The News Review:

- SocketWorks to promote e-culture in Sierra Leone
- CGG on Capacity Building For Women Councilors in Sierra Leone
- Awareness Times News Briefs from Sierra Leone
- President Koroma and the New Agenda of Change in Sierra Leone
- Uncertain Times, Nervous Anticipation in Sierra Leone
- Sierra Gold Corporation Announces Discovery of Diamonds On Sewa …

SocketWorks to promote e-culture in Sierra Leone
NetworkWorld.com, MA 
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The Sierra Leonean arm of SocketWorks Global is working to establish an e-culture in the country, said SocketWorks CEO Patrick
Taylor. “What we are doing in Sierra Leone is to introduce the e-culture into all the spheres of endeavor in the country,” Taylor
said. “We believe that developing countries can be transformed to developed mainly by the use of ICT in all spheres of business.

CGG on Capacity Building For Women Councilors in Sierra Leone
Awareness Times, Sierra Leone 
” Delivering her opening remarks, National Coordinator Campaign for Good Governance, Ms Valnora Edwin thanked Christian Aid Sierra Leone for sharing her organization’s vision of increasing women’s participation at decision making levels by providing funds and programmes implementation. “Achieving the goal of this project is of no small challenge,” she said, adding that with perseverance they are sure to emerge successful. She emphasized that it is not just enough to advocate for women to be elected in decision making bodies, stating that it is also an obligation to provide those already elected with required support in order to build their capacities in the development struggle. “We will ensure that strategies and priorities are not ignored but adequately addressed,” she assured.

Awareness Times News Briefs from Sierra Leone
Awareness Times, Sierra Leone 
The training was reportedly organized by the Sierra Leone Police Training Department in collaboration with the International Rescue Committee. The training was aimed at broadening the horizon of officers in investigating sexual violence offences. 4 Billion People Live Under The New Poverty LineA position paper issued past Friday by the Global Call to Action Against Poverty Sierra Leone Chapter has reportedly disclosed that 1. 4 billion people live under the new poverty line of US$1.

President Koroma and the New Agenda of Change in Sierra Leone
Standard Times Press, Sierra Leone 
Indeed, its flirtation with price controls has raised the spectre of Siaka Stevens’ and JS Momoh’s pre-war APC regimes, which kept artificially high exchange rates and low food prices as part of a strategy for facilitating elite accumulation. The eventual collapse of internal regime discipline and resulting explosion of parallel economic activity marked the beginning of the descent into civil war. The food crisis has exposed Sierra Leone into continuing economic fragility and dependence on food imports, despite its agricultural potential. Successive post-independence governments have heavily relied on import-export revenues and squeezed this sector as hard as they could. The current crisis has underscored that food imports are still controlled by a handful of large, mostly Lebanese firms. Prior to the report of global increases in food prices the issue was mooted, there was much speculation in Freetown that these traders had received preferential treatment under Kabbah and were withholding imports to wrest similar concession from the new government. The early months of the Koroma presidency illustrated the economic constraints facing any government in present day Sierra Leone regardless of political agenda.

Uncertain Times, Nervous Anticipation in Sierra Leone
Standard Times Press, Sierra Leone 
Momoh’s APC government was accused by the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) government of leaving behind a disastrous and woefully bankrupt economy. The APC government is still saddled with the image of financial ineptness and inefficiency. When the NPRC handed over the reign of government to Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in 1996, the Sierra Leone Peoples party (SLPP) accused the NPRC government of fiscal immaturity by leaving behind an empty treasury. The NPRC disclaimed the SLPP allegation. Following the APC victory in 2007, claims and counter claims were made by both the SLPP and the APC regarding the health of the Sierra Leonean economy. It is in light of these allegations made since 1992 that the Ernest Bai Koroma government has decided to institute a Commission of Enquiry into the financial management practices of government officials. The Commission will, hopefully, set the record straight.

Sierra Gold Corporation Announces Discovery of Diamonds On Sewa …
GlobeNewsWire (press release), CA 
Gold has also been collected and its values are presently being assessed. This equipment has the capability to process up to 50 tons per hour. Sierra Leone is a major exporter of diamonds and is recognized internationally for the size and quality of its diamonds. The country’s major source of hard currency has come from the sale of diamonds. Sierra Leone’s production is characterized by a high proportion of gem quality diamonds. The country became famous world-wide after the discovery of the Star of Sierra Leone, a magnificent 969 carat diamond. In 2002, a 1440 carat, gem quality diamond was discovered in the Kono district, which was later sold in Belgium for approximately US$75 million.
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