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26 May 2025

The Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) is caught in the middle of Mining Agreements, which over the years have not only benefited foreigners but have made us poorer than before. The issue of Foreign Mining Companies’ dominance in Sierra Leone has become more of a curse to us as a nation than a blessing. Sierra Leoneans no longer enjoy the rights to their God-given resources which is being exploited by foreigners.

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09 April 2024

Prior to the operations of the fifty new buses in early February this year, which are a component of the Sierra Leone Integrated and Resilient Urban Mobility Project (IRUMP) funded by World Bank Grant, the Ministry of Transport and Aviation had issued a public notice as an ORDER informing the general public that effective midnight Monday 29th January 2024, the Public Transport Corridor would be a NO PARKING or NO ACCESS for push carts (omorlankay), okadas, kekehs, heavy goods vehicles and public transport vehicles (except for SLPTA licensed operators) during the hours of 6:00a.m. to 10:00p.m. The Transport Ministry’s public notice further stated that loading and off-loading would only be permissible during the hours of 10:00p.m. to 5:00a.m, noting that defaulters will be towed at their own cost.
According to the Transport Ministry’s public notice, there are two Public Transport Corridors which are the West Corridor and the East Corridor but our paramount concern here which we believe is of great public interest is the East Corridor which runs from Calaba Town through Bai Bureh Road, Kissy Road, Sani Abacha Street, Wilberforce Street, Rawdon Street and Siaka Stevens Street.
Notwithstanding the ORDER of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, we have observed with trepidation that the Ministry can talk the talk but can’t walk the walk as evident at Sani Abacha Street where it is business as usual. The so-called ORDER has crumbled at Sani Abacha Street because of the Transport Ministry’s inaction in dealing with defaulters. It is no longer a secret that Omorlankays, Okadas, Kekehs, heavy goods vehicles and public transport vehicles ply the busy street from 6:00a.m. beyond midnight with apparent impunity and the Transport Ministry is doing nothing about such exhibition of lawlessness despite its public notice which people thought was something serious.
The movements of the ‘Waka Fine’ buses in the East Corridor, especially at Sanin Abacha Street, has become extremely difficult because of the daily presence of heavy goods vehicles either loading or off-loading, private vehicles of shop owners and customers, as well as commercial vehicles. These are all clear indications that the Ministry of Transport and Aviation has woefully failed to protect the East Corridor from defaulters and this is having an adverse effect on the operations of the ‘Waka Fine’ buses that are meant to move people faster than other commercial vehicles. We believe the purpose of these buses has been compromised by the Transport Ministry, which is as toothless in enforcing its public notice as the public suggests.
We believe it is about time the Ministry of Transport came out of its cocoon and ensure the public notice is fully enforced otherwise the East Corridor wiould not be considered as a better route for the free movement of the ‘Waka Fine’ buses. The Ministry should therefore implement what they stated in its public notice or the general public would lose confidence in the Ministry for its inability to do what it has promised the people and this would have a telling effect on the ‘Waka Fine’ buses plying the East Corridor. Moreover, the abandonment of road work at Sani Abacha Street has not only exacerbated the situation but has also given more laxity to traders to encroach upon the streetto sell their goods thereby obstructing the free flow of the ‘Waka Fine’ buses. Since most of the iron railings have been removed for extension work, the abandoned ditches have become an eyesore and traders have taken advantage of the situation by encroaching upon the street thereby slowing vehicular traffic in addition to stationary vehicles waiting to either be loaded or off-loaded. We believe something desperate should be done by the Minister and his staff to prove to the public that they are more than capable of protecting the East Corridor for the smooth operations of the ‘Waka Fine” buses. The operations of these buses must be sustained and posterity would surely judge Mr. Minister should he fail in his duty to enforce what he has promised Sierra Leoneans.

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09 May 2025

I have written a few opinions on Yenga. But in January 2021, I wrote about why diplomacy should remain one of Sierra Leone’s most viable paths to reclaiming Yenga. While I still hold that view, recent developments compel me to suggest a step further: it is time to seriously consider international arbitration.

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18 October 2023

The Background
Social media and mainstream media have since last week been awash with a seeming conflict between two private entities that are friends of Sierra Leone, over the use of the rail track situated in the Port Loko/Tonkolili axis of the country. Arise IIP, a private investment entity that has been given a contract to develop the Sierra Leone Economic Investment Zone, and other areas, is poised to bring in passenger trains into the country for the first time since the closure of such transport services in the mid-1970s.
However, this component of their planned investment has some snags as the rail track which they intend to use for the passenger trains is subject to clearance by the previous owners of the track, Kingho. Kingho, another private company of Chinese origin, had developed the rail track running from Tonkolili to Pepel in the Port Loko district, and had been using it for transporting their iron ore to the seaport of Pepel for eventual exporting to China.
The Contentions
The contentious rail track was actually built by the Chinese company Kingho that had a contract with the Government of Sierra Leone for the construction of a rail track in specified areas in the north of the country. The terms of the contract was to Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT), which means that the constructed rail track was to be handed over to the government after a certain period of time. Section 6 Part 4 of the contract between Kingho Mining Company and the Government of Sierra Leone gives the former the right to transport their product from Tonkolili to Pepel using the railway. Indeed, Kingho built and operated the rail track but had not handed over to it, when their contract with the Government of Sierra Leone was terminated.
As a country seeking genuine investors as engines of growth and development, government has been seeking investors. Arise IIP entered the fray and rolled out an elaborate plan of investment in the country that could run into billions of Leones. It sought cabinet approval to develop the Sierra Leone Economic Investment Zone and got it. However, with regards the use of the rail track and management of the port of Pepel, there were attendant forerunner contracts that it first needed to meet, before qualifying for its full use. These conditions precedent had to be fulfilled before Arise IIP could be given the right to use the rail track.
It is also important to understand that the contract between the Government of Sierra Leone and Arise IIP was not ratified by Parliament, the body that as per law approves and ratifies all contracts and negotiations that Government of Sierra Leone enters into. At the time of the contract negotiations and cabinet approval of Arise IIP, the country was at the throes of the elections and the life span of the previous Parliament was nearing its end. This means that technically, Arise IIP had just a loose contract with the Government of Sierra Leone.
Government’s Interest
The Government of President Julius Maada Bio has no special interest in any of the two entities but the interest of Sierra Leone. President Bio has said from the onset of his presidency in 2018, that he would seek the best interest of the country and that he would deal with genuine investors with credibility and pedigree. Both Arise IIP and Kingho Mining are friends of Sierra Leone and the President recognises that. The bottleneck around the use of the rail track would be handled in a way that the country’s interest is neither jeopardised nor mortgaged. Kingho Mining has a contract with the Government of Sierra Leone dating back to June 14, 2022 that covers the construction of a rail track for transporting their product from Tonkolili to Pepel. Though this contract was temporarily upended, yet the initial owners and the Government of President Bio are still in discussions. Arise IIP are still partners with the Government of Sierra Leone and have been given the SIZ, which can serve as the spring board for them to launch themselves for bigger projects in future. The use of the rail track which was initially built by Kingho Mining has gone way beyond the company itself. The technicalities and national interests do not make way for sidestepping Kingho Mining in the use of the track.

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09 April 2024

When a certain very corrupt and morally bankrupt former Treasurer from the Rokel Commercial Bank (RCB) goes about bragging about becoming the next Managing Director of a Bank he had looted so much that the Bank almost became bankrupt, it is evident to how some of our compatriots have always taken us for granted with brazen recklessness and audacity. And using such inconceivable nonsense as bait to lure few unsuspecting staff into an unholy alliance against a substantive MD, the results are often filled with frustrations, anger and disappointment. Who is this former Treasurer? Our investigations will soon reveal.
It is however important to note that this big 'alejo', who has an age old obsession for toppling one of the most transformative bank CEOs of our time has, as one of his strategies, the habit of soliciting help from some female staff of the Bank to gather the intelligence he needs to unseat his boss. We have carefully investigated some of these female staff and would soon be exposing their nefarious dealings with a desperate incorrigible, psychotic imbecile.
When he was caught stealing a whole bowser of fuel in the past and had to grovel on the ground, begging an erstwhile MD for clemency, many were unaware that the Bank was grooming an unrepentant rogue and demagogue.
We hold no brief for this former Treasurer at the Rokel Commercial Bank (RCB) but we are certainly not oblivious of our responsibility to prevent and expose any act that may threaten to reverse the gains made over the years in one of Sierra Leone's major financial institutions. And we are certainly not naive to know that this individual has been a major player in the all-too-familiar plot of using a former female employee to blackmail the current MD with fake and repugnant sexual harassment allegations.
It equally staggers our imagination to learn that this individual, who happens to be the real sexual predator at the Bank, has been one of those key figures that are using the dismissed female employee and some paid gender activists and newspapers to cry sexual harassment. What the public may not be aware of is the fact that this former Treasurer, who is Director in one of the Bank's departments, is so obsessed with sleeping with every female staff that he has been nicknamed 'Mr. Yearnie' in apparent reference to his uncontrollable libido. But who really is this masked devil at Rokel Commercial Bank (RCB)?