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Sierra Leone: President leases country’s ferry terminals to Turkey for 25 years without parliamentary approval

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman  Investment agreements and correspondence between the government of Sierra Leone and a Turkish company reveal how the Sierra Leonean President, Julius Maada Bio, singlehandedly leased the country’s ferry terminals to a Turkish company for a 25-year period without full disclosure nor parliamentary approval, as required […]

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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: Finance officials expand payroll to reward political appointees widening gross pay disparities in the civil service

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman New payroll documents and official correspondences of the government of Sierra Leone obtained by the Africanist Press reveal shocking evidence of how the Maada Bio administration has expanded the payroll to reward leading members and key supporters of the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP).

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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: Petroleum Directorate spent over Le727 million without following procurement requirements

By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman Financial records of the government of Sierra Leone examined by the Africanist Press shows that the Sierra Leone Petroleum Directorate, the agency responsible for regulating the country’s petroleum resources, paid for alleged services worth over Le727 million (over US$84,352) in 2019 alone without following the

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Sierra Leone: President’s nephew received public funds on alleged education expenses

By Chernoh Alpha M, Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman Financial documents and bank records of Sierra Leone’s Petroleum Directorate reviewed by the Africanist Press show that a nephew of President Julius Maada Bio used nearly Le400 million (over US$40,000) from public funds on payments for an alleged master’s degree program in the United Kingdom,

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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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