By Allieu Sahid Tunkara and Mustapha Kamara
Susan’s Bay community chief, Pa Alhaji Alimamy Kamara II, has complained that the sanitary condition in his community "is extremely disgraceful and has put all our lives are under threat by opening us to health hazards".
He said there were only two latrines available for more than 15,000 residents of the seaside community, pointing out that their two councilors were showing little or no concern.
Pa Kamara said he had had many engagements with the councilors but that nothing had been done to salvage the situation.
"At election periods politicians, especially councilors, normally make a lot of promises concerning our sanitary conditions and so many other things, but no sooner they enter their offices than they forget about us" the chief said.
A Petty trader and mother of 10, Zainab Kamara, said the situation was getting "unbearable" as they had received no help from their elected representatives.
"The children usually ease themselves along the shore while some deposit faeces in the sea", she said, noting that the poor drainage system had worsened their situation because malaria, cholera and typhoid, amongst other illnesses, were endemic to the community. "Our condition has been compounded by poverty," she complained.
Mohamed Sheriff, a youth resident in the community, disclosed that the many wayward pigs also pose a serious challenge to them as the animals feed on faeces in piles of garbage "and then dip their mouths in people’s eating bowls".
He said the pigs were owned by community people but were always left roaming about and causing havoc in the community.
When contacted, Councilor Madinatu Kamara of Ward 377, who is the main councilor in charge of the Susan’s Bay area, explained that she had, on many occasions, lobbied the Freetown City Council to improve the situation, "but my case has not been treated with seriousness".
She confirmed that the community indeed had only two latrines, but that the female latrine was being renovated "through self help". She said it was also true that the residents had been using as a toilet the seashores which she said was worsening the situation.
Public Relations Officer at the ministry of health and sanitation, Jonathan Abass Kamara, noted that the sanitary condition at the Susan’s Bay community "is extremely poor, making it easier for diseases to penetrate and spread in and out of that community."
Kamara said the ministry was focused purely on behavior change to turn things around. He said if the people could positively change their behaviors, then the situation would improve. He said the ministry was working very hard to improve sanitary conditions in the country by 2015.
Speaking to Politico, Public Relations Officer at the Freetown City Council, Cyril Mattia, said the community was a coastal settlement which, according to him, was currently being occupied by squatters. He said the two latrines were constructed under the World Bank Project in the 1980’s known as the “Freetown Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project”.
According to Mattia, the greatest problem faced by the settlement was lack of good roads thus making service delivery to the community "very difficult." He said the FCC had not put in place any specific programme for Susan’s Bay, adding that the council had a wider mandate in the municipality.
"The community people should work with their councilors to come up with sound projects for council to sponsor", he said, noting that most NGOs were willing to sponsor projects relating to the development of the Freetown municipality.
© Politico 11/11/14
