not be 100% effective. Frontline workers will be given it first because of the high risk they run, but to finish the epidemic there will be a need to vaccinate the families and contacts of all those who fall sick. It is probably not feasible to vaccinate the entire population.

Ebola has been a shocking wake-up call to the world, letting us understand that we are all just a flight away from deadly disease. Health is truly global. Minds and money are concentrated on eradicating this disease from Africa, but one hopes they are also set on how to prevent such a human and economic catastrophe happening again.

(the guardian-uk)

(SLFA-Sierra Leone)-Three (3) referees and four (4) assistants from Sierra Leone have been accepted by the World governing body (FIFA) to be part of the 2015 FIFA Referees list, which means, they are now eligible to officiate matches organized by FIFA or CAF.

Four FIFA approved referees pose FA GS and some members of the referee committee

The seven; Raymond Coker, Daudu Williams and Thomas Patrick Kangoma (Referees); Daniel Kargbo, Billy Konneh, Michael Conteh and Franklyn AF Marah (Assistant Referees) were handed their FIFA badges last Wednesday at the Sierra Leone Football Association Secretariat in Kingtom.

Among the seven, two Thomas Patrick Kangoma and Frankly AF Marah) are coming into the FIFA list for the first time though all of them agreed that this is the first time they really feel part of the FIFA arrangement.

Speaking at the ceremony, the FA General Secretary, Christopher Kamara congratulated the seven while admonishing them to be mindful of the fact that they would be representing the country and not self. He expressed satisfaction over the selection process which include series of fitness tests and interviews by the referees committee of the FA adding that he was impressed about three things.

“I’m very much impressed about your sincerity, sense of purpose and your integrity record since you entered this noble profession.  I implore you to perform well at all times and put Sierra Leone on the map. I can assure you that if you play by the rules governing integrity and officiate efficiently, the number could be increased to at least 10 in 2016,” he assured.

Referees Manager, JMS Bull admonished the new FIFA referees to be steadfast in the execution of their duty while cautioning them to take integrity as their watch word and report any suspected match manipulator to the respective authorities.

Referees Coordinator, Mohamed Freeman expressed optimism in the new dawn noting that this is a turning point in the history of Sierra Leone Football. He advised the seven to work hard and be mindful of the fact that FIFA is concerned about integrity in and out of the pitch. He reminded them that it is for that reason that FIFA sent along with other items, their Integrity Security Tickets.

“As referees, you should always be alert, say ‘NO’ to match manipulation and be committed to ensuring the integrity of the game. I implore you to recognize, resist and report immediately any form or knowledge of potential match manipulations or corruption,” he admonished.

Giving the vote of thanks, the most senior referee among the seven, Raymond Caulker thanked the FA for what he described as a step in the right direction. He noted that as referees, their desire is to be in the Africa Nations Cup or even the World Cup and make Sierra Leone proud.

“We will serve as a gateway for our colleagues by performing remarkably well so that our representation would increase next year. On behalf of my colleagues, I would like to allay your fears over the integrity issue by announcing that we will do our best to recognize, resist and report any suspicion of match manipulation and corruption at all times,he assured.”

By:-Stephen Douglas*

Bearing Witness: 2014 — The Globe and Mail looks back on the cataclysmic news events of 2014 through the eyes of the people who were there – be they bystanders, participants or journalists. Their accounts shaped our perceptions, while their witnessing the events changed their lives.

The smells were overwhelming yet familiar. As I parked my little motorbike across from the Kingtom Cemetery, the tropical West African breezes bore only chlorine, garbage and exhaust fumes. There was no sweetness in the air. Ebola, and its devastating consequences, had settled over the land and polluted the breezes.

Ebola grave-diggers in Sierra Leone.

According to the World Health Organization on Dec. 7, there were 1,768 dead and 7,897 confirmed, probable or suspected cases of Ebola in Sierra Leone. Freetown, the capital and crowded home to just under a million, regularly records one-third of all new cases, making it the epicentre of the disease.

Ebola has ravaged Sierra Leone. It has infected people. It has killed people. It has wiped out families. It has orphaned children. It has killed doctors, nurses and health-care workers. It has tainted the social fabric of the normally friendly and open Sierra Leone that I know.

My first visit to the Kingtom Cemetery was several years ago when I attended a friend’s funeral. It was a sad event. My second visit, this past August, was sad for a different reason. I was mourning for a nation. As I strode the well-worn community path through the cemetery to the Ebola section, I could feel my throat tightening. It was the fumes combined with fear and frustration. The tightening grip of Ebola is choking Sierra Leone.

The caravan of dilapidated minivans deposited the dead. Some of the vans carried as many as seven black or white body bags soaked in chlorine. As one minivan emerged from the cemetery trail, another entered. The procession of Ebola dead seemed to be unending. Abdul Rahman, the cemetery caretaker, continually warned me not to touch anything and not to let anything touch me. He also warned me to keep watch for snakes and avoid the wild pigs roaming the outer border of jungle.

Originally, I remember thinking how lovely the huge cotton trees were rising out of the dense green foliage of ferns and mini-palms. On this, my second visit to the cemetery, much of the jungle had been hacked away to make room for the graves of people who had died from Ebola. Freshly covered graves, open graves and crowded mounds of dirt replaced the giant fern leaves. The moist, warm intimacy of the rainforest had left.

White-suited, protected burial teams hauled the body bags, some obviously containing small children, across the bumpy mounds of the recently buried. In some graves, the larger body bags were buried with the smaller ones. According to Edison Konteh, one of the burial-team leaders, they’d picked up an entire family from a nearby neighbourhood. There was no one to attend the funeral. No prayers or biblical readings were recited as dirt was backfilled over the bodies by the shirtless, young gravediggers.

I remember Abdul Rahman saying, “This is not our culture,” referring to the lack of family members at the graveside. True. Sierra Leoneans celebrate and mourn when someone dies. I’ve been to enough funerals over my five years in Sierra Leone to know.

When I visited the Kingtom Cemetery a third time in October, the graves were crudely demarcated by a small branch of palm placed unceremoniously by one of the gravediggers. It was an attempt to mark and memorialize the graves. I thought the gesture was very kind. But a gravedigger reminded me, “There will be no mourning here because we don’t know who’s in the graves.” At the time, there were no adequate records beyond Abdul Rahman’s hand-written notebook of who was collected, unloaded and buried.

At the end of November, I visited the Kingtom Cemetery again. Abdul Rahman looked tired. The gravediggers had new rubber boots. Some of the graves had scraps of paper stuck to the palm leaves indicating the names of those buried. The Ebola section had grown and the jungle was almost completely hacked away. I didn’t see any pigs but the scattered graves seemed to go on and on. The caretaker told me they’d buried almost 3,000 bodies since July. I could see no mourners but the line of minivans delivering bodies was just as long if not longer.

And the smell … the smell was the same. Chlorine, exhaust and sadness hung in the air, choking the life from the country.

*Stephen Douglas is a media-development consultant and journalist based in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

(One.org):-Our guest blogger today is Bella Mosselmans, an undergraduate student at the London School of Economics. Last summer, she spent 3 months in Sierra Leone working for Restless Development. Since returning to the UK, she has started to run a campaignto stop British mining companies’ exploitation of Sierra Leone.

The Ebola crisis has drawn attention to the poor state of the public healthcare system in Sierra Leone. There is a critical shortage of healthcare workers, with fewer than 100 doctors practicing in the public sector. 60% of people live below the poverty line.

Bella Mosselmans

Despite this hardship and despite the brutal civil war that devastated the country between 1991 and 2002, the people are full of strength, tolerance and perseverance. Having recently spent three months there , I discovered the beauty of the country and its people which is rarely covered by western media.

The people of Sierra Leone are full of potential, and the country is rich with natural resources. What has hindered its development is corruption and foreign exploitation. The wealth its natural resources create fails to reach the poor.

The blame cannot be solely placed on the government. British mining companies’ exploitation of Sierra Leone also plays a major role. If mining companies demonstrated more corporate social responsibility, they could significantly improve the lives of 6 million people.

Economic exploitation

A major concern about the practices of foreign mining companies is their failure to pay adequate levels of tax.

Christian Aid estimates that Sierra Leone will lose US$131m from 2014-16 alone due to corporate income tax incentives granted to five mining companies – an average of $44m a year. Nearly all of these losses are, according to Christian Aid, the result of agreements with two British mining companies: African Minerals and London Mining.

The Mines and Minerals Act of 2009 is a legal framework created to ensure that foreign mining companies operated in a responsible way. But both companies have negotiated agreements in which they do not pay the statutory corporate tax rate. London Mining is also completely exempt from both taxes on imported capital goods, vehicles and equipment, and the Goods and Services tax.

The National Revenue Authority estimated that Customs and Goods and Services tax exemptions lost the government $224m in revenue in 2012, which amounted to 8% of GDP.

While proponents of tax incentives argue that they attract foreign direct investment, an IMF report establishes that the most successful countries in attracting foreign investors have not offered large tax incentives. Factors such as good quality infrastructure, which Sierra Leone cannot have without increased tax revenue, carry much more weight.

Joseph Ayamba from Christian Aid Sierra Leone states: “The granting of tax incentives to mining companies, especially African Minerals and London Mining in the country has resulted in massive revenue losses to the government and largely hinder the government’s capacity to support its development priorities such as health, education and agriculture.”

For example, the $44m a year that Sierra Leone is estimated to lose in potential taxes from the mining industry is enough to provide an education for 2.9 million children.

London Mining stated that it has been operating for less than two years and that it does not expect to make a profit in early years because of high start-up costs and high levels of investment, which generate tax losses from capital expenditure. Accordingly the tax rate during years where there are no profits is irrelevant because no tax is payable and indeed the low tax rate means that London Mining is saving tax on start-up losses at only 6% rather than 30%.

Pascale Hall, an aid-worker who lived in Sierra Leone, points out “the worst thing is that they show no guilt, no remorse”.

An opportunity

Sierra Leone now faces the huge additional problem of the Ebola crisis. Given the vast revenues that mining companies earn, they face a moral imperative to help communities cope with the health emergency.

The Ebola crisis is an opportunity for foreign companies in Sierra Leone to demonstrate they can be a positive force in the country’s development. But to date, as Professor Banerjee notes “there has been an obsession with ‘supply-side corporate social responsibility’, which is about managing reputation and the financial benefits without much consideration for how effective it might be“.

It will be instructive to examine whether help provided by companies investing in Sierra Leone towards Ebola is designed to deliver effective results or simply gain a reputational advantage.

‘They can do better’

“I know they can do better for our country.” Mohammed Papa Bangura, a radio presenter in Makeni stated.

When I explain these problems to people in the UK, the usual response is: “someone has to exploit the resources – if it wasn’t them it’d be someone else”or “it would be impossible to change”. Well for once instead of accepting society as it is, I have decided to call upon British corporations to take social responsibility. To dismiss change as “impossible” seems a feeble excuse to condone the exploitation occurring worldwide.

Getting foreign companies to act responsibly and pay their fair share in taxes in developing countries could make a major contribution to poverty eradication.

Join my campaign to Stop British Mining Companies Exploitation in Sierra Leone, and give all these wonderful people a chance to achieve the hopes they deserve.

• There is confusion surrounding the current location of President Jammeh.
• Official statement suggests he was on state visit to France while unconfirmed reports suggest he was visiting Mauritania

President Jammeh of The Gambia (file photo)

My fellow Gambians: At 1 o’clock this morning, forces loyal to Lamin Sanneh, the disgraced former Commanding Officer of the State Guards, invaded The Gambia from Senegal in an attempt to overthrow its legitimate government.
A group of armed men attacked the presidential palace and the Denton bridge military post before being quickly repelled.
Four of the insurgents were killed and four more captured.
Sanneh himself sustained injuries and may have died in the attack.
No Gambian feels the anguish of this heinous plot more deeply than I, against whom Sanneh adds the sin of betraying a friend to the ignominy of high treason.
Rest assured that the Enemies of the People have been defeated, and I will be returning from my state visit to France immediately in order to oversee an investigation and ensure that the perpetrators of this plot face stern justice.
Al-Haji Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh

Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh has arrived in Banjul early Wednesday morning, after security forces thwarted an attempted coup against his regime.

President Jammeh of The Gambia (File photo

Mr Jammeh, 49, was said to have landed at Banjul International Airport a few minutes after midnight after a two-hour stopover in Chad to refuel his aircraft.
He was escorted to Banjul by a contingent of heavily armed soldiers and is expected to issue a televised statement to the nation this evening.

The Gambian leader was out of the country when some armed men led by former State House Commander, Lt Colonel Lamin Sanneh, invaded the country on Tuesday morning from neighbouring Senegal and attacked the presidential palace in Banjul and the military post at the Denton Bridge, which links Banjul to the southern part of the country.

The gun fight started at around 1am local time and lasted until the early hours of the morning.
Lt Colonel Sanneh was reported to have been killed together with three of his men.

Four other armed men were reported to have been captured while one of the attackers was reported to have sustained serious injuries. The captured men are said to be held at an undisclosed military post and are currently helping the authorities with their investigations.

Total control

“I can confirmed that His Excellency the president is back safely at State House and is performing his prayers,” a senior government official who requested anonymity told JollofNews.
Our source added that Mr Jammeh had never doubted the loyalty of his soldiers and was in regular contact with senior military figures and members of the Gambia’s Security Council while he was abroad.
“His Excellency the president has the backing of the army 100 per cent and he was in total control of the situation,” the source said.
“The identity of the attackers and their backers will be revealed to you guys soon.”

(JollofNews)

New Year’s Day Broadcast by His Excellency President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma

Fellow Sierra Leoneans

The New Year is a moment for resolutions, andtoday I call on all Sierra Leoneans to strengthen our individual and collective resolve to defeat Ebola. I firmly believe a resolution by each and every Sierra Leonean to act to end Ebola will see this virus defeated very soon in our beloved nation.

President Koroma of Sierra Leone

The resolution must be action oriented and geared towards positive change. I am very sure that all Sierra Leoneans want this scourge to end; and it is therefore time for all Sierra Leoneans to follow up their aspirations with their actions.

And these actions that are required have been stated over and over again. Do not touch the sick; do not touch corpses; call health workers to handle the sick; do not seek to disobey quarantine orders. As we make our New Year resolutions, these are the actions that we must commit ourselves to doing.

As a nation, and with support from our international partners, we have increased our capacity to defeat the virus. From a single treatment centre when the virus struck in May, we now have over 30 treatment and holding centres; from a single lab for testing suspected cases, we now have over 10, and from a single doctor specializing in the treatment of Ebola, we now have thousands of health personnel all over the country, with skills to handle Ebola cases.

With firm resolutions from all Sierra Leoneans we will get ahead of the virus. And there are many examples to show that firm resolutions are registering successes in our fight against the virus.

Now people who go to Ebola Treatment Centres have far better chances than before of surviving the disease. Our remarkable doctors at the Hastings Treatment Centre are now making sure that most people who get admitted within three days of getting Ebola symptoms survive.

Other treatment centres are also greatly improving the survival chances of those who report early. Most districts, including Kailahun, Kenema and Bonthe are now registering zero infections over several days and weeks; and the surge in our lab, treatment, sensitization, and surveillance activities in other districts are ensuring faster test results, more people being taken to treatment centres, and more safe burials.

But whatever we do as a Government, whatever support is given to the country by our international partners to fight the disease, however hard our valiant doctors, nurses and other health personnel work to stem the disease, the fight would still be very difficult without resolutions by every individual, every family and community to refrain from touching the sick and from touching, washing, and burying the dead.

I know what we are being asked to do is very difficult; we are a people that have built our humanity on hugging each other, on shaking hands, on caring for the sick and showing communal empathy by participating in funeral activities.

But today the Ebola devil of illness and death hides in the innocent clothing of our culture to get us. That is why it is very necessary to suspend these cultural practices to defeat this evil virus. Suspending these practices for now does not reduce our humanity, rather its gives life to us. Humanity is about promoting life; let us continue to display our humanity by promoting habits that promote life during this unprecedented Ebola outbreak.

We are people of faith, a people who believe that without God’s intervention, we struggle in vain. With the consent of religious leaders, we hereby declare seven days of prayers, fasting and charity with effect from today 1st January 2015.

Our Muslim Leaders teach us that God is closer to us than the veins in our necks, and He has commanded us to call on Him in prayers, for He is ever ready to answer the call of His people. We have put in place mechanisms to secure our country from this evil virus; but the Bible teaches us that except the Lord keep the city, the watchman watches in vain. Today I ask all to commit our actions to the grace, mercy and protection of God Almighty.

I also call on you to make resolutions of prayers for the lives of our health workers and all other Sierra Leoneans and our international partners who are putting themselves in harm’s way to defeat this evil. We shall ever be grateful for your services.

I also ask that we remember in our prayers the sick and those whose lives have been cut short by this deadly virus. And let us also pray for strength to do what is right and proper to promote life and healing in our beloved nation.

Fellow Sierra Leoneans, with my instruction, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is putting in place modalities to reopen schools and colleges in the shortest possible time. Dates for the reopening and other modalities will be announced by the ministry in due course.

Fellow Sierra Leoneans,

There are some people, from all regions, professions, and age groups, who want to use this moment to make money, to score political points, or to cause mischief and disaffection in the land. We must resist them. There are people who don’t work but want to hide under the cover of those who work to get paid; we must expose them.

There are people who are not involved in raising awareness about the disease, but who are raising funds to siphon unto selfish ends, we must bring these shameless crooks to book. Government agencies stand instructed to keep record of all Ebola related transactions for accountability now and a more thorough auditing of the process after we defeat this virus. We expect all international agencies, NGOs and Civil Society Organizations who have received the majority of funds to fight Ebola to have similar records for a thorough accounting of their actions.

The task ahead is difficult. The focus now is on defeating the virus. This is not a time for politics; it is a time for healing. This is not a time for strikes; it is a time for service. This is not a time for partying and going unto crowded places, but a moment for reflection and prayers.

This is not a time for holding on to practices that cause death; it is a moment for promoting habits that promote wellbeing, understanding, and national survival. We now have the capacity to end this outbreak. It is now only a matter of time. We now have the treatment centres in place.

It is now only a matter of time. We now have the holding centres and personnel in place. With our individual and collective resolutions as families, district and region, it is now only a matter of time for our nation to end this outbreak, and like we did after the war, we will once again become a symbol of recovery, healing and growth.

I wish you all a Happy New Year.

God Bless Sierra Leone

New Year Message 2015

©SHCU 2015

By: Jesmed F Suma. (A Concerned Citizen)

Ebola has become the enigma of the world. The virility of this unique strain of Ebola is definitely very unlike other outbreaks in the past. We all agree that our West African governments failed to respond to the initial outbreak of the Ebola virus appropriately.

Jesmed  F. Suma

However, one could argue that it is unfair to entirely blame these poor Africa governments for the uncontrollable spread of the virus.

Unfair because, as evident by recent Ebola outbreak outside Africa, particularly in the US, it is clear that even the West was unprepared for the unpredictability and danger that this rare strain of Ebola virus poses.

In Texas the way a more sophisticated major hospital handled their first Ebola patient, in my opinion, was not different from the manner in which some of the clinics in Africa initially handled their first Ebola patients.

Fortunately, unlike the African countries, the US has a very robust healthcare infrastructure which was helpful in containing the potential spread of the virus – still, the US and the rest of the world are benefiting from the mistakes made by the African governments in terms of what not to do in responding to the Ebola outbreak.

For the past several months, many Sierra Leoneans, foreign governments and foreign NGOs have committed so much into helping the government fight against the spread of the deadly virus, but the situation is getting worst by the day.

At the same time, Liberia and Guinea seem to have stabilized their situation with help coming mostly from the US and France.  Sierra Leone depending mostly on the British is showing horrendous results.

The first question one is tempted to ask is, why are we losing the fight? Why are the international community, particularly western foreign governments reluctant to put more into helping Sierra Leone as compared to help provided for Guinea, Liberia and Mali.

In my opinion there are two main contributing reasons for our failure to contain the virus:

First, is the lack of a published national strategic plan. Each foreign country and nonprofit organization offering help or providing assistance is forced to come with its predefined plan and approach, which may or may not necessarily sync with the efforts already in place on the ground.

I believe we need a single comprehensive National Strategic Plan that defines a comprehensive roadmap on how to contain and eventually eradicate the epidemic. We do not need multiple plans from multiple organizations or foreign entities.

We need but only one plan to be designed by a committee comprising of representatives of all players on the ground including other stakeholders like the Diaspora community.

The plan must be detailed, reviewed and updated weekly. It must be publicly available preferably on a website to guide any local and foreign entity that may want to offer help to know exactly what type of help that is needed, where help is needed, who to contact and how to contact them in a well-coordinated manner that would avoid duplication of efforts and wastage of limited resources.

It would require high-level deliberation over the strategic long-term goal of elimination, while highlighting the political, financial, and institutional requisites.

Our first task would be, to know exactly what is going on, to determine what can, and should be changed. This would take at least 1 week using at least 3 groups of experienced Humanitarians; specialists in public health, food distribution, and a strategic planner to lead the team, plus a data analyst.

We could use the lessons offered by the Ebola epidemic to correct the weakness in our systems of governance, not only in healthcare delivery but also in other areas of governance.

Everyone needs to know exactly what everyone else is doing, when, how and how much is being donated through who and how these resources are being allocated. The plan must have goals, objectives, measurable performance targets, it must be dynamic subject to changes as and when necessary.

This brings me to the second reason: LACK of TRUST. Everyone seem to agree that Ebola is not only a regional problem but a global problem, yet actions on the ground with respect to Sierra Leone do not reflect these facts.

There is a significant gap between the level of support that needs to be provided to combat the epidemic and the level of help provided to support the country.

The few pledges made so far are yet to be fully translated into action. Exhaustion is permeating the ranks of the few medical teams on the ground, some are dying in the course of their heroic efforts to help curb the spread.

Despite these horrendous results the international community is still wavy about providing as much help for Sierra Leone as they do for Liberia, Guinea and Mali three other countries that are in the heart of the Ebola crisis.

Unlike Sierra Leone these countries have succeeded in containing the spread of the virus and are in better position to finally contain it, mostly with the help of the international community.

Today even with Britain’s emergency centers in Sierra Leone, the entire operation is overwhelmed, the disease is spreading quicker than ever anticipated, yet little is being provided from outside.

I believe, the reason the international community is wavy about sending my funding or help is because they do not have a trusted partner to work with in Sierra Leone. The govt. does not have a roadmap for the international community to work with in the form of national strategic plan.

When the international community attempts to come up with a plan, their effort is stifled by limitations such as the strong influence the president’s National Ebola Emergency Response Committee’s has over how some of the resources are deployed.

The govt.’s processes are not transparent, marred by endemic corruption within the ranks of the leadership and the lack of commitment to fight the disease.

This is forcing the international community to consider other options that are far more expensive and politically risky for the leaders of these foreign governments.

I am sure they would have preferred to just send us the funds, logistics and a few technical personnel to help manage the delivery of those resources as well as the containment of the virus, if we had trustworthy and responsible government.

Simply because the help would have been less expensive and less risky both in terms of  the lives of their fellow citizens and politically too.

They know there would be a political price to pay if anything outside the ordinary were to happen. Instead they are forced to have to also send in a large number of personnel in addition to the resources.

The President of Liberia has been very proactive in her effort. She writes letters, personally makes calls and appears through video conferencing before foreign decision makers like the US senate to testify about the situation in Liberia.

It is even rumoured that she hired a professional lobbyist in the US.  What is the President of Sierra Leone doing?

He is busy making dumb comments in the media blaming the international community for the spread of Ebola in his backyard, instead of blaming his failure to build our healthcare system over the past seven to eight years after squandering millions of dollars donated to the country for healthcare by the Bill Gate foundation and other foreign entities.

Now he is rather focused on making sure he has his swindlers control the flow of funds coming into the country to fight Ebola.

The first attempt that was made to help the country was mismanaged. KPMG an internationally reputable accounting firm withdrew their services to audit the funds that were being donated to the government at the time, because they do not want to be associated with the corruption.

Instead of the President focusing his attention on fighting the outbreak, he instead tried to politicize the process.

He distributed funds to his political pundits and cronies, including members of parliament with the pretext that they would use these funds to sensitize their communities and help combat the spread of the disease.

This public, daylight robbery was done at a time when medical professionals were not paid, did not have enough logistics to care of those infected.  As everyone expected, those funds were squandered by those politicians while the ministry of health, medical team and affected communities were starved of the necessary resources.

He established a task force, to control the pipeline through which funds are channeled to the government for Ebola from outside donors, but made sure it is led by his political pundits like the current Defense Minister who heads the National Emergency Response Committee.

He has no experience in managing emergency crisis let alone medical emergencies.  Yet we have many competent, experienced Sierra Leoneans who are willing and able to head the Ministry of Health or the National Emergency Ebola Response Committee, but because they do not belong to the party of the President, and are not corrupt or prepared to be corrupted by the Kleptomaniac culture in his government, those competent Sierra Leoneans are disregarded.

When some of us go out to lobby foreign governments as citizens of Sierra Leone for these foreign governments to increase their help for Sierra Leone, we are faced with questions about the endemic corruption in the country.

At one point we were lectured about how medications and other supplies sent through the government to help with the Ebola are sold or get stolen at the port. Few weeks ago we went to the US congress to appeal for more US support for Sierra Leone and to ask them to replicate in Sierra Leone what they did in Liberia.

One of our hosts asked us this at the meeting: “Why do you think the President appointed Palo to head NERC, was it based on any past experience he had in medical emergency management, or was it political or perhaps because Palo being one of the president’s henchmen, he wants to make sure he has his hand in the pie?”

This shows these people are concerned about the corruption in the country. The President has to stop politicizing the Ebola crisis and stop focusing on making money at the expense of innocent lives. He needs to change otherwise one can argue that he is partly to blame for the lives we are losing now and should be held accountable.

So this is what I would suggest. Let him form a committee comprising of representatives of all stakeholders, WHO, Doctors without Border, the Govt., which must include representatives of the Diaspora community and ask the committee to head the development of a National Strategic Plan.

He should dissolve his current team in NERC and have the new strategic planning committee take over the task f the National Ebola Response Committee charged with the full responsibility to coordinate all efforts to address the Ebola crisis. He needs to get rid of Palo and let the new committee choose its chair or head.

Let the Ministry of health be encouraged to focus on handling all other illnesses that are not Ebola related, because people are also dying of other diseases because of lack of medical attention.

With this structure, I believe the International community would have a trusted team to work with in Sierra Leone and they would now have the confidence to give us the level of support we need to curb the spread and eventually eradicate Ebola.

It’s that time of the year; the season of good will, and on earth peace to all men. We are literally half way into the Premier League season and things seem to be taking shape with the usual suspects. As liquids find their level, indications are that some teams in the Premiership appear to punch above their weight.

Abdulai Mansaray

Teams like Southampton and West Ham seem to enjoy the company of the big boys these days. Finding their teams in such strange positions in the league table, which in days gone by would have been preparing for the eternal fight against relegation, has been met with some unimaginable euphoria from fans.

This has not been lost on some of their footballers either, as fresh from scoring two goals for West Ham over the week end, Andy Carroll reportedly does not see any reason why West Ham should not qualify for Europe. Many would accept this as delusional but even the most of ardent Hammers would struggle to bruise their imagination along such a path.

But again, there is nothing wrong with having a dream; but returning from a long injury layoff with two goals in one match is not enough to make such conclusions. One swallow does not make a season.

Tell that to Liverpool fans who thought that after guiding the team to within a hairs breathe of the Premier League title last season, Brendan Rogers was the best thing that happened after slice bread. From breathing down the necks of Manchester City for the title last year, to becoming a mediocre team this year takes some beating. Some pundits have used the absence of Luis Suarez and long term injury to Daniel Sturridge as the reason for the demise of a once great club.

The bottom line is that Brendan Rogers did his summer shopping too early before the World Cup. The idea was good; to beat off the crazily astronomical fees that follow players after having a good tournament. The sad thing was that he bought mediocre talent; and he bought that in abundance too.

Having qualified for the Champions League after a 5 year absence, all Liverpool needed was a tweak here or there. The maximum number of players he would have needed was four. But to buy wholesale was not only disrupting, but also a statement of a lack of confidence in what you’ve got; those who got you to where you are in the first place.

How many of those newly acquired players would get first team nods in Chelsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona or Manchester City? The capture of Mario Balotelli looked like the bargain buy of the century.

Unfortunately, the Liverpool PR machine allowed the press to make so much about the disciplinary record of the mercurial striker that he was made to look like a disaster waiting to happen. Liverpool allowed the situation to go so bad that some newspaper reports had it that a “behaviour clause” was inserted in his contract.

The club’s PR machine, just like it did with the handling of Suarez’s issue when Kenny Daglish was in charge, allowed the story to run for so long that Balotelli lost all his self-confidence and arrogance. He was never defended or protected from the vicious press which like Jesus, saw it like the second coming.

The confidence and arrogance that made him take on defenders, the arrogance that made him ask “why always me?” has been replaced with the subservience of a choir boy. With the exception of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, most or all great players had a side to them that complemented their brilliance. George Best, Cantona, Maradona, Hristo Stoichkov, Suarez etc. showed the other side once in a while.

Today, Balotelli spends most of his time on the pitch, taking communion and asking the opponents for forgiveness; for tugging their shirts or rubbing his sweat on them. He is running so low on self-confidence that he may require some attitude transplant to get back to his “why always me?”. We see the same with Raheem Sterling. He is a young prospect, but we are witnessing him being crushed by the burden of carrying the expectations of the whole clan from Merseyside.

After being dumped from the Champions League, Brendan Rogers says that “the entire club is to blame for the Red’s Champions League exit” (The Times). Does that include the owners who gave him over £100 Million to strengthen the team? Or does that include the tea lady who forgot to add sugar to his pre match tea?

This sounds like a script from “An idiot’s Guide on how to get yourself sacked”. But again, stranger things have happened in the Premier League this season: NO PREMIER LEAGUE MANAGER HAS BEEN SACKED BEFORE CHRISTMAS (yet) this year; phew.

The average sacking rate was three managers before Christmas. Is this is a UN declared International Year for Common Sense or Patience? It is interesting to note that the managers who endured the loudest clamour for their heads to roll at the start of the season, are enjoying the best league positions at the minute.

Well, it is the season of good will and all those who were baying “crucify him” are now chanting “hallelujah”. Where is Pontius Pilate when you need one?

Alan Pardew and Sam Allardyce are sitting pretty in the league now, but they were the cesspits for the fans’ vitriolic fangs. It was so bad on Tyneside that Pardew was reportedly scared for his family.

Thankfully, sanity to the game was restored by a huge dose of patience from the Three Wise Men of David Sullivan, David Gold and Mike Ashley (owners of these clubs.). This was more so for Mike Ashley, for whom the jury is still out on Tyne side. Who said that patience is not a virtue? In the red half of Manchester, Luis Van Gaal seems to be finding his way up the league table, but he has his CV to thank for staying in the job in the first place.

How many Premiership Managers would have survived such a disastrous start against relatively, newly promoted mediocre teams? Unlike David Moyes, he had £150 million to burn and had mainly the newly promoted sides to contend with.

Well…I always knew that he will come good. In the season of good will, Alan Pardew and Sam Allardyce have shown that “patience is not only the ability to wait- it’s how we behave while waiting.” These guys did it with dignity; and thanks for restoring some sanity to football. But that does not mean that the sack race is over. It is set to begin in earnest after Christmas; when the banks start calling in their debts as clubs stare at the barrel of relegation. It will be fun; so enjoy it.

Manchester United for the title? There is a Pigs flying contest in Manchester and turkeys will be voting for Christmas; so I heard.

You think it’s all over; will soon be.

Abdulai Mansaray.

By:- Abdulai Mansaray

When Steven Gerrard called time on his Liverpool career a few days ago, a lot of conjectures sprung up, ranging from the realistic, the romantic, and the sentimentalist, down to the downright blinkered. His former team mate, now turned Sky TV pundit, Jamie Carragher said that the club “should have done more to keep him”.

Abdulai Mansaray

By implication, Jamie Carragher thinks that Liverpool did not do enough to prevent Steven Gerrard’s exit. You can tell that such a view belongs to either the sentimentalist or the romantic. Until Gerrard stated that he will move to the United States, with a Major League Soccer club set to be his next destination, he was one of those rare breeds of footballers that are known as “one club footballer”.

Like Paul Scholes, Garry Neville and Ryan Giggs, who were born and bred Manchester United, Gerrard was about to lay claim to that tag of endangered species. No matter how much you support Manchester United and dislike Liverpool, you would agree that Gerrard was Liverpool through and through. He epitomised and embodied the Liverpool Football club; as we know it.

There was little surprise to see the many plaudits, pundits, legends, commentators and fans alike queueing  up to rain their praises and near worship- like comments about how great he has been for club and country; and especially so for the former.

At one point, you could be forgiven to think that it was an obituary or epitaph being spewed from his numerous admirers and worshippers alike. His exit may have come as a shock to some but to the trained eye, it was an inevitable end to such a glittering career.

When he announced his retirement from international football after leading his country to one of its worst performances in an international competition, the writing must have been on the wall for all to see. The real surprise should be about how surprised some pundits were, to hear of his decision to quit Liverpool at the end of the season.

There is no denying the fact that he has been the consummate professional. With the exception of the Premier League title, he has won it all. For him to have come so agonisingly close to clinch the one silverware that is missing from his trophy cabinet must have been very painful; especially when you consider that, it was his mistake that led to Chelsea taking the lead in that title deciding match last year.

If anything, he would have loved to quit Liverpool on a high. But if their position and current form is anything to go by, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see how his exit will be met with the kind of fanfare it deserves. Well stranger things have happened and perhaps the FA Cup could offer him some balm to massage his bruised ego. Talking about ego brings us to the question of Gerrard’s reasoning behind his exit.

The midfielder, 34, told Liverpool’s website “The key conversation was when the manager sat me down and said it was time to manage my games. It was a very difficult conversation to have. I’m bright enough to realise it is the right thing. I accept it.”

He added: “when you have been a starter and a mainstay in the team for such a long time….I had an idea the conversation was going to come at some time, but it was a painful conversation. I am not over the line with any team yet. I’m close and as soon as I know, I’ll make the announcement, “he said. So what did we learn from his proclamations; against the backdrop that this was the man that epitomised, lives and breathes all things Liverpool.

For starters, he was not taken by surprise as he, like everybody else, knows that all good things must come to an end. But he feels that having being “a starter and a mainstay in the team for such a long time”, the promise of managing his game was too painful to take.

Hear, hear. By implication, Gerrard is not ready to be a part player. He wants to start every game, cover every blade of grass, make those goal saving tackles, take those bendy free kicks and score all the penalties for his beloved club. Kudos for that.

He tells the Liverpool website that “The key conversation was when the manager sat me down and said it was time to manage my games. It was a very difficult conversation to have. I’m bright enough to realise it is the right thing. I accept it.” .

No Gerrard, you may be bright enough to realise it, but too egoistic to accept it. It was people like Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Petr Cech, and even Didier Drogba (on his second spell), who accepted that they were no longer the “mainstays” of the team, but that they will be used sparingly as substitutes and  game changers.

Paul Scholes even retired at the end of the 2010/11 season but made a shock return on 8 January 2012 in a third round FA Cup victory at Manchester City. Completing his 716^th appearance for the club, he collected his 11^th Premier League medal after playing his last game against Swansea; on the same day that Sir Alex Fergusson bowed out. Top that for a retirement as a one club player.

Like Gerrard, these guys loved their club. But that is where the similarities end. Unlike him, they were ready to stay and help the younger players especially in the dressing room. They were happy to play part time, help out on the training pitch and even put in cameo performances to change the outcome of some games.

They did all this for “the club they loved” and never traded their wares to any other bidders or suitors. At the ripe age of 40, Ryan Giggs would still be a first team player for many big clubs, if he chose to be. But this would be “too painful” for Steven Gerrard to stay.

He is used to starting every game for Liverpool; bar suspension or injury. He is too good to be a part player. At a young age of 34, he is “not over the line for any team yet”. If you can find me a bigger EGO that has become the elephant in the room, please let me know.

I can hear some of you saying, “You can’t put a good man down”. That is not the intention of this writer. This piece is aimed at taking off the blinkers and giving an alternative take on the issue. In spite of his illustrious career, he refuses to accept that first, he is human and he is 34. He is no longer that box to box player that we have come to admire, praise and in some cases, worship.

Liverpool’s recent demise in the league can be traced back to their lack of a formidable midfield. He has started 17 of Liverpool’s 20 league games this season, and look at their position. What Brendan Rodgers has done, in spite of his own short comings, is to wake up earlier to the idea that Liverpool can no longer continue to depend on Gerrard for bailouts, and that Gerrard can no longer supply the bailouts the team needs on a consistent basis.

It is all well and good to sing his praises to the rafters. There is nothing wrong with him seeking pastures anew. He may be one of the best professionals of our modern era; where loyalty to a single football club is fast becoming a contradiction in terms.

Those days are gone when football clubs used to be owned by the community and for the community. The romance of shareholders is gone. Although football clubs today are about one billionaire’s addition to his toy collection, the principles of economics are not lost on their owners.

It is all about results, profits and value for money. So players have a choice to stay on and pretend loyalty until they are ready for the knacker’s yard, or look elsewhere for a bumper harvest into retirement. It is all about money; so let’s forget the romance and sentiments.

In case you are wondering, Frank Lampard left Chelsea for New York City FC in the MLS. Yes he plays for City, not New York though. Gerrard fancies MLS; so watch this space Man United fans. Did I just hear hell freeeeezzzzzzzzeeee?

Gerrard may have every reason to quit Anfield at the end of the season, but he should have come up with a better reason; for us lower mortals to believe in his mortality.

That after all, he is blood and flesh. Success usually breeds a degree of hubris and we can be victims of our hubris at times. It is only when we fail, that’s when we learn.

Don’t forget to turn the lights out when you leave the room.

By:- Alpha Omar Jabbie (Concerned Sierra Leonean)

As we usher in the year 2015 and as the Ebola crisis and other pertinent issues continue to plague my beloved birth country, Sierra Leone, I have pondered on the current condition of the land that I love, the one-time envy of Africa and the anthens of West Africa.

Alpha Omar Jabbie

What will become of my beloved country in 2015 and beyond? What if my beloved Sierra Leone was still under British colonial rule today and what would have become of Sierra Leone?

I strongly believe, without question, that our economy would have been comparable to similarly situated African countries with a plethora of opportunities and investments from companies around the world including, but not limited to, British companies.

Our economic development would have surpassed what it is today. Our schools and universities, formally the education basin of British West Africa, could have been producing talents and future leaders of Africa and the world as we once were.

The current education curricula and systems in Sierra Leone are not beneficial to the students as it does not directly correlate to the prevailing economic activities outside the school system.

As the world has progressed and moved to a more robust and advanced system of education, our educational system continues to focus on theory rather than providing practical skills to students, which will in turn generate more professionals.

Such education systems impart literary and general education without sufficient practical content. The end result of such a system has resulted in the production of individuals whose skills do not support the current economic trends in the Sierra Leone job market.

Given the fact that the education curriculum in Sierra Leone does not consist of industrial skills which are needed to build and sustain an economic engine good enough to support our people, our current education system produces many graduates with non- transferable or irrelevant skills.

Furthermore, the all-inclusive policy at secondary and post-secondary schools has increased unemployment rates for the educated, because they are only trained for common white collar employment rather than entrepreneurship or industrialized jobs.

For instance, when African Minerals and London mining companies were in full operation, most of their skilled jobs were occupied by foreigners and expatriates. Due to this failed system, the path lands the majority of our graduates in the office behind desks writing policies without providing the manpower to support the implementation of such policies.

This in turn has created a failed economic system that does not support its graduates and the lifestyle of its’ government officials who have no choice but to turn to corruption.

If Sierra Leone was still under the British rule, our educational system would still be the envy of the world. andour educational system would have been producing future leaders capable of making a real positive difference in the lives of our suffering people today, as it once did.

Our iconic Fourah Bay College, known for producing leaders, would have been producing leaders of the world. However, today our education system is left to crumble while our political leaders benefit from the privilege of sending their children to top schools around the world. When questioned, if at all, they claim to offer free education which is not good enough to send their own children.

Lack of employment opportunities in Sierra Leone is directly linked to bad leadership and corrupt attitudes of the individuals in power. Money embezzlement for meaningful projects is prevalent, which could have created employment opportunities for our youth.

Long retention in our civil service system prevents growth and potential new ideas that may have been able to propel growth. The corrupt practices have created room for negligence and monotonous lack of innovative thinking stifle new ideas that can meet the challenges of the 21st century.

In addition, our educators, doctors, CPA’s, project managers, entrepreneurs, technocrats and trained and skilled individuals, under good prevailing circumstances, should be thinking about entrepreneurship, rather than moving or staying in the diaspora in search of greener pastures .

If the land that I love so dearly was still under British rule, unemployment, especially amongst our youth, may have been handled and addressed as a national emergency.

Corruption has long existed in Sierra Leone, but has become more the norm as proper democratic governance was eroded after independence by our “so called” founding fathers of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) and All Peoples Congress (APC).

Sierra Leone gained independence from Great Britain on April 7, 1961, under the leadership of Sir Milton Margai of the SLPP. Shortly after Sierra Leone’s independence, Sir Milton was succeeded by his brother Sir Albert Margai. After Albert Margai’s death in 1964, begins the assault or at least the attempted assault and descends on our democratic principles.

After Sir Albert’s failed attempts to manipulate the Sierra Leone constitution into a one-party rule and lost the 1967 election to Siaka Stevens in the early 1970’s, the real assault on our political system began and the country becomes a de facto one-party state.

In 1978 it became a de jure one-party state after a referendum orchestrated by Siaka Stevens and his All Peoples Congress. As Executive President, Stevens’ power grew and corruption became the order of the day with such scandals as the Voucher gate, Squander gate and Million gate, to name a few.

The pervasive corruption led to scandals which depleted the country’s national reserve, impoverished the people and bred discontent among the citizenry. The effects of such mismanagement, abuse and corruption largely contributed to a decade of civil war which lasted from March 1991 to January 2002 and destroyed thousands of lives and properties.

Our leaders have constantly failed us. As President Obama stated during his visit to Accra, Ghana, “No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers (unscrupulous and shady business men).”

I believe that if my beloved country was still under the British rule, a system of checks and balances would have been put into place and the blatant misuse of public resources and trust given to our founding fathers could have been prevented.

As corruption becomes the order of the day amongst our leaders, the breakdown of law and order from high to low level public officials has led to the existing corruption. For any society to flourish and realize it full potential, fair laws must be established, respected by the people and enforced by the government.

For example, in western societies, a citizen who violates a traffic law may face consequences such as sanctions or even criminal prosecution. However, in contrast, in Sierra Leone, basic laws are not enforced nor does order exist because the people do not have faith in the ability of the country’s leaders to ensure that their basic rights are upheld.

If Sierra Leone was still under British rule, basic rights and privileges may have been respected. Let’s face it, what difference does it really make, especially for those of us living abroad. We are living under British, US, and western law rules and discipline and our rights are even better protected in most cases than it is in our birth country land that we all love, Sierra Leone.

As the breakdown of law and order engulf the land, basic infrastructures continue to crumble and Freetown, once the envy of the west for its’ beauty and natural harbor, becomes the darkest city in world. Further, our leaders have reduced us to a mere laughing stock around the world.

Our power generation capacity has been hampered by the corruption and lack of accountability by our leaders. Sierra Leone currently experiences frequent blackouts. In the capital city of Freetown, supply is available to the general public only for a few hours per day.

Most areas in the interior of the country are wholly or largely without access electricity. If we were still under British rule today, at minimum we would have been guaranteed 24/7 access to electricity in Freetown.

Water supply in Sierra Leone is plagued by limited access to safe drinking water. Despite efforts by successive government and numerous non-governmental organizations, access has not improved much, stagnating at about 50% and even declining or is non-existent in rural parts of Sierra Leone.

In the capital city, Freetown, running water sources are very low. Under British rule, our renowned water system, the great Guma Valley Water Company (GVWC) which is responsible for water supply in Greater Freetown would have been distributing clean and drinkable water for our people.

However, today in Sierra Leone, the water is not portable or drinkable nor readily available to the people in most part of Freetown. My beloved country is endowed with so many natural resources, capable of building huge metropolitan cities similar to New York City, Atlanta, Georgia or any major city around the world two or three times over, but due to decades of mismanagement and corruption the country’s potential has not been realized.

If the British were running our country, the road networks and transportation systems may have been superior or at least comparable to other emerging African countries.I do understand that every nation has some level of corruption, however, the corruption and the lack of accountability in Sierra Leone is appalling.

Government officials have readily misused, mismanaged and embezzled public funds and resources with impunity.

Our healthcare system was deplorable prior to the Ebola crisis, yet the country’s leaders were bragging about free health care for women and children as one of their greatest achievement for Sierra Leoneans while drugs and supplies meant to be a part of the so called “free healthcare” end up in private pharmacies and private hospitals.

Officials bragged about how improved our health care system was prior to Ebola, however, when these same leaders required medical attention, they would seek such care overseas at the expense of our beloved people.

The chance of our people acquiring medical attention in Sierra Leone (only for those who can afford it) has been dashed by the current Ebola epidemic with our doctors and nurses being systematically wiped out and the healthcare system in shambles.

Under British rule, remarkable hospitals such as the legendary Connaught Hospital, which was capable of treating any disease in the world, and had talented doctors and nurses, may have been in full operation. In our current fight against Ebola, we may have stood a chance.

Prior to Sierra Leone’s independence from the Great Britain, Sierra Leone had a reliable and consistent network of transportation which existed throughout the country or at least in the provincial headquarter towns that linked Freetown and the provinces.

During that time, the network served the people well and there was no need for people that lived in the provinces to move and settled in Freetown, because traveling to Freetown was easy and convenient. The Sierra Leone Railway service provided transportation and also provided employment for hundreds of families.

After independence, our leaders decided to discontinue the once robust railway service. If we were still under British rule today, our transportation system would have been capable of serving the people of Sierra Leone.

I can go on and on regarding how much Sierra Leone would have been a lot better off if the land that I love was still under our British rule.

Many Sierra Leoneans, especially those who are benefiting from the status quo, or those lining up to assume the mantle of leadership the next go around or even those of us living abroad who enjoy the comfort of 24 hours electricity, good hospitals and medical facilities, reliable and solid basic infrastructures in their various communities may take offense to my view.

However, if we are truly honest with ourselves, we will realize that after over 50 years of self-rule, things have not gotten any better for our people.

I ask the basic questions, “ARE WE BETTER OFF TODAY THAN WE WERE 53 YEARS AGO? If the answer is YES, let stays with the status quo but if NO, let’s take a radical approach to change.

There are some who will blame the lack of progress on our brutal civil war and some will go further to say that our economic growth was on the move and blame the current Ebola pandemic for our lack of growth.

However the economy was in disarray before the civil war. Further corruption and lack of faith in our Leaders started, if not, ignited the civil war. Lack of strong leadership from our two political
parties are what led and continue to undermine our current fight against Ebola.

There are those who will say the problem should be attributed to the APC or SLPP; others say this is the NEW APC or the NEW SLPP, “ we will do better just give my ‘thief’ a chance this time around and things will be better.” I say to them we have been there already.

Prior to Ebola, there were rumors in certain circles about his Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma’s plans for a constitutional review committee to manipulate our people and change our constitution to extend his term for another 2 – 5 years.

I strongly believe if that was to come true, he will surely be making history, but for the wrong reasons. If the President truly wants to be iconic and forever be remembered as the transformational
leader he once dreamt of, I urge him to use his party’s majority in the Sierra Leone Parliament to enact laws and change our Constitution transition back to a parliamentary system of government with the a Prime Minister as head of government and the Queen of England as Head of State rather than trying to stay in power longer than the current constitution allows which will further breed hardship and discontent.

Finally, British Rule 2.0 in the 21st century will mean a parliamentary democracy with a Prime Minister as the head of government. For instance, the Bahamas is an independent country and as a former British colony it is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Political and legal traditions closely follow those of the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state, but executive power is exercised by the cabinet. In other words, with such systems, there may be minimal checks and balances that would have prevented what has happened and continues to plague our people and country over the last 50 years.

How much more do our leaders have to fail to realize that they do not have what it takes to run an effective city let alone a country in the 21st century?

Until we take a hard honest look at ourselves as a nation, the past and current failures of those trusted in public office, and then we could see the writing on the wall.

I hope our pride and ego as a people will not get in the way of doing that which will be good for our people, I say British rule 2.0 – a parliamentary system of government with a Prime Minister and the Queen of England as Head of State. What do you say?

Let start the debate!

Submitted to:

THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRALEONE & THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION IN SIERRALEONE

Prepared by: RASHID JUSTICE DUMBUYA*

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to all the heroic Sierra Leonean doctors that have lost their lives to the Ebola epidemic. We shall always remember their sacrifice.

‘Motivation for change must first be generated before any change can occur’

ABSTRACT

Placing an academic embargo, though a prudent decision to mitigate Ebola risks surely has a costly price to cope with especially in a society where 70% of the population is illiterate. Keeping students away from school will surely have devastating consequences for the future of the Sierra Leonean society.

Rashid Dumbuya

It will lead to the increase in social vices, drop outs, teenage pregnancy, and even violence and criminal activities in the society.

All of these social ills may have equal or more gruesome impacts in the long term when compared to Ebola.

With the recent scale up of treatment centres, international support and medical expertise in the country, it is perhaps the right time to develop a comprehensive and realistic action plan that will help accelerate the reopening of schools albeit in a safe and healthy academic environment.

The president of Sierra Leone did mention in his New Year’s Day address to the nation about plans to get students back to school within the shortest possible time.

 Against this backdrop, CHRISTIAN LAWYERS’ CENTRE FOR LEGAL ASSISTANCE AND POLICY REFORMS have decided to put together a PROPOSED EBOLA BACK TO SCHOOL ACTION PLAN (PEBSAP) to compliment the efforts of the government and the Ministry of Education in Sierra Leone in realizing this sacred objective.

PROPOSED EBOLA BACK TO SCHOOL ACTION PLAN (PEBSAP)

BACKGROUND

In December 2013, Ebola hit the shores of West Africa starting with Guinea, Liberia and eventually finding its way into the Republic of Sierra Leone in May 2014. Since 1976, there have been reported cases of Ebola in Africa but this is the first Ebola outbreak to have reached epidemic proportions.

Past outbreaks were brought under control within a couple of weeks. Extreme poverty, dysfunctional healthcare systems, mistrust of government officials and incessant delay in responding to the outbreak with due diligence have all contributed to the failure of controlling the epidemic.

Other factors such as international indifference, illiteracy, entrenched customs and traditions like handshaking, washing of dead corpses and observing communal rites of passage have also contributed to the spread of the virus. Even the World Health Organization has also been criticized for its delay in taking swift action to address the epidemic.

As I put this Action Plan together and looking at the appalling Ebola statistics as expressed in the Ministry of Health’s update of 6^th January 2015, the grim realities of 6th January 1999 in the history of Sierra Leone lingers on in my mind’s eye.

Just like how the rebels descended in the City of Freetown and ravaged it beyond repairs, so also has Ebola continued to wreak havoc on the lives of the innocent Sierra Leonean population in every parts of the country.

The striking difference however between the rebels and Ebola, lies in the fact that, the latter monster had decided to envelope itself this time in a virus instead of the barrel of the gun. As at January 6^th 2015, the Ministry of Health Ebola Updates puts the Ebola Cumulative confirmed cases in Sierra Leone at 7,641 and the total cumulative confirmed deaths at 2,607.

While discrepancies on the accuracy of these figures looms large, it is still a shocker that so many lives have been lost to the virus within just a period of eight months since the outbreak of the disease.

But in recent times however, a great deal of successes has been scored against the disease. International efforts have scaled up and the number of treatment centres has also increased. But notwithstanding, the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone has provoked the enforcement of harsher measures from the government in a bid to curb down the virulent disease.

Among many others, a state of public health emergency has been declared, a three days national lock down has been enforced, trading and public gatherings have been censored, a new National Ebola Committee has been reconstructed, a Minister of health has been recalled and a 7 days national fasting and prayers have been imposed.

Worse of all however, Universities, schools and other institutions of learning have been shut down for over 8 months now.

This academic embargo, though a prudent decision at the time, surely has a costly price to it especially for a society whose literate population still dazzles within the 30% bracket range. Keeping students away from school will surely have devastating consequences for the future of the Sierra Leonean society.

It will lead to the increase in social vices, drop outs, teenage pregnancy, and even violence and criminal activities within society. Actual surveys and perhaps, time, will help to ascertain the extent of damage and impacts.

In his 2015 New Year’s Day speech to the nation however, the president of Sierra Leone did mention about his plans to get students back to school within the shortest possible time. This pronouncement by His Excellency clearly connotes a policy statement that must translate into an action plan and a comprehensive policy document if success is to be achieved in this direction.

It is against this backdrop that CHRISTIAN LAWYERS’ CENTRE FOR LEGAL ASSISTANCE AND POLICY REFORMS have decided to put together an PROPOSED EBOLA BACK TO SCHOOL ACTION PLAN (PEBSAP) to compliment efforts of the government and its respective Ministries, Department and Agencies in coming out with a comprehensive policy document that will actualize the pronouncement of His Excellency and make for the speedy reopening of schools in a safe and healthy environment.

AIM & OBJECTIVES

The major objective of this PROPOSED EBOLA BACK TO SCHOOL ACTION PLAN is to compliment the effort of the government and its respective Ministries, Department and Agencies in coming up with a comprehensive and realistic action plan that will help actualize the pronouncement of His Excellency and make for the speedy reopening of schools in a safe and healthy academic environment.

JUSTIFICATION

Strong reasons exist why schools must reopen amidst the Ebola outbreak.

1. The pronouncement of the president during his New Year’s message to the nation on reopening of schools is a policy statement that must translate into an action plan.
2. After the end of the 7 days national prayers and fasting declared by the President against the Ebola virus, faith must be put into action. Steps of faith must be taken to move things forward.
3. There are more treatment and holding centres present in the country today than before.
4. There is greater awareness now on the disease in every part of Sierra Leone.
5. More trained medical staff and personnel are now available in the country to help out.
6. With adequate precautionary and preventive measures in place, risks can be mitigated.
7. Students have already missed out about 9 months of academic learning. Not good for growth stability and academic development.
8. There will be an increased in social vices in the society if schools continue to remain close.
9. Continuous staying at home may increase likelihood for more dropouts, teenage pregnancy, violence and crime to occur in the society.
10. The country needs to move forward amidst the Ebola outbreak.

STRATEGY

This strategy is divided into three phases. Phase 1 will focus on the reopening of University and tertiary institutions. Phase 2 will focus on the re-opening of Secondary schools while Phase 3 will focus on primary and Nursery schools.

This division into phases is to determine actual or potential risks in the reopening of schools and be able to put the government in a better position to mitigate any transfer of risks as best as possible. A progressive realization will also show what area needs to be strengthened and the modalities that are needed to be put in place to deal with imminent challenges that will be observed.

TARGET GROUPS

The target groups are university students, students in colleges, technical and vocational institutions, pupils in secondary, primary and Nursery schools both in the government and private institutions of learning.

PROPOSED EBOLA BACK TO SCHOOL ACTION PLAN IN DETAIL

PHASE 1- RE-OPENING OF UNIVERSITIES AND TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS

Proposed date of re-opening

February 2015 may be a good period to re-open tertiary institutions in the country. After its reopening, the situation should be closely observed and under- studied right through the end of March 2015 before the second phase may commence.

Time and duration of classes

Classes should not be held for longer hours. From 9 am to 3pm could be a good starting period.

Dress code    

Students should be encouraged to wear dresses that cover their bodies in full during this period. Any dress that exposes a student’s body in material terms must be discouraged.

Seating arrangements

The seating arrangements must be spacious to ensure the minimization of body contacts. Large classes will have to be split up or taken in bigger class rooms or outside environments such as Amphi theatres, stage grounds etc.

Health code of ethics

This should contain a simple directive that all students must follow while on campus or within the academic environment of the tertiary institution. It must be approved and enforced by the school authorities.

Ebola emergency units (EEU)

Every tertiary institution must have an EEU in its environment comprising of a handful of medical personnel who will be ready to provide first aid care to affected cases and liaise with holding centres where things get out of control. They also will be engaged in sensitization, monitoring and enforcement of health code ethics within the tertiary institutions.

Ebola temperature checkers (ETC)

Health personnel with temperature checkers must be stationed in each tertiary institution to do daily routine checks on every student before they enter the University’s academic ground for classes. This screening process must be made compulsory and result of suspected cases treated with urgency.

Emergency ambulance and communication unit

A special ambulance team with emergency vehicles and communication systems must be on the alert to attend to emergencies within academic institutions. They must operate an effective health emergency help line.

Cleaning of toilets, use of detergents, hand sanitizers and chlorine

This must be provided in large quantities and their use must be encouraged on a regular basis. Toilets must always be kept clean and decent at all times.

Use of synthetic gloves

Students should be encourage putting on synthetic gloves at all times while on campus or get their personal gloves to wear. They should also refrain from touching themselves, doing handshakes or body contacts while on campus.

Potential challenges to be encountered in tertiary institutions

Small classrooms with large number of students.

Poor sanitary facilities, indecent toilet facilities.

Scarcity of water supply in academic institutions such as FBC etc.

PHASE 2 – REOPENING OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Proposed date of re-opening

The beginning of APRIL 2015 may be a good period to reopen Secondary Schools as the situation under Phase 1 will have informed challenges and potential risks that could be adequately addressed before affecting this populous and vulnerable group.

Time and duration of classes

Classes should not be held for longer hours. From 8 to 12 noon for Morning Shifts and 12:30 to 4pm for Afternoon shifts will be prudent way to begin.

Dress code     

Secondary school pupils should be encouraged to wear long sleeve dresses under their uniforms particularly during this challenging period so as to cover their bodies in full and safeguard against unintended body contacts. Where possible, civil attires that cover the full body of pupils should be allowed within this period.

Seating arrangements

The seating arrangements must be spacious to minimize body contacts. Large classes should be splitted into two or taken in bigger halls or outside environments such as devotional stages and play grounds.

Health code of ethics

This should contain a simple directive that all pupils in Secondary schools must follow while in the school environment. It must be approved and enforced by the school authorities.

Ebola emergency units (EEU)

Because of the plethora of schools in the country, it may not be practical for every secondary school to have an EEU in its environment. However, Zonal Ebola Treatment Centres may designate a team of health workers and medical personnel to cover certain amount of secondary schools within a particular zonal group.

This designated team will be engaged in sensitization and monitoring, enforcement of health code ethics within their respective schools in the zones and also provide first aid care to affected cases and liaise with Treatment holding centres where things get out of control.

Ebola temperature checkers (ETC)

Health personnel with temperature checkers must be stationed in each of the schools to do daily routine checks on every pupil before they enter the school grounds for classes. This screening process must be made compulsory and the result of suspected cases treated with urgency.

Emergency ambulance and communication unit

A special ambulance team with emergency vehicles and communication systems must be on the alert to attend to emergencies within academic institutions. A separate ambulance team must cover Secondary schools. They must operate an effective health emergency help line that is known to all and sundry.

Cleaning of toilets, use of detergents, hand sanitizers and chlorine

Detergents, hand sanitizers and chlorine must be provided in large quantities and their use must be encouraged on a regular basis. Toilets in secondary schools must be kept clean and decent at all times.

Use of synthetic gloves

Pupils in Secondary Schools should be supplied and encourage putting on synthetic gloves at all times while on the school environment or get personal gloves to wear. They should also refrain from touching themselves, doing handshakes and body contacts while in school.

Potential challenges to be encountered in Secondary Schools

Over-crowding.

Small and less spacious classrooms.

Large number of schools and pupils to deal with.

Poor sanitary facilities, indecent toilet facilities and lack of water supply in many schools.

Vulnerable population in terms of observation of health code ethics.

PHASE 3 – REOPENING OF PRIMARY AND NURSERY SCHOOLS

Proposed date of re-opening

The beginning of JUNE 2015 may be a good period to reopen Primary schools as the situation under Phase 1 &2 will have informed challenges and potential risks and also garner experiences on how to effectively address and mitigate risks of infection to this populous and most vulnerable group of pupils.

Time and duration of classes

Classes should not be held for longer hours. From 8 to 11 for Morning Shifts and 12:00 to 3pm for Afternoon shifts. All classes for kindergartens and Nursery children must end at 12noon.

Dress code     

Primary school pupils and kindergartens should all be encouraged to wear long sleeve dresses and shorts particularly during this challenging period so as to cover their bodies in full and safeguard against body contacts.

Seating arrangements

The seating arrangements must be spacious to minimize body contacts. Large classes will have to be split up into two or held in bigger halls or outside environments such as devotional stages and play grounds. Kindergartens and nursery kids should be particularly monitored by teachers and class attendants.

Health code of ethics

This should contain a simple directive that all pupils in primary schools must follow while in the school environment. It must be approved and enforced by the school authorities. A great deal of sensitization may be required at this level. Class attendants and Aunties in Nursery schools as well as parents have a great role to play in ensuring that kids behave and act in a safe and responsible way.

Ebola emergency units (EEU)

Because of the plethora of primary schools in the country, it may not also be practically feasible for every primary school to have an EEU in its environment. However, Zonal Ebola Treatment Centres may be designated to constitute a small team of health workers and medical personnel to cover certain amount of primary schools within a particular zonal group.

Where possible, a team of health workers can cover both secondary and primary schools that might fall under a particular zone. This designated team (EEU) will be engaged in sensitization and monitoring, enforcement of health code ethics within  respective schools in the zones and also provide first aid care to affected cases and liaise with Treatment holding centres where things get out of control.

Ebola temperature checkers (etc)

Health personnel with temperature checkers must be stationed in each of the primary schools to do daily routine checks on every pupil and kids before they enter the school grounds for classes. This screening process must be made compulsory and the result of suspected cases treated with urgency. All private schools must ensure to get this equipment at their expense. Government can however subsidize where applicable.

Emergency ambulance and communication unit

A special ambulance team with emergency vehicles and communication systems must also be on the alert to attend to emergencies within this vulnerable population. A separate ambulance team must cover Primary and Nursery schools. They must operate an effective health emergency help line that is also known to all and sundry.

Cleaning of toilets, use of detergents, hand sanitizers and chlorine

Detergents, hand sanitizers and chlorine must be provided in large quantities and their use must be encouraged on a regular basis in schools. Toilets in secondary schools must be kept clean and decent at all times. Kids can be assisted by class attendants to regular washing of hands.

Use of synthetic gloves

Pupils in primary Schools should also be supplied and encourage to put on synthetic gloves at all times while in the school environment. They should also refrain from touching themselves, doing handshakes and body contacts while in school. Kids that are younger can be assisted with the putting on of their gloves.

Potential challenges to be encountered in primary and nursery schools

Over-crowding.

Small and less spacious classrooms.

Large number of schools and pupils to deal with.

Vulnerable nursery kids to deal with.

Poor sanitary facilities and indecent toilet facilities.

Lack of water supply in many schools.

Vulnerable population in terms of observation of health code ethics.

POSSIBLE OUTCOMES OF THE PROPOSED EBOLA BACK TO SCHOOL ACTION PLAN

Will make it possible for education and learning to take place in the country despite Ebola.

Will prevent drop out and help reduce social vices among student populations.

With effective preventive measures in place, the risk of transfer of the virus can be mitigated.

Lead to change of heart and minds.

Sends a right message to the world about efforts being made to move the country forward.

Enhance confidence building to domestic and international investors.

Opens up opportunities for investments to take place in the country.

Possibility of Ebola outbreak in institutions but with adequate preventative mechanisms in place, things can be brought under control.

Makes for real and objective assessment of risks and potential challenges to be known so as to inform better procedures and practices going forward.

RECOMMENDATIONS

E-learning should be embraced by the University of Sierra Leone in 2015

A comprehensive E-learning environment must be pursued in the University of Sierra Leone. A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) must be created going forward through which e-learning can be facilitated.

A comprehensive and user friendly university website must be established with registered students maintaining a user name and password to access the e-learning portal to get information and materials.

Ebola has awakened us on the need to embrace E- learning. This is the current 21^st century mode of learning in the world today. The University of Sierra Leone must produce students that can compete in a 21^st century world by embracing E-learning.

Internet connectivity and Wi-Fi services together with a well-structured computerized café and library systems must be maintained in all academic institutions going forward.

Regular water supply must be made available to institutions of learning

The Sierra Leone Fire force together with Guma valley and SALWACO must ensure the regular supply of water to institutions of learning and attend to pipe connections problems so to facilitate sanitation and good health hygiene practices during this period.

Phases in the Action Plan must be progressively realized and carefully rolled out

The Proposed Ebola Back to School Action Plan must be rolled over in phases. This division into phases is to determine actual or potential risks in the reopening of schools and be able to put the government in a better position to mitigate the transfer of risks as best as possible.

A progressive realization will also show what area needs to be strengthened and the modalities that are needed to be put in place to deal with imminent challenges that will be observed. This will ultimately and successfully make possible the smooth roll-over of a comprehensive risk – free back to school action plan to the other cadre of institutions in the subsequent phases.

Monitoring, evaluation and reporting committee

A Special Committee that will monitor, evaluate and give report on the implementation of the ACTION PLAN must be instituted. It should comprise of members of NGO’s and civil societies as well as international agencies, health workers, the health Ministry, the National Ebola Response Committee and a state house rep.

At the end of the two months period of each phase, they should give report to the President, Parliament and the Ministry of health respectively so that issues of concern will be addressed and a successful roll out of the next phase made possible.

Establishment of Lectures, Teachers and Parents Committees

These committees must be established and made functional to help provide daily assistance in educating their children on the health codes, ethics and basic hygiene.

CONCLUSION

No doubt, this Proposed Ebola Back to School Action Plan does not represent a magical wand. Furthermore, it does not also portend as a perfect buffer to Ebola within academic institutions of learning.

What it does guarantee however, is a first preventive step and a due diligence mechanism which is absolutely crucial to scoring successes and limiting the occurrence of Ebola in academic institutions.

For gains to be successfully and sustainably realized, it will further require a great deal of collective efforts, international support and good will, strong leadership, enormous resources and the ultimate intervention of the Divine.

All rights reserved. This is just a proposed Plan of Action and is subject to the decision of the government of Sierra Leone.

*Rashid Dumbuya is an International Human Rights Advocate and Public Defender from Sierra Leone and is currently an LLM candidate in the University of Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Rashid  is the CEO and founder of: Christian Lawyers Centre for Legal Assistance and Policy Reforms is an international Christian legal company, association and advocacy group that seeks to provide legal assistance and support, promote justice and human rights compliance and enhance policy reforms in Sierra Leone, Africa and the world at large.

By:- Jesmed F. Suma

Dear Fellow Sierra Leoneans,

Our beloved country Sierra Leone, struck by long periods of political mis-rule, a decade long war and an 18 month long Ebola Virus Disease epidemic; is faced with many challenges requiring a radical shift from our old patterns of development, to one that allows for a serious redefinition and restructuring of our system of governance particularly our educational system.

Jesmed F. Suma

Such a step will require bold action that gives priority to major investments in education at varied levels.

As three countries in West Africa fight to kick Ebola out of their respective countries Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea with Liberia topping the death list of this deadly virus, one of Liberia’s fast responders to tackle this virus has taken his fight to neighboring Sierra Leone.

In a meeting with President Ellen Johnson Sieleaf prior to te 20-man ambulance  team departure to Sierra Leone, Representative  Saah Joseph expressed his team willingness to join the health team of Sierra Leone in combating the virus that has killed hundreds in that Country.

Representative Joseph, who ran an emergency ambulance service during the Ebola crisis, informed President Sirleaf that his organization had concluded all arrangements for the deployment of a 20-member response team with three ambulances to aid the fight against Ebola in Sierra Leone in support of the Liberian Government’s pledge to assist the people of Sierra Leone in the current fight against the further spread of the deadly Ebola virus disease.

With huge success in Liberia’s battle against Ebola, President Sirleaf weeks ago announced plans to assist the Sierra Leonean Government in its effort to eradicate the Ebola virus.

For her part, President Johnson Sirleaf  thanked the Montserrado County District # 13 Representative Saah Joseph for his commitment to help eradicate the deadly Ebola virus disease not just from Liberia, but the entire sub-region and expressed government’s admiration and appreciation for the work of the First Responders Emergency Medical Services and Representative Joseph in particular.

She described the news of Liberia’s deployment in Sierra Leone as wonderful and good news that must be celebrated and pointed out that Representative Joseph was one of the first responders on the Ebola frontline. “You were one of the first on the Ebola frontline and faced the virus when a lot of people did not know the disease well and were afraid and confused.

“You and your team braved the storm when doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers as well as our citizens were dying in their numbers; you are a true servant and hero of our country,” President Sirleaf informed Representative Joseph.

She promised government’s support to the team and indicated that Liberia has already deployed a mobile testing lab to Sierra Leone and will send additional healthcare workers from the African Union team currently in Liberia.

President Sirleaf recognized Liberia’s success in the Ebola fight but warned that the country should not be complacent. “We must all continue to follow the preventative measures and other rules that have impacted our success against the deadly Ebola virus disease,” she urged.
The Montserrado County Representative informed President Sirleaf that the team will basically facilitate the timely transport of sick persons to testing and treatment facilities in Sierra Leone and will not be involved with work activities in Ebola Treatment Units.

He pointed out that though his effort was a private and personal initiative, the team will be representing the Liberia. “This is why we thought it very important to meet with you and seek your blessings before departure for Sierra Leone. The First Responders Emergency Medical Services Incorporated is very happy and proud to be able to help our brothers and sisters on the other side on behalf of our country and people,” Representative Joseph informer President Sirleaf.

He used the occasion to appreciate members of his team for their sacrifice and commitment to serving humanity even with risk to their personal safety and wellbeing. “You have served Liberia well and now prepared to do the same for your brothers and sisters in Sierra Leone in a show of great solidarity and I remain very proud of you all,” he reiterated.

gnnliberia

Four months sitting idle and doing nothing while Ebola hit neighboring countries has caused irreparable damage to the Sierra Leone economy and Sierra Leoneans better be ware who to rule them come 2018.

Kadiatu Sesay sprinkles the chili peppers and tomatoes on her vegetable stand in Krootown market with cool water. It helps keep them fresh looking and appetizing while she waits for customers. These days, there are far fewer of them. “Since ‪Ebola‬ started, there’s no sales,” Sesay says in Creole.

Market Trader in Sierra Leone

In an effort to stem the spread of virus, the government has put a nightly curfew in place in much of Sierra Leone, including its capital,‪‎Freetown‬. There’s also a ban on most public gatherings. “It affects me, my house and my children.” Sesay tells us, as she goes about straightening a vegetable stand that has barely been disturbed.

In a nearby stall, Ramatu Bangura holds up the dried Kini fish to demonstrate soaring food costs. “Now, this costs 15,000 (Sierra Leone Leones),” she says. “In past times, if you have 10,000, we would give it to you.” The price of fish has shot up from $2.75 CAD to $4.15 CAD, a price out of reach for most of Bangura’s customers. “Since this morning, only four fish, I sell,” she says with an exasperated shrug.

Ebola virus stopped country’s growing prosperity The market is a microcosm of the Sierra Leonian economy since the virus came from Guinea last spring and has been spreading since, unabated in some areas.

Prior to that, Sierra Leone’s economy was among the fastest growing in the world. A dozen years after a decade long, economically devastating civil war, Sierra Leone was finally beginning to form the building blocks of economic prosperity. The Ebola virus has stopped all that in its tracks.

The forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2014, fuelled by natural resources and foreign investment, was 11.3 per cent, according to government spokesperson Abdulai Bayraytay. “Now, the GDP growth forecast for Sierra Leone is down to 4 per cent.”

Like the other West African countries hit by the virus, the government is operating, but is single-minded in its purpose. “The majority of resources, about 80 per cent now are going to be diverted towards the fight against Ebola.” Bayraytay says.

Most government programs have been shut down.

Sierra Leone is working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to establish a post-Ebola recovery plan. Bayraytay says recovery efforts must be in place even before public health efforts eradicate the virus.
“At the end of the day, improving the lives of the people is also important. So if we can do it concurrently whilst fighting Ebola, then why not?”

Tourism industry wiped out

At the Freetown offices of travel agency Visit Sierra Leone (VSL), managing director Abimbola Carrol pulls up the flight schedule on his computer.
“This is an example of a flight schedule which looks like a skeleton of what it usually should be,” he says, running a finger over the screen to highlight all the empty spaces. “It’s usually full with flights, but we’re down to only two flights on Tuesdays. Fridays, there’s no flights.”

Airlines, including Air France and British Airways, have cancelled all flights. They probably wouldn’t be doing much business anyway. Sierra Leone’s fledgling tourism industry has been effectively wiped out. “There’s absolutely zero,” Carroll says. “We had bookings and we were looking forward to receiving our tourists but yeah, unfortunately for us, it’s 100 per cent cancellations.”

VSL is staying afloat on corporate business now, but there have been points where staff have had to take a 50 per cent wage cut to make company ends meet.
Taxi driver Frank Coker knows exactly how that feels.

With the economic fallout from Ebola affecting every walk of life in Freetown, many of his customers no longer have the luxury of taking a taxi. Coker’s income has plummeted from the equivalent of $20 CAD per day to $10. He is supporting two brothers and a sister on that and it’s barely enough to keep food on the table.

“I just manage living on what I earn for a day, just to survive.” Still, Coker counts himself lucky to be employed; so many people he knows have lost their jobs altogether. “I hope and pray that it stops now,” he says. With that, Coker falls silent and continues to manoeuvre bumpy Freetown roads that, in this instant, seem a fitting metaphor for Sierra Leone’s‪ economy‬.

By: Martin Davies

After a campaign of terror in the 1990s, in which civilians had their limbs cut off by rebels, Sierra Leone has thousands of disabled people. They are generally marginalised by the rest of society but now, the police force has recruited its first ever disabled officers, as Martin Davies reports from the capital, Freetown.

Sierra Leone Amputee Police Officers

Sierra Leone Amputee Police Officers

Four men have been taken into the force – a decision welcomed by rights activists who have longed campaigned for an end to the discrimination that disabled people face in Sierra Leone.

About two-thirds of disabled people are unemployed, forcing many of them to turn to begging on the streets, the activist says.

So, it is not surprising to find one of the recruits, PC Shecka Conteh, beaming as he peaks out from his over-sized brand new officers hat alongside fellow recruit PC Paul Diabate.

Both men contracted polio when they were children. It left them with weakened legs causing them to limp.

PC Conteh remembers the day he read a list of candidates recruited into the force.

“I saw my name and address and I was a very happy man. The lecturers [at a police college where he trained] and my colleagues have welcomed me with open arms,” he says.

For now, the new officers will not be seen on the beat. They work at the Police Communications Centre in the capital, Freetown, where they are deployed on the force’s new telephone system, taking calls from the public, as well as undertaking other desk jobs.

Cyber crime

The recruits were helped in attaining their jobs by organisations working with disabled people.

One of these groups is the Leonard Cheshire Foundation (LCF).

In a survey carried out mainly in urban areas in 2009, LCF found that 70% of disabled people had no access to income and a similar number were without jobs.

LCF regional programme manager Osman Bah said he was delighted the organisation’s prodigies were now in the police force.

“These disabled officers are the first in the history of Sierra Leone and perhaps the first in West Africa,” he said.

The officers joined the police after qualifying with professional IT and computing skills.

The scheme was created by Abs Dumbuya, who contracted polio as a young man in Sierra Leone, left to study in the UK and then returned to create opportunities for disabled young people, through his organisation, the Dorothy Springer Trust.

“As IT specialists they [the recruits] are serving a purpose in the force,” he says.

“We are telling Sierra Leonean society that it doesn’t matter if you are disabled or not. If you have got the qualifications and the ability and the competency, then disability shouldn’t matter.”

It was an argument that Mr Dumbuya used on Sierra Leone’s police chief, Inspector-General Francis Aliou Munu.

Attracting attention

The force has more than 11,000 policemen and its senior officers acknowledge that not all of them need to be on the streets, especially when a good deal of modern crime concerns computer-based fraud and security.

Inspector-General Munu says disabled policemen will help the force win public trust.

“When you see a disabled officer you do not have a perception of any immediate threat. The police should be looked at as not only using force but using persuasive and other non-confrontational methods,” he said.

The recruitment of disabled officers also owes something to the fact that a Disability Act was passed in Sierra Leone last year.

Police acknowledge that the law helps create a climate in which disability rights are considered more favourably.

“Since the passage of the Disability Act, we wanted to put into practice what the Act seeks to achieve on behalf of disabled people,” Inspector-General Munu says.
Since so many disabled people are on the streets – begging and living in squalor, we wanted to make a U-turn for them and give them a purpose.”

The Act also calls for the creation of a national commission on disability.

It is still to come into effect and is designed to collect information about discrimination and abuse faced by disabled people, and to hold the perpetrators to account.

When it was put to him that recruiting disabled officers could be construed as a public relations exercise, Inspector-General Manu said that his was a modernising force and that, along with every member of staff, the disabled officers’ performance would be managed to ensure they were assisting the force in achieving its aims.

The disabled officers might not be on the beat but when out and about they are attracting attention and challenging perceptions.

PC Conteh says he was stopped on the street by the minister of defence who wanted to engage him in conversation.

PC Diabate also finds that his presence as a disabled man in a uniform, with a walking stick, is provoking interest.

“When I am in my uniform on the streets, people – disabled and able-bodied people – ask me questions and I explain how, as a disabled person, I have managed.”

On the 31st December 2014 the Governor of the Central Bank Momodu L. Kargbo issued a press release quoting sec 36 of the Bank of Sierra Leone Act of 2011 which provides that “the Bank shall be responsible for the regulation, licensing, registration and supervision, including the imposition of remedial measures and administrative sanctions, of commercial banks and other financial institutions in accordance with this Act or any other enactment.”

This however was like quoting the scriptures to pass judgment on the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank (which the government owns 100%) months after it posted a Le50.3 billion loss, and the 51% government owned Rokel Commercial bank which posted a record loss of 101.1 billion Leones loss.

In effect the Governor was showcasing his powers and authority to sack the Board and put the banks under administration if he so felt because the banks had performed disastrously bad.
The release showed the Governor who had barely served six months in his new position, flexing his muscles by issuing three strong instructions.

Firstly the release “dissolved with immediate effect” the Board of Directors, which had also barely been in office for three months.

Next, the release instructed that “an Oversight Committee” for the Rokel Commercial Bank “shall assume the functions of the Board of Directors” made up of the Ministry of Finance, the National Commission for Privatisation and an appointee of the Minority Shareholders (who own 49%).

Lastly the release also instructed that a three person caretaker team shall be appointed “to lead the Management of the Rokel Commercial Bank for an initial period of one year; and revert and report to the said Oversight Committee.”

The minority shareholders have been up in arms about the apparent loss of their investments, due to the drastic loss of value of their shares.
This anger had been boiling up at the last shareholders meeting where they fumed at being called to be introduced to the new Directors, when the rules of corporate governance dictated the reverse.

Unconfirmed reports say that because of the massive losses posted by the two banks funds have been secured from the government insurer of around 30 billion Leones for Rokel Bank and around 20 billion Leones for the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank to recapitalise both institutions.

A management team is being sourced from outside the country (possibly India) while shareholders are contemplating two nominations as their own representatives in both the Board and management team.

The sea is really stormy for the two biggest banks and also two of only three truly Sierra Leonean owned banks.

awoko

What are the side-effects of the current ANTI-MALARIA DRUG (Artesunate Amodiaquine Winthrop® 100mg/270mg tablets)  alleged to be responsible for several deaths in Sierra Leone?

Artesunate Amodiaquine Winthrop® 100mg/270mg tablets

I keep reading about the devastating-effects of this “Malaria-drug” on my Facebook news-feed from some individuals that took it during the first phase of distribution last  month in Freetown.

The second phase of this drug is said to be roll-out today 16th January across the country and deep into the country-side.

Considering the current rumours circulating in the country with  regards to alleged deaths caused by this Malaria drug, My question is this?

a) Is this drug safe to use ?
b) or Are Sierra Leoneans being used as guinea-pigs once again?
c) Have they done enough sensitization to the general populace with regards to the safety or side effects of this drug?
d) Is it compulsory to take this drug.?
e) Who are in charge of distributing this drugs anyway?
f) What are the clinical results/effects from the initial phase-one distribution of the said drug few weeks ago.(i.e responses, feed-backs, side effects, deaths, if any)?

We all know that majority of drug companies and medical researchers are putting  patients’ lives in danger by failing to publish unfavourable results of their drugs.

The lack of transparency means many procedures are not registered before they are done, while results are held as private documents that cannot be scrutinised by patients or independent experts.

Many of the procedures taking place today are unregistered and unpublished, meaning the information that they generate remains invisible to both the scientific community and the public.

You’ve got to use all the resources available to you, including your own common sense and reason, to determine what medical treatment or approach will be best for you in any given situation.

Remain skeptical but open – you need to realize that.YOU are responsible for your and your family’s health, not me, and certainly not drug companies trying to sell their wares and convince you to take dangerous “symptom-suppressors” disguised as science-based solutions. Nothing is free. Drug manufacturers are businesses and their primary objective is to make money. As simple as that. Don’t be naive to think otherwise. It is always wise to seek to better understand what is at stake or what you are involving yourself into.

Sierra Leoneans need to know what is involve. what side effects may be expected — and, as much as possible, what unknowns or uncertainties they may be facing.
Most side effects are temporary and will gradually go away once treatment is stopped.

Some side effects can be permanent and serious, even life-threatening.  Also, certain side effects may not occur until later, after the treatment itself is over. These “late” effects may include damage to a major organ like the heart, lungs or kidneys etc.

Now here is a list of some of the SIDE-EFFECTS of this MALARIA DRUG currently being promoted as the “Magic-Pill” for Malaria.

You may want to reconsider whether this pill is for you if you are suffering from SOME of these or if you belong in one of these categories:-

Are you a pregnant woman?
Are you breast-feeding?
Are you a sickle cell patient or currently on medication??
Do you have HIV or currently on medication?,
Do you drive?
Does your work involve driving any form of vehicle,Okada or cycle etc.? ,
Do you operate any form of machinery at home or at work place for long hours?
Do you only have access to fatty-foods?,
Do you have heart problem issues or currently on medication??
Do you have liver problem issues or currently on medication??
Do you have kidney problem issues or currently on medication??
Do you have TB or currently on medication?
Do you have Hepatitis or currently on medication?
The list goes on and on and on.

Take a look at SOME of the side effects:-

1) ARTESUNATE AMODIAQUINE WINTHROP should not be taken with a high-fat meal.

2) Should vomiting occur within half an hour after dosing, a repeated dose of ARTESUNATEAMODIAQUINE WINTHROP is to be taken.

3) No data are available on dosing in hepatically or renally impaired patients.

4) Contraindications (Hypersensitivity to the active substances or to any of the excipients,History of liver injury during treatment with amodiaquine,Previous
haematological event during treatment with amodiaquine,Retinopathy (in case of frequent treatment).

5)ARTESUNATE AMODIAQUINE WINTHROP must not be used for malaria prophylaxis, since it may result in agranulocytosis and severe hepatotoxicity.

6) Special warnings and precautions for use:ARTESUNATE AMODIAQUINE WINTHROP should not be used in regions where amodiaquine resistance is widespread.

7) Amodiaquine is effective against some chloroquine-resistant strains of P.falciparum.

8) ARTESUNATE AMODIAQUINE WINTHROP has not been evaluated for the treatment ofcomplicated malaria and is therefore not recommended.

9) ARTESUNATE AMODIAQUINE WINTHROP has not been evaluated in the treatment of malaria due to Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium malariae or Plasmodium ovale and is
therefore not recommended.

10) ARTESUNATE AMODIAQUINE WINTHROP has not been evaluated for malaria prophylaxis. The use of amodiaquine for prophylaxis results in an unacceptably high risk of agranulocytosis and liver toxicity.

11) ARTESUNATE AMODIAQUINE WINTHROP has not been studied specifically in patients  with thalassaemia, sickle cell anaemia or G6PD deficiency.

12) Symptoms suggestive of the following diseases should be carefully monitored: Hepatitis, pre-icteric phase and especially when jaundice has developed.In such
cases, continuation of treatment with amodiaquine increases the risk of death.

13) Caution is advised when combining ARTESUNATE AMODIAQUINE WINTHROP tablets with drugs inhibiting, inducing.

14) Interactions with drugs used for treatment of HIV and/or tuberculosis may occur, though little clinical data is available. Prescribers should be vigilant
for adverse events potentially related to such interactions, including liver  toxicity and neutropenia.

15) Pregnancy:-
Malaria is known to be particularly hazardous during pregnancy. The benefits and risks of therapy with ARTESUNATE AMODIAQUINE WINTHROP to mother and foetus must be
assessed by the prescriber. The safety of amodiaquine in pregnant women has not been conclusively established.

16) Effects on the ability to drive and use machines:- Patients receiving ARTESUNATE AMODIAQUINE WINTHROP should be warned that somnolence, dizziness or
asthenia may occur, in which case they should not drive or use machines.

17) The following adverse reactions have been reported with amodiaquine, especially at higher doses and/or during prolonged treatment:
a) Blood and lymphatic system disorders: cases of leucopenia and neutropenia (agranulocytosis).
b) Nervous system disorders: rare neuromyopathy.
c) Eye disorders, varying in type and severity: transient accommodation disorders, cornealopacifications regressive once treatment is stopped, very rarely, irreversible retinopathy justifying specialist ophthalmic attention.
d) Hepato-biliary disorders: severe and sometimes fatal hepatitis.
e) Skin and subcutaneous disorders: slate-grey pigmentation, notably affecting the fingers and mucous membranes. etc etc.

With such an alarming rate of side-effects, you may want to dig deeper or reconsider whether this is really for you. If it’s for you, then good-luck. At the end of the day it is only you that’s going to take that decision, not me, not the drug company or anybody else.
You be the judge.

You can download the SIDE-EFFECT List of this drug by CLICKING HERE