Africa

Sierra Leone: President illegally suspends audit officials amidst controversy over presidential travel expenses and other financial irregularities

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman  Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio has indefinitely suspended two of the most senior members of the country’s national auditing agency. Auditor general, Madam Lara Taylor-Pearce and her deputy, Tamba Momoh, were indefinitely suspended from office on Thursday morning. No official reasons were given by […]

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Sierra Leone: National Electoral Commission deploys personnel believed to have SLPP connections to opposition strongholds ahead of crucial 2023 elections

  By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman Africanist Press has authenticated evidence from Sierra Leone’s National Electoral Commission’s (NEC), including documentation of recent promotions and postings of electoral staff. These documents show how the country’s elections management institution promoted more than 170 electoral personnel believed to be members and active supporters

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Sierra Leone: Recent salary increases for Electoral Commission staff cast doubt over the possibility of a free and fair election in 2023

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman  Recent salary increases for electoral staff in Sierra Leone cast new doubt over the independence and credibility of the country’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) and its ability to organize free and fair elections in a country whose political environment is now increasingly marred by electoral

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Sierra Leone: Foreign Affairs officials and diplomats misspent funds from China meant for its Mission in New York

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman Details of the financial transactions from the banking records of the foreign affairs ministry for fiscal year 2018, during the first months of the Bio Administration, show that foreign affairs officials in Freetown withdrew all of the funds transferred by the Chinese government into the

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Sierra Leone: Account Details Expose Foreign Affairs Efforts to Cover Up Diplomatic Corruption

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman The 2018 and 2019 financial records and bank statements of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs show precisely how more than Le40.1 billion (over US$4 million) of funds earmarked  for the supposed renovation of the Sierra Leone Mission headquarters in New York were withdrawn and

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Sierra Leone risks legal default on incomplete renovation of diplomatic mission

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has not responded to a lawsuit brought against the country’s diplomatic mission in New York. The United States District Court in New York dispatched four summons between 19 May 2021 and 17 June 2021 to the

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Hidden COVID Funds: Sierra Leone officials illegally hold over Le18.1 billion of revenues in a private bank

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman Sierra Leone’s Finance Ministry and officials in charge of the country’s COVID-19 response program have been holding billions of Leones (millions of US dollars) in public revenues received from COVID response services in a private bank account in direct violation of the country’s public finance

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Journalists in Uganda face accreditation hurdles ahead of election

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Ugandan authorities to ensure that members of the press can freely cover the country’s national elections scheduled on January 14, 2021. On December 10, 2020 the Media Council of Uganda, a statutory body, said that local and foreign journalists would be barred from covering electoral events

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Chadian Police raid Radio FM Liberté

Chadian authorities should refrain from conducting police raids on news outlets and should thoroughly investigate allegations that journalist Blaise Noubarassem was assaulted by police and intimidated by a government official, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On November 27, in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, police raided the office of privately owned broadcaster Radio FM Liberté

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