Commentary By Anthony Sheriff,London I recently attended a Gala Dinner and Dance that was organized by the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) of Sierra Leone UK and Ireland branch in honour of the interim leader, Mr. Charles Francis Margai and party officials, who are on their England/Ireland segment of Trans-Atlantic Tour for Positive Change, I can only describe as a perfect success. The over-subscribed function was attended by the Mayor of the Borough of Southwark (...)

Nzinga Blake, a TV personality in the United States will soon visit Sierra Leone, her ancestral home. She has featured on major networks including the "Cartoon Network," where she was one of the first two human hosts on the program: "FRIDAYS;" the "Showtime" channel where she also appeared in the serial: "Barber Shop," and is presently a host on the "Current TV" channel. She has also appeared in Hallmark and Seven Up commercials, as well as on an ABC Network show, "What About Brian." A (...)

By our correspondent. According to a special court press release issued today,the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has appointed Mr Stephen Rapp as the new Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Mr Rapp succeeds Desmond de Silva, QC, who announced in April this year he would not be seeking to renew his contract after it expired in June 2006. Deputy Prosecutor Dr Christopher Staker has been Acting Prosecutor since Mr de Silva’s departure. Mr Rapp, an (...)

Commentary By Alpha Rashid Jalloh, Freetown. His Excellency president Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah has apologised to James Sanpha Koroma(photo), managing director of the Union Trust Bank, for the wrongful accusations levied against him by the Anti -Corruption Commission. But the question many have been asking is: "what does that imply?" Many have commended the president, as being the first to be so frank as to apologise to a man subjected to nightmarish ordeals and defamation by a (...)

One of the tributes paid to the departed Albert Academy principal Max Bailor is a short but poignant one from Dr. John Karefa-Smart(photo), the leader of the UNPP, one of Sierra Leone’s political parties. In his message addressed to the Bailor family, academicians and the the general public, the elderly statesman whose enrollment number at the school was 31, referred to the family links between him and the the late Pa Bailor. He wrote: "This is a personal message of sympathy with, (...)

By former ambassador John Leigh. I am traveling deep inside Nigeria when I received the sad news about the passing on of Mr. Max Bailor, former AA Principal and before that, our Senior Science Master. As we read the tributes from his many former pupils, it has been deep sorrow ever since for me as well as for my younger brother and fellow academician, Dr. Evelyn Leigh, but we are comforted by personal knowledge of Mr. Bailor’s positive contributions to our individual development as (...)

Commentary By Alfred Munda SamForay, CDF Defence Fund & Sierra Leone Working Group. 30 November, 2006 “Hinga Norman is not a war criminal; he is a war hero,” H.E. Peter Penfold, former British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone. The defence in the matter of Prosecutor versus Sam Norman, Moinina Fofana and Alieu Kondewa today gave the final and closing arguments for the three CDF defendants. Counsel for Mr. Norman, Dr. Bubuakei Jabbi, began his closing arguments on (...)

The passing away yesterday morning of former Albert Academy principal Max Bailor has sent shock waves through hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad. But the greatest shock has evidently been experienced by past and present Albert Academy students beginning with this newspaper, two of whose editors (Gibril Koroma and Abayomi Charles Roberts) are alumni of the school(photo). Pa Bailor, as he is fondly known to the thousands of students that have passed through his (...)

By Abu B. Shaw, Vanguard London Bureau Chief ‘Welcome to Hell’ is the front page story of the EXCLUSIVE, a Sierra Leone newspaper dated November 27 welcoming the future king of England, Prince Charles, to the Sierra Leonean capital Freetown. Prince Charles and his entourage landed at Lungi International Airport amidst heightened security on Monday on his first leg four-day official tour of West Africa. The Royal Highness is scheduled to visit Nigeria Tuesday November 28, (...)

The European Commission has today commended two of the contributors of this newspaper, the Patriotic Vanguard.The two contributors are John Musa, a legal luminary in Maryland, USA and Sidi Yaya Tunis, a political activist also based in Maryland. In a letter to Mr. Musa, John Wallford of the European Commission cited the article entitled "Why Taylor Should be tried at the Hague" written by Musa and published in the Vanguard on Saturday 1st April 2006, as a work of quality. "That article (...)