Social Media is awash with stories on the unbundling of the Sierra Leone Cable Network (SALCAB). The generated public interest is understandable given concerns about still limited access to internet and the high charges. While it is so pleasurable to access the benefits of the internet, understanding the intricacies and technicalities that make access possible can be quite challenging. To the ordinary Sierra Leonean, the issue of unbundling SALCAB can only mean one thing: Improved access and quality at affordable cost!!  If unbundling SALCAB will guarantee it, so be it!

We are living in a time when one can easily fall into the temptation of believing all is gloom. The year 2020 has been so dominated by COVID-19 and its effects that we have hardly had time to show to ourselves due appreciation for the dividends of our collective efforts. Permit me to happily deviate from this today.

Last week we received the very excellent news that the Milton Margai College of Education and Technology (MMCET) has attained University status. Tertiary education is a bed rock of national development. It has been argued that the proportion of a country's population that attain tertiary education matches its extent of development. The attainment of university status by any institution of higher learning is a significant milestone and that is why your most authoritative Sierra News today associates with this good news and congratulates the leadership, faculty, staff and students of MMCET for a job well done.

This week, I fear we have reached another acute moment in the use of hate speech, and I am using this editorial to add the voice of Sierra News to that of many Sierra Leoneans who are calling for the outright rejection of hate speech.

Hate speech is a form of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks, or uses pejorative or discriminatory language to reference a person or group based on religion, ethnicity and nationality. Hate speech  is almost invariably rooted in intolerance. It demeans, divides and incites people against each other. There are national and international laws that prohibit incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence. Incitement is dangerous as it explicitly and deliberately aims at triggering discrimination, hostility and violence. It has associations with terrorism and atrocious crimes against humanity.

The invention of the World Wide Web is arguably the greatest social revolution in modern times. Through the World Wide Web we get connected with each other in real time. Access is however not equitable at this point. In 2017, the World Bank reported that 9% of Sierra Leoneans use the internet. By 2019, the Internet World Statistics reported an increase of just 4.1% in internet penetration. It therefore remains a fact that access to internet in Sierra Leone is elitist and privileged. It is however assuring to know that government continues to put in place the infrastructure needed to expand access to mobile internet in the country. And with that comes expanded access to social media and networking opportunities such as Facebook and WhatsApp. This is defining the age of New Media in Sierra Leone. A new terrain and a new ballgame!

This week, I fear we have reached another acute moment in the use of hate speech, and I am using this editorial to add the voice of Sierra News to that of many Sierra Leoneans who are calling for the outright rejection of hate speech.

Hate speech is a form of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks, or uses pejorative or discriminatory language to reference a person or group based on religion, ethnicity and nationality. Hate speech  is almost invariably rooted in intolerance. It demeans, divides and incites people against each other. There are national and international laws that prohibit incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence. Incitement is dangerous as it explicitly and deliberately aims at triggering discrimination, hostility and violence. It has