By Septimus Senessie in Kono
After almost 25 years the district head quarter town of the diamondiferous Kono district has finally got electricity after last week’s pre-commissioning of the facility by President Ernest Bai Koroma.
The president turned on the two 1.2 megawatt power generators in Koidu on his first visit to the district in two years.
He was accompanied by six local MPs and two members of the district and city councils.
Koroma said the pre-commissioning visit was to assure the people of power supply to Koidu, describing the occasion as a roadmap to the installation of the two 3-megawatt thermal power plants whose installations were discontinued by the Chinese engineers due to the Ebola outbreak in the country.
Acting station engineer of the National Power Authority in Kono district, Mohamed Marrah, told Politico that they had made “an indefinite temporary schedule on how electricity will be supplied into the township of Koidu.”
He said on week days they would be giving a constant six-hour supply to the township starting from 7pm each day to 12 midnight, adding that on weekends they would adjust the supply time upwards starting from 5pm to midnight.
The engineer said they had so far installed over 500 pre-paid metres in both private and commercial houses as well as in government offices in the town with demand said to be rising.
In a separate meeting at the Diamond Lodge in Ngayah Town, Nimikoro chiefdom, Koroma said his visit to the district was part of his national tour to rekindle the energy of local and traditional authorities in the fight against Ebola.
He challenged the paramount chiefs to drop down the number of new infections in the district, promising to return to return to the area after 21 days to assess the situation.
The president threatened that he would not hesitate to remove the chieftaincy staff from any Paramount Chief who did not work hard to eradicate Ebola in their chiefdom.
While he promised with financial support to the fight against the virus, he described Ebola money as “blood money” and therefore warned that no one should take pleasure in siphoning such funds. He also warned them against politicising the fight against Ebola.
District Medical Officer in Kono, Dr. Manso Dumbuya said they were badly constrained in the fight against Ebola, especially in the area of their backlog risk allowances for September which he said had not yet been paid. He cited “mobility and lack of treatment and holding centres in the district” as other areas of challenge.
Dr Dumbuya said they had used the hospital both as a holding and a treatment centre which he said had scared away other sick people who are not Ebola patients.
Coordinator of the Ebola Response Centre in the District, Paramount Chief Paul Gabba Saquee V of Tankoro chiefdom, also appealed for financial support to complete the holding and treatment centres they had started at Dorma community as district initiatives.
© Politico 25/11/14
