Committee on water resources in parliament has summoned the minister of water resources, Momodu Maligie,to give reasons “for the acute water shortage despite the work of Guma Valley Water Company in Freetown”.
The MPs also warned all ministries, departments and agencieslike the fire force, ministry of defence and the police against “misusing water hydrants and related resources” and challenged them to pay up all debts owed to the water supply company.
Meanwhile, the committee said that Guma was yet to give any convincing explanation regarding its inability to supply the badly needed water resources to the Freetown public.
In response to the query by parliament the Guma boss, Bankole Mansaray, said the military and police forces were in the habit of using the water hydrant for commercial purposes, but had repeatedly denied the claims, insisting that they only supplied water to their senior officials.
He called on the committee to help them ensure that a list of all those supposed seniormilitary and police officials was submitted for record purposes, adding that the persistent water problem was also a result of an environmental challenge that could be devastating if left unattended to.
Mansaray said human encroachment around the dam areas and the resultant deforestation were a huge challenge for the company.
“The kind of dam that the city needs is very expensive to afford and there are not enough resources to get it.The ones we have now are very old,” he complained.
A representative of defence ministrydismissed claims by the Guma boss and told the committee that they had stopped using the hydrant for commercial purposes since 2013.He said they had also settled their debts with the company.
Head of prisons department, Kamanda Bongay, said the water they collected from the hydrant was being used most times for public service purposes like the recent visit of the UN secretary general for which a fire engine was present throughout the stay.
Chairman of the committee, Suahilo Koroma, MP, said the committee had decided to call on the water company boss to answer to some questions on the situation of water supply in the city. He dismissed excuses by the company that the current road construction work was impeding their effort.
(C) Politico 13/03/14
