Kailahun is the capital of Kailahun District in the Eastern Province of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

. Kailahun is a major business and commercial center of Kailahun District. The population was 13,108 in the 2004 census, a 2006 estimate of 18,41

and a current estimate of about 30,411. Kailahun lies in the far east of Sierra Leone, approximately 200 miles east of

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

(320 miles by road), about 51 miles north east of

Kenema Based on the 2021 national mid-term census, Kenema has a population of 255,110. making it the second most populous city in Sierra Leone after Freetown, and the largest city in the country's Eastern Province, Sierra Leone, Eastern Province. Kenema ...

(75 miles by road), and near the border of

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

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Kailahun is a trade center, and is one of the major towns in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. The population of Kailahun is largely from the Mende people, Mende ethnic group. As with most parts of Sierra Leone, the

Krio language The Sierra Leonean Creole or Krio is an English-based creole language that is the lingua franca and de facto national language spoken throughout the West African nation of Sierra Leone. Krio is spoken by 96 percent of the country's population, ...

of the

Sierra Leone Creole people The Sierra Leone Creole people () are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone be ...

is by far the most widely spoken language in Kailahun and is the primary means of communication in the city.

Government

The town is home to Kailahun district council and the District Council Hall. David Keili Coomber is the town chief of Kailahun. Kailahun, along with the entire Kailahun District is governed with a district council form of government, which is headed by a District Council Chairman, who is responsible for the general management of the town and for seeing that all local and national laws are enforced. The District Council Chairman is elected directly by the residents of the district of Kailahun. The current chairman of Kailahun district council is Tom Nyuma of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). Nyuma won the July 2008 Sierra Leone local council elections in a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

with 75% of the vote. The candidate of the People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) came in distant second, followed by the candidate of the

All People's Congress The All People's Congress (APC) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, the other being its main political rival the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). The APC has been the main opposition party in Sierra Leone since 4 Ap ...

(APC). Nyuma replaced fellow SLPP member Augustine Kortu who was the District Council Chairman until July 2008. Kortu is from the minority Kissi ethnic group.

Media

The local radio station in Kailahun is a private station Radio Moa - The Voice of the Voiceless on 101.5 FM] which operates from Radio House. The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) television and radio station, are on the air in Kailahun.

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

, and several other international TV stations are on the air in the city, via satellite.

Ethnicity

The population of Kailahun is largely from the Mende people, Mende. Minority ethnic groups with significant population are the Kissi, Kono, Sherbro and Vai.

Sport

Like the rest of the country,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

is by far the most popular sport in the city. The city has several clubs in the lower divisions of the Sierra Leone football league.

Health

Kailahun is home to Kailahun Government Hospital which was refurbished after being damaged in the Sierra Leone Civil War and was reopened in 2004.

References

{{coord, 8, 16, 38, N, 10, 34, 26, W, region:SL-E_type:city(16000), display=title Populated places in Sierra Leone Eastern Province, Sierra Leone