By Kemo Cham
President Ernest Bai Koroma has been going through sleepless nights over the ongoing water crisis in the country, Information Minister Mohamed Bangura said on Tuesday, while appealing for patient from the general public.
Mr Bangura, in a special press conference, said the government was working to find a lasting solution to the crisis that has left residents of Freetown in utter distress. He said this was not a time for blame game, rather everyone, including civil society organizations and development partners, needed to come together and find a lasting solution.
The water crisis which appears to be worsening by the day has left some communities without a drop of water for nearly a week. The situation has prompted a threat of mass protests from a coalition of civil society organizations which wants the management of the Guma Valley Water Company to resign for failing to address the crisis.
Guma is the government parastatal charged with providing water to Freetown.
“This is an appeal we are making,” Bangura told journalists at the press conference hosted at the conference hall of the Ministry of Information and Communication.
“The message we want to pass is we are working tirelessly to address the water crisis… The president is very disturbed to see people in queues… He is having sleepless nights…”
It was Bangura’s first press conference since he took over the mantle as Information Minister. He spoke on a wide range of issues, including the government’s plans to tackle “lawlessness.” Bangura cited the action of the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP), whom he accused of endangering the country’s peace by embracing violence to attain their political goals, as a demonstration of the need for the police to be robust in their responses. He said the government had given its 100 percent backing to the new Internal Affairs Minister to fight lawlessness.
The minister also spoke on plans to fix the erratic power situation in the country, as well as his ministry’s plan to revolutionize ICT for rapid national development.
As is the case for every public discourse these days in Sierra Leone, it was the issue of the water crisis that dominated the press conference that was chaired by Agibu Jalloh, National Publicity and Outreach Coordinator.
The civil society group Accountability Now is heading a coalition of about half a dozen groups which have insisted that the management of Guma should bow out if they cannot resolve the recurrent water crisis in the country.
The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, in a separate position statement, expressed concern about the situation and called on the government and other relevant departments to address the situation.
“HRCSL notes that water is a basic necessity and the provision of
adequate, clean and safe drinking water is an indispensable
precondition for socio-economic recovery during the post Ebola era,”
the Commission said in its statement last week.
Officials at Guma have cited several reasons for their failure to cope with the perennial problem. Among these are lack of funding, the massive expansion of the city and its corresponding increase in population, which has had the effect of deforestation and encroachment on the water catchment areas leaving the main dam virtually empty.
Guma is one of the oldest parastatals in the country. Because of its ineffectiveness it was referred to the National Commission for Privatization (NCP) in 2002 and it has been under consideration for privatization since then.
Officials at the NCP say various factors have connived to discourage investors from coming in.
The government has instituted a temporary measure to tackle the current crisis, which involves transporting water bouncers to hard affected communities.
This, Bangura said, is happening while they seeking a more permanent solution.
“This is not the time for blame game,” he said, calling on the CSOs to be proffering solutions rather than making threatening remarks.
But William Sao Lamin, the coordinator of Accountability Now, said they were not blaming the All Peoples Congress (APC)-led government.
“What we are saying is that governments have failed to do something about this recurrent water shortage over the years.”
He told Politico on a telephone interview that the temporary measure put in place by the government started about two weeks ago, and that it followed their ultimatum. He said that meant that their pronouncement had had an effect.
Lamin however insisted that they intended to go ahead with their planned protests if action wasn’t taken that would satisfy them as a coalition.
“We want to see actions that will be to the satisfaction of this consortium, actions that will reduce the suffering of the people,” he said.
(C) Politico 11/05/16
