Sheka Tarawalie

Who is Sheka Tarawalie?

Sheka Tarawalie is a Sierra Leonean journalist and writer, who is currently Sierra Leone State House Press Secretary, who is the official spokesman for president Ernest Bai Koroma. He was appointed to the position by president Koroma in December 2007. He is one of several ethnic Mandingo in the current government of Sierra Leone. Tarawalie is a graduate of Fourah Bay College, and was one-time Editor-In-Chief of The Touch, a Freetown newspaper, where he criticised the then government of Sierra Leone. He moved to the United Kingdom and sought asylum because of threats against his life. When his asylum claim failed he launched a well-supported appeal against deportation. He worked as a journalist in a voluntary capacity, eventually becoming sub-editor of Expotimes, and board member of the Exiled Journalists' Network, UK.