By Abdulai Fasineh Dumbuya
Just days after she was sworn in for the second time as Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki Sawyer has expressed delight at the Central Government’s support towards the council.
The opposition politician was speaking in a Media interview highlighting her plans and successes to the public on 1st November 2023.
Mayor Aki-Sawyer said that the government has responded to its collaboration and commitment to addressing health and sanitation projects of the council, by giving council Le 10 billion Old Leones which she said represents massive collaboration, hope and optimism for the council.
“If for just sanitation government is giving 10 billion Leones to FCC, then I am very hopeful that this collaboration will really see strong results. I am very excited and hopeful that this trend will continue,” she said.
She recalled that the collaboration started way back in February this year after she had vacated office following the letter she received saying all local council officers, should make their offices vacant before the June 24 elections.
She noted that they received 5.9 billion Leones in 2022 alone from the government for the rolling out and the running of the council’s activities including all sectors such as health, describing the collaboration as a renewed optimism for the council.
Highlighting her successes over the years on sanitation, the Mayor stated that for the first time in the history of Freetown and Sierra Leone at large, the council has built a Water Waste Treatment Plant which she said is one of the ways to address health hazards in the city.
“In this same water waste treatment plant, we are doing experiments for people to use the solid matter it produces to make fire. This is an alternative to tree-cutting for charcoal,” she said.
She said that as the council together with the government embark on development opportunities, she expressed hope that the Water Waste Treatment Plant could serve as a handy development supporting other sectors such as health, economy, and employment.
The Mayor also said that they were able to construct significant number of drainages and six public toilets plus water tanks in Susan’s Bay, as a commitment of the council to improve sanitary conditions and reduce health hazards in the slum-like communities.
“The reason I bring Susan Bay as an example is because it is a project we pilot using the bio-digester which can turn market waste into power or energy,” she said.
She said in the next two weeks; the council would put 160 (one hundred and sixty) water points around the city and 15 public toilets.
Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer left office on 28th February 2023 and returned in October 2023, spanning over eight months. Her Swearing-in Ceremony which also included that Chairpersons for Western Area Rural and Councilors for Urban and Rural Area was administered by the Minister of Local Government and Community Affairs, Tamba Lamina at the ministry’s conference room on 26th October, 2023.
She was re-elected in the June 24 General Elections but heeded her party’s call to boycott governance , in protest over what the main opposition claimed were electoral irregularities. The All People’s Congress party has since rescinded the decision following mediation that was led by the Commonwealth and supported by the African Union and the regional bloc ECOWAS.
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