West Africa

Africanist Press Editor to join Brown University’s Watson Institute

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Africanist Press editor, Dr. Chernoh Alpha Bah has accepted a two-year appointment as Postdoctoral Research Associate with Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.  The Watson Institute is an interdisciplinary research center at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Its mission is to promote a just and peaceful world through research, teaching, and …

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Sierra Leone Should Investigate Death Threats Against Africanist Press Staff

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The following is a letter sent to Secretary of State, Anthony John Blinken requesting the United States government to remind the government of Sierra Leone of its obligation to investigate and address threats made Africanist Press staff and determine what steps the government has taken regarding the reported threats and cyber harassment of Africanist Press …

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History and the Future of Sierra Leone

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By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah Five Sierra Leoneans have received doctorate degrees from Northwestern University since the mid-1960s. They include Enid Forde (1966, Geography), Josephus Olufemi Richards (1970, Art History), Gladys Harding (1971, Education), Augustine Stevens (1975, Political Science) and Cecil Magbaily Fyle (1976, History). I am the sixth doctoral graduate and the second historian …

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Sierra Leone: Democracy Must Not Be a Rotational Façade of the Elite

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By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah It is now clear to all those who have been watching developments in West Africa that the June 2023 elections in Sierra Leone have turned out to be the biggest tragedy in African elections. And the embarrassment is not felt by Sierra Leone’s elite alone, but the shame is equally …

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Subverting Democracy: President Bio Rents Crowds to Join Campaign Rallies

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By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah President Julius Maada Bio’s propagandists are working strenuously to make the world believe that Bio and his ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) are the popular choice among voters. In Freetown, the Institute of Governance Reform (IGR), a local civil society organization led by SLPP activist Andrew Lavalie, has even …

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Sierra Leone: Kandeh Yumkella’s One Vote Will Not Give Maada Bio a Second Term

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By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah  Why has Kandeh Yumkella of the National Grand Coalition (NGC) denied his party supporters and sympathizers the opportunity to elect an NGC presidential candidate in the upcoming June 2023 election? Will Yumkella’s one vote be enough to give the incumbent candidate, Julius Maada Bio, a second term? And is Yumkella …

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Sierra Leone: Opposition MPs supported judiciary’s hatchet man against democracy

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By Matthew Anderson, Mark Feldman, and Nik Harris Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) in Sierra Leone collaborated with ruling party politicians to legitimize the controversial appointment of Adrian Fisher to the High Courts of Sierra Leone, parliamentary papers reviewed by Africanist Press have shown. Adrian Fisher was appointed to the position of high court judge …

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Sierra Leone: President and First Lady withdrew over Le71.4 billion as international travel per diem in 2022

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By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman  Sierra Leone’s president, Julius Maada Bio and First Lady Fatima Bio cumulatively withdrew over Le71.4 billion as international travel per diem in 2022 alone, new financial records of the Bank of Sierra Leone (BSL) accessed by the Africanist Press has revealed. The transactions included direct …

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Hired Surveillance: Sierra Leone officials pay cyber intel groups to target journalists, political opponents

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By Matthew Anderson, Nik Harris, and Mark Feldman An investigation by Africanist Press has uncovered that Sierra Leonean officials paid at least US$5 million to cyber intelligence groups, including the Israeli-based Cognyte Technologies Limited for cyber intelligence services and tools that were mostly used to target political opponents of the Maada Bio administration. Africanist Press …

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Sierra Leone: President’s diplomats unable to account for over US$4.6 million transferred in 2019 to New York for Chancery Building construction

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By Chernoh Alpha M. Bah, Matthew Anderson, and Mark Feldman In this report, Africanist Press provided transaction details from bank statements of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs showing how funds transferred to New York for the alleged construction work at the Sierra Leone Mission Headquarters at the United Nations were squandered between 2018 and …

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