The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in New York and eighty-one other human rights and media groups have issued a letter to African heads of state demanding the release of all journalists detained across African prisons. The letter, addressed to Abdelmadjid Tebboune of Algeria, Benin’s Patrice Talon, Burundi ‘s Pierre Nkurunziza, Cameroon’s Paul Biya, Chad’s […]
CPJ demands release of jailed African journalists Read More »
By Lionel Zevounou, Amy Niang and Ndongo Samba Sylla The threats that are hanging over the African continent with regards to the spread of COVID-19 demand our individual and collective attention. The situation is critical. Yet this is not about mitigating another ‘African’ humanitarian crisis but to diffuse the potentially damaging effects of a
The Time to Act is Now: Letter to African Leaders Concerning the COVID-19 Crisis Read More »
By Akinwumi A. Adesina These are very difficult days, as the world faces one of its worst challenges ever: the novel coronavirus pandemic. And it seems almost no nation is spared. As infection rates rise, so does panic across financial markets, as economies drastically slow down and supply chains are severely disrupted. Extraordinary times call
Coronavirus Pandemic is no time for fiscal distancing Read More »
By Ibrahim Abdullah Eldred Durosimi Jones was a literary giant; a legend in his own life time; and a leading light amongst Sierra Leone’s first generation of world class scholars—the Durham Brahmins. But Jones arguably stands alone, not unlike a colossus, amongst those who took part in the battle to ‘decolonize’ and ‘indigenize’ scholarship
The Father of African Literature in English Passes On Read More »
By Mohamed Gibril Sesay and Patrick Hindolo H Walker This is an argument for distancing the young from the elderly as a means of preventing high mortalities and morbidities from the COVID 19 disease caused by the new corona virus, or as it is officially known the SARS-CoV-2. It is also looks at assertions
Saving the Elderly From the Young: Corona and Social Distancing in Sierra Leone Read More »
By Osman Benk Sankoh Imagine this: You’ve just tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Doctors say the only medication to cure you of the infection that was first detected in Wuhan, China, in late December last year is chloroquine. You are required to swallow the bitter pill. Would you think twice before asking for
Coronavirus, Beware of your Chloroquine Read More »
By Mohamed Gibril Sesay This is an argument for African countries, including Sierra Leone, given scare resources, to focus on the particularly vulnerable in efforts to do physical distancing and isolation as a means of flattening the coronavirus disease infection curve. The particularly vulnerable, given current epidemiological data, are people above 60 and those –
By Lisa R. White Thank God the President of the Republic of Liberia, George Manneh Weah, has constituted a Special Presidential Advisory Committee for the Prevention of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Liberia. Clearly, he understands that the coronavirus outbreak requires all national and international hands on deck to handle eradicating the virus. With donor support, I
Success is Sure: We can beat the Coronavirus Read More »
By Bill McKibben The strangest thing about the coronavirus is that we can’t help one another through it. We can’t lay on hands, we can only wash them: in fact, the way we’ve been explicitly told to help is to stay away from one another. That makes epidemiological sense, but it also makes us a
With the Coronavirus, Hell Is No Other People Read More »
By Osman Benk Sankoh Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are three neighbouring countries in the sub-region with a lot of commonalties—some good, and others not worth remembering. The rippling effects of the civil wars in the 90s in Sierra Leone and Liberia did not stop at the doorsteps of these countries. Guinea also bore the
As the threat of Coronavirus looms over Sierra Leone Read More »
