Africa

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Anne B. Wallis, and Matthew Anderson Details on bank transfers and withdrawal records from the President’s Office in Freetown show that over US$500, 000 was withdrawn from the Central Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL) to allegedly fund personal expenses of the country’s president, Julius Maada Bio, who is currently visiting […]

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman  Sierra Leone’s national voter registration exercise for 2023 commenced on 3 September 2022, and was fraught with technical and bureaucratic challenges. Hundreds of videos and other evidence collected by Africanist Press show that thousands of potential voters who turned up at voter registration centers, mostly

By Nik Harris, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman Transactions in bank statements from the Office of the First Lady provide comprehensive details on how more than Le1.3 billion was paid directly to a private company in Freetown for “fuel purchase.” The transactions violated Sierra Leone’s public finance laws and procurement regulations. The 17 payments were

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman Members of Parliament (MPs) in Sierra Leone are proposing legislation that could affect thousands of votes ahead of next year’s general elections. The proposed new public elections law would replace the 2012 Public Election Act, a ten-year old law governing the conduct of public elections

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman    Payroll documents from Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Defense reveal how officials in the Ministry of Finance developed higher monthly wages for senior commanders of the Sierra Leone military while other officers and the soldiers under their command continue to earn some of the lowest