By Nasratu Kargbo
With the high prevalence of filth in Freetown, members of Parliament have emphasized the need for Freetown City Council’s (FCC) bye-laws to be strengthened in order to keep the city clean.
The MPs made this call during an engagement between members of the Committee on Local Government and Rural Development in Parliament and personnel from the council. They stressed that sanitation in the city is very poor and that strong laws will go a long way in helping reduce rubbish in the municipality.
Representing Moyamba District, Alpha Ben Mansaray said: “The attitude of our citizens cannot be controlled if these bye-laws are not strengthened, let this committee help the FCC strengthen these laws and ensure they are implemented”.
Mansaray also suggested that they look at the strategies of FCC and modify them quarterly, noting that funds have been remitted, yet there isn’t much improvement.
Member of Parliament from Kono District, Tamba Simeon Johnny explained that during the era of Herbert George- Williams as Mayor of FCC, he saw semblance of the byelaws been implemented especially in the aspect of cleanliness, stating that prices were even given to streets like Mammy Yoko Street, Gorie Street, Bombay streets amongst others for being clean, however stressing that nowadays these streets are now notorious for filthiness.
“In communities like Kissy, they have toilets that are full and nobody goes there to address them, I don’t know what the City Council is doing about it” he said. He added that in some areas one finds it difficult to breathe because the air is polluted due to offensive odors from the latrines.
Johnny also spoke of how extremely filthy the entrance TO Bomeh which is located at Akram is, explaining that the flooded entrance has forced pedestrians to use the other footpath because one cannot use that side as a result of the filth and stench.
He said one of the problems of the FCC is that most of the sanitary inspectors go around inspecting compounds, find them unhygienic but end up compromising. The MP stated that sanitation is not limited to clearing of garbage, but also maintaining cemeteries and sewages amongst others
Chairman of Committee Local Government and Rural Development in Parliament Musa Fofanah said there are sanitation officers even in remote villages, explaining that these officers levy fines on defaulters whose compounds, toilets, septic tanks amongst others are unhygienic.
Other MPs spoke of wastes on the mains streets, explaining that those living at the hilltop throw their wastes in the gutters when it rains and that at the end of the day the waste find themselves on the main streets.
They noted that if FCC wants to tackle the issue of waste, they need to go up the hills and storm the slums, adding that they have been focusing on cleaning the main streets leaving feeder roads that usher rubbish to the main street.
Chief Administrator (CA) of FCC Raman Tom Farmer said “I agree with the aspect of bye-laws, we need to enforce our bye-laws. Our long term strategy is to ensure the bye-law is put in place, which will provide us with more enforcement opportunities and make it mandatory for households to pay for their wastes”.
Speaking on how the FCC intends to address the issue of waste through their long term strategy, Farmer explained that they have divided Freetown into eight (8) blocks and that the service providers that are engaged within the municipality will apply to render their services by blocks, adding that if the new sanitation law comes into effect, it will be mandatory that every household registers and pays for their waste to be deposited.
He added that this will stop wastes being deposited on the streets.
The CA stated that they have started implementing bye-laws, citing that last month they had over six people arraigned in court and four are currently serving prison sentences.
Farmer said they are challenged in the aspect of personnel, noting that they have less than a hundred and fifty metropolitan officers. He also added that metropolitan police have the powers to arrest and investigate, but do not have prosecutorial powers, which has led the IG to assign a police officer at the FCC to prosecute sanitation offences.
He added that most of the hilly part of Freetown falls under Ward C, which according to the CA is not under their jurisdiction.
“We believe as we go along we will be able to address some of these issues, we want Freetown to be like Kigali” he said.
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