By Allieu Said Tunkara
Director of media at the ministry of defense has urged people in Ebola affected communities to provide information to security personnel deployed in their regions to enable them contain the virus in the country.
In an exclusive interview with Politico at the defense ministry in Freetown, Col. Michael Samura said traditional authorities knew their areas better so it was necessary for them to assist the police and the military to effectively police their communities to stop Ebola suspects entering those communities.
“If the chiefs allow Ebola suspects to infiltrate their communities without reporting it, they will definitely suffer the brunt,” said Samura, referring to a situation in which an Ebola infected suspect had escaped from Liberia and arrested in Kailahun.
Samura said chiefs should assist the security personnel in their communities by identifying illegal crossing points and ordering youth volunteers to deploy with the security personnel. He said local authorities had been empowered by government to make bye-laws for their communities and it would be good if they enforced those laws.
Col. Samura, however, said his office had no report about Ebola suspected patients coming into Freetown to hide, but would still continue to monitor the situation.
Public Relations Officer at the Freetown City Council, Cyril Mattia, said reports about Ebola suspected patients running into Freetown to hide had been reached them, but that they had put measures in place to control that. He said in order to stop the influx of people in the city using the sea routes they had temporally closed most of the riverine communities such as Old Wharf, Moa Wharf, King Jimmy Wharf among others so that boats could not enter through them.
He said the council was working in collaboration with Maritime Administration, Sierra Leone Police, Sierra Leone Boat Owners Association and other stakeholders to monitor those wharves.
“I believe that this measure will help in curtailing the movement of people from the quarantined areas to the capital city,” said Mattia.
Mayor of the Freetown Municipality, Franklyn Bode Gibson, earlier told a press briefing at the Cathedral conference hall in Freetown that people had come to the city from quarantined communities through sea routes. He said that that was one of the key factors that led to the rapid increase of Ebola cases in the municipality.
“We have closed the waterways and mounted checkpoints in collaboration with the ministry of transport and aviation to stop the movement of people from quarantined communities,” said Mayor Gibson.
(C) Politico 14/10/14
