The President of Sierra Leone has announced a continued state of public emergency, although he has lifted limits on public gatherings and business activities in place since August last year.
Political parties will welcome the news on public gatherings. Some had complained that the government was using the state of emergency as a guise to suppress their activities even as the prevalence of ebola had lessened significantly.
Representatives of the All Political Parties Association met with the President last week to ask that the state of emergency be lifted so that they could prepare for their internal elections and resume normal operations. However at that meeting held at State House, the President had said that ebola was still a threat and that emergency measures were still needed.
