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News in 'Society' section

Ghana battles growing cholera cases

October 5, 2012 Ghana's Health Min. Alban Bagbin

Ghana is recording an increase in the number of cholera cases and more deaths with several weeks left to the end of the rainy season in the West African nation.

According to the Ministry of Health, more than 100 affected persons have been admitted at the country’s main hospitals, especially in the capital.

Nigerians mix react to Saudi deportation of 1,000 female pilgrims

October 4, 2012 Muslims at the Hajj in Mecca

Though the Nigerian government has expressed displeasure over Saudi Arabia’s decision to deport some 1,000 Nigerian women who were en route to the pilgrimage to the Muslim Holy city of Mecca, a number of Nigerians hold a different view over the expulsion.

Visiting Mecca for the annual Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, provided a Muslim faithful has the finance and is in good health to make the pilgrimage.

Sierra Leone: Rights body releases mining town violence findings

October 4, 2012 A victim shot during the Bunbuna violence

Sierra Leone’s Human Rights Commission has released findings from a public inquiry into alleged gross violation of human rights in the mining town of Bunbuna, indicting the police for overreacting in quelling a violent strike at the local mine.

During the mine workers strike last April, violence erupted and  left one person killed and several others wounded in Bunbuna, Tonkolili District, in the north of Sierra Leone.

 

OSJI Official Speaks on Information Access, Nat’l Security

October 4, 2012 Maxwell Kadiri Associate legal officer OSJI

An Associate Legal Officer of the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), Maxwell Kadiri,     has said there is a growing recognition of the right to information as part of the practice of democracy in Africa.

He said while laws exists in this regard, implementation in practical terms has been the challenge because many governments feel the less the people know, the better for them to perpetuate themselves in office.

Ghana in partial denial of HRW report on abused mentally ill

October 3, 2012 Ghana's Health Min. Alban Bagbin

An official of Ghana’s Health Ministry has said a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on the abuse of mentally ill persons in psychiatric institutions and spiritual healing centers was “not entirely true”.

The rights group claims that the Ghanaian government has done little to combat such abuse or to ensure that these people can live in the community, as is their right under international law.

U.S. Embassy Trains Ivorian Journalists

October 3, 2012 US Amb. to Cote d'Ivoire Philip Carter III

The United States Embassy in Cote d’Ivoire has placed emphasis on the training of personnel of the local media in the West African nation emerging from a bloody post-election conflict.

To implement the training American experts are in Abidjan, the capital, to help build the knowledge Ivorian journalists, including those from local community radios ahead of next year’s local elections.

Over 2.6mn Sierra Leoneans qualify to vote 17 November

October 3, 2012 NEC Chairperson Dr. Christina Thorpe

More than 2.69 million Sierra Leoneans are eligible to vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections slated for 17 November this year, according the voter roll released by the National Electoral Commission (NEC).

NEC Chairperson Dr. Christiana Thorpe told a news conference in Freetown Tuesday that 4 October has been set for nomination of presidential candidates and would be followed by nomination of parliamentarians across the country.

West, Central Africa Discuss Freedom to Information, Nat'l Security

October 2, 2012 Participants at the OSIWA/OSJI forum

Over 80 stakeholders from West and Central Africa are attending a Regional Consultation on National Security and Freedom of Information convening in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.

 

S. Leone: Northern chiefdom breaks links to women, girls’ abuse

October 1, 2012 The National Flag of Sierra Leone

Binkolo in the Safroko Limba Chiefdom in Northern Sierra Leone once noted for rights violations against women and the girl child over the years has made a remarkable break from the practice.

Among harmful practices the township won a reputation for were ‘initiating’ (performing female genital mutilation) girls as young as five years and carrying out forced marriages of minor girls.

 

Nigerian Senate Wants Review of Bakassi Ruling

October 1, 2012 FLASHBACK: Pres Goodluck Jonathan taking oath in May 2011

With a few days left for Nigeria to request a review of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling giving the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon, the Nigerian Senate has released some ‘facts’ it alleges were not tendered during the ICJ proceedings in the land dispute pitting the two countries.

The upper legislative House now wants the Executive to use these facts in seeking the review before expiration of the 10 October, 2012 deadline for appeal.