By Prince Musa in Kenema
The deputy minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Melrose Kargba, has commissioned the newly constructed waste management plant in Kenema.
The facility constructed by the Germany aid agency Welthungerhilfe (WHH) is meant to address a perennial problem of waste management in the city. Officials say the facility which is located at Tiloma, just outside Kenema City, is equipped to recycle waste into other uses, like fertilizers.
Waste management in Kenema City had been a huge challenge to the local authorities, due to lack of proper structures.
WHH, with funding from the UK’s International Development agency – DFID, initiated this project which was carried out across three major cities in the country outside Freetown – Bo, Makeni and Kenema. All three mayors of these cities gathered in Kenema for the joint inauguration ceremony.
Deputy Minister Kargbo told the audience at the ceremony on Friday that the gesture by WHH was in line with government’s development agenda, noting that waste management was at the top of President Julius Maada Bio’s priorities.
"To show the determination of the New Direction government, skip vehicles have been provided to all the cities to facilitate waste management," she stated. She noted that lack of proper waste control system has serious environmental implications, citing the 2017 flooding incident in Freetown which she said was the result of drainages getting blocked due to improper waste disposal system.
Ms Kargbo said that plastic waste is of particular concern to the government. She noted that plastic producing companies are expected to take care of their products.
"President [Bio] is watching at plastic control in Sierra Leone and very soon the president will not hesitate to ban plastic from entering in Sierra Leone," Kargbo said.
She used the opportunity to advise the councils to step up their resource mobilization efforts for proper waste control in their respective cities. She also assured of the readiness of her ministry to table byelaws generated by the local councils in Parliament for enactment into law.
Kenema City Mayor Thomas Bandabla Baio said solid waste management required technical, financial and human resources. He lamented that his council currently spends huge amount of money to fuel the skip vehicles that collect the wastes.
Mayor Baio said another major challenge for the Council is that Kenema City doesn’t have septic tank cleaning vehicle to empty toilets and that most of the toilets in the city were becoming full and are posing a potential environmental challenge.
Harrison Kwach, head of waste management project at WHH, explained that the organization was initially involved in agricultural development activities but that in 2013 they thought it necessary to intervene in waste management, starting in neighboring Bo City.
The project was then rolled out to Bo and eventually Makeni.
"The aim is to ensure that the cities become clean and sustainable," said Mr Kwach, who singled out the Kenema City Council administration for praises for demonstrating “total commitment” during implementation of the project.
Kwach said integrated waste management contributes to adequate health and sanitation system and that it helps to mitigate disease outbreak in the community. The new facility, he added, will also help provide job for youths who will be collecting wastes from door to door.
© 2019 Politico Online
