By Isaac Massaquoi
Let me put a few issues on the table before dealing with the main question for today: There's no doubt that in the last six years, this country has witnessed an effort by the government to build new roads and reconstruct old ones and in some cases give them a realistic touch in line with the current needs. It has helped because without that and with many more people now having private cars, travelling the length and breadth of peacetime Sierra Leone and with a lot of business activities also taking place, there was bound to be pressure on the narrow winding roads particularly in Freetown.
There's an awful lot more to do, but Wilkinson Road, Spur Road, the Peninsular road, the Hillside by-pass road and the road from Regent to Grafton, are all commendable actions aimed at easing the movement of people and trade in the interest of the country's development.
There is also no doubt that we can argue about the decisions that went into undertaking these projects. I, for one, see no reason why instead of expanding and reconstructing the Old Road - starting from Blackhall Road going all the way to Allen Town - the government decided to prioritise the road between Regent and Grafton.
With deep respect for the people living in those mountain communities, I believe that the Regent to Grafton road will mainly serve an elite group of Sierra Leoneans found mostly in the relatively affluent western part of the city, who can't stand the gridlock in the east of Freetown when travelling to the provinces. There are thousands and thousands more Sierra Leoneans living in the areas served by the Old Road who are completely cut off from vital services, just because their communities are inaccessible by road. It will get worse when the rains return in May. So it would have made a lot of sense to have urgently addressed them first.
Just to be clear, the people of the Mountain villages also deserve what they have but I am talking about a situation where a government is forced to make a decision between two powerful demands. And to prove me wrong the Road Transport Authority can commission a road-user survey within three months of the Regent - Grafton Road being opened to regular traffic.
So we can have arguments like that. We can also argue about costs. I have interviewed a few experts who have told me with recent examples in Africa that Sierra Leone could have done better with the same amount of money spent on the current roads.
These kinds of discussions lubricate the wheels democracy. Aside from that, the road projects I have outlined plus a few more that are dragging on painfully slowly in provincial areas will go down in Dr. Koroma's memoirs as solid achievements for which generations of Sierra Leoneans will be grateful.
With that on the table, let me make this point which is what this piece is really about. In the process of doing some of these roads, the people are made to suffer too much in the hands of a construction company like the Senegalese-owned Compagnie Saheliene Enterprise (C.S.E.).
From Lumley to Goderich and from Leicester Road to Model Junction, CSE administrators have proved themselves completely insensitive to the troubles on ordinary people who've had to put up with the lazy and somewhat unprofessional way the company has been going about building roads in this country. The people in CSE's home country will not tolerate that. Why should we?
In the Goderich area, close to the emergency hospital, residents have complained about entrances to their homes being cut off for months, forcing them to park their vehicles on the main road at the mercy of thieves. Many others have fallen into CSE's open gutters and hurt themselves seriously. They have never been compensated. In a general sense, CSE personnel behave to ordinary people using roads under maintenance as if they were doing us a favour.
An engineer who lives on Berry Street, Melvin Thompson recently published an article complaining about the way CSE has been going about its work on the Hillside By-pass road around Model Junction, leading up to the entrance of Albert Academy. He said this, among other things:
"It is not unusual that during the construction of a new road, one has to contend with the aspect of the prevalence of continuous dust. This, however, can be drastically reduced as it is a potential health hazard. During the rainy season, commuters had to contend with the mud when vehicles and their passengers were overturned due to the slippery condition. For the past few months of the dry season, the commuters and residents have to endure the hazardous dust wave that has colourized all the green leaves, walls and roofs of buildings, surfaces of vehicles and our interior decor brown. Residents have been imprisoned in their own houses as we cannot open our doors and windows to see the light of day or greet our neighbours, nor breathe fresh air any longer but dust..." I agree with him.
When CSE came to Leicester and Kortright to construct the EU-funded Rue De La Paix, they caused disaster. They destroyed the water supply and electricity system and caused misery to tens of thousands of people. They gave no notice to residents. The people woke up one morning and saw bulldozers running riot in their communities. More than a year later, the water supply infrastructure to Kortright, FBC campus and large areas of Leicester road is non-existent. CSE has still not even apologised for causing the people so much pain and the indignity of having to carry water in jerry cans over long distances daily.
In the area of electricity, it took the personal intervention of the president to restore light to Kortright, Leicester Village and Leicester Road. That was six months after NPA had suggested it would take ages to restore light because they had to buy materials abroad and that CSE must pay.
How was it then that power was restored using those same materials, two days after the president had made a surprise visit to Kortright and Leicester? The NPA is the only company in this country that allows its facilities to be destroyed by other utility services regularly, only for them to go on radio and complain.
I have never met the man, but I'm not surprised that Robin-Coker has been sacked. See how he bungled the restoration of electricity to Regent. Even State House says he was out of his depth in the energy sector. The power supply situation in Freetown got worse under him. He was full of excuses.
The SLRA still doesn't have a substantive head since the much-maligned Munda Rogers was sacked as collateral damage to Petito's inability to deliver president Koroma's infrastructure project. But I think they should at this stage put their hands up and tell us they can't supervise any road construction on our behalf. Look at the mess CSE has created at the entrance to Albert Academy. They have spent close to a year constructing a drainage system for which they destroyed about 70 yards of reasonably paved road from Model Junction.
Those running SLRA should get out of their air-conditioned offices and visit that disaster waiting to happen at Albert Academy. Taxis and Okadas are going down daily causing injuries, but the authorities are pretending as if everything is fine. They may well have just dismissed this article as just another from the endless writings from people complaining about everything. It's up to them but what else should journalists do besides expressing such popular feelings that ordinary people harbour quietly.
Petito was sacked because of the outcry against potholes in Freetown. Yes, potholes were a real menace but that was definitely not the whole story behind Petito's sacking. The other reasons may never be known. And in fact, there has only been marginal improvement in the situation regarding potholes despite big money announcements from the Road Fund Board and that initial frantic pothole patching.
I agree with Engineer Thompson that Sierra Leoneans are rational human beings and would hence understand why they should put up with temporary inconveniences for long-term conveniences and the greater good. But with such breath-taking arrogance and insensitivity, CSE must have a meeting at State House soon.
In future the government should give communities a greater role in monitoring such projects especially when state bodies like the SLRA have abandoned the people either through collusion with their contractors or simple incompetence.
(C) Politico 20/02/14
