TWO YEARS IN THE CHAIR: ALL HAIL MAYOR OF THE SUN
Mayor of the SUN was on social media the other day marking the second year of her reign over the good people of Freetown. We congratulate you dear Mayor and we pray that the almighty God will continue to bless you and your family and indeed the staff of the FCC and all the people of Freetown. We are quite sure we would have had some big celebration at Victoria Park if the coronavirus hadn’t suddenly appeared in Freetown from the Far East and changed our lives. Anyway congratulations!
So two more years to go before the Mayor of the SUN is due to come back to us seeking a new mandate and naturally we will at that point decide if she has done enough given all the circumstances to be considered for a second term. Making that decision is definitely not rocket science. At that time we will simply look around Freetown, cast our minds FOUR years back and determine if the city changed at all in key areas.
Things went bad in this city a long time so we will be careful not to hold the Mayor of the SUN responsible for all the damage of those years and expect her to deliver a miracle and turn this place into a West African Dubai. However, she said a few things during the campaign and once in office she has made a few decisions that she must take responsibility for.
Now let’s call the Mayor’s attention to some of the issues that we believe will come up during her second term bid.
1. We don’t think sanitation has been given the serious attention it deserves. We know about the competition among the different wards and such other efforts here and there but we still have that shame along Bai Bureh road, we have the mess running from Pademba road prison yard to Campbell Street and other such issues. They are not easy to deal with but we haven’t even started after two years.
2. There is Free Quality Education but the physical condition of our FCC schools is causing us a lot of concern. These are the schools that the children of the poorest people attend. We invite the Mayor of the SUN to see what happens at the FCC schools at Congo Town and Fergusson Street. Is it possible to have serious learning in such environment?
3. Street Trading is now completely out of control. We don’t want to get into this argument about people have to do something to feed themselves so we are approaching the issue purely from the point of safety and hygiene; surely there is a solid case for robust action to organize street trading. Doing nothing about it for fear of losing votes is wrong.
4. Is there any program for the many children on the streets of Freetown? How about those sex workers mainly around Garrison Street and the Aberdeen beach? Not too long ago we heard about a program aimed at getting beggars off the streets. How far are we with that? Is it dead already? We know central government support is sometimes required but what is happening? Frankly there are too many children out on our streets begging with their parent when they should be in school.
5. The decision to keep hold of the so-called Freetown City Football Club is a very bad one. We are spending too much money on that club and they are very poor on the field. We read in one newspaper the other day about FCC workers going on strike because they have not received their salary for three months. We once again call on Madam Mayor to sell this club and stop wasting our money. Pay your hardworking staff now.
TWO YEARS IN OFFICE CLEAR ABANDONED CARS FROM OUR STREETS
Under your TRANSFORM FREETOWN project we were expecting a lot to have been achieved by now. We are obviously disappointed but not hopeless - definitely not. In fact we are always praying for you to succeed because when that happens we will all enjoy living in a tidy and efficient Freetown. We see a lot of stuff on social media from your SPIN TEAM. They are doing well especially with people who live abroad and those that live in Freetown but for obvious reasons close their eyes to the reality of life in our city and buy the spin. We honestly believe your SPIN TEAM should get more money for their good work.
The social media pictures of you and your people have always failed in the last two years to capture things like that raw sewerage that was flowing in at least FOUR locations in central Freetown. We had to work hard at making it an issue before you moved to clear the mess. It’s the same thing with King Jimmy Bridge. Congratulations for dealing with that eventually, well just as things were reaching crisis point.
After two years, we want to again call attention to the many cars abandoned in many locations in this our great city. We are quite sure you see them daily to and from work. Otherwise we feel obliged, as good residents of your city to draw your attention once again to PADEMBA ROAD – CAMPBELL STREET JUNCTION at the entrance to PWD. That place is a REAL MESS. Do your people actually collect tax from those petty traders who are illegally occupying that space? See how many cars have been abandoned in that little space - not even half a football pitch in size.
We also want you to visit the whole area around YWCA, leading to the swimming pool gate of the stadium. Cars have been abandoned there for years and men are busy pouring urine freely around them. Surely, clearing that mess is part of the TRANSFORM FREETOWN idea.
So here is how you get this job done our dear Mayor of the SUN: have a meeting with SLRSA and then make a public announcement for two weeks to urge the owners of those vehicles to clear them, then move in and take them to a temporary holding area. Wait for another two weeks if nobody shows up to pay the cost of towing their rotten cars, dump the lot in the many scrapyards in the city.
SLRSA should only charge small money for that job because you are both responsible for this.
WE HAVE TO SERIOUS ABOUT THE FREETOWN FIRE FORCE
The Fire Service is doing really well. We call them in when we run into serious problems like the recent incident at the Pademba road prison and other places. After that we forget about them as if they do not exist.
The truth is even the little they are able to do they do under very difficult circumstances with Stone Age equipment and plummeting staff morale. What’s the point of having a Fire Service without the necessary equipment and motivation to do the job? To get the point of what we are saying here let’s all do the following:
1. Visit the Fire Service headquarters at AJ Momoh Street and see what it looks like. The area in front of the building needs serious consideration. We can’t have it that way.
2. Move to the back of the building and see scraps lying around. They should simply hands those scrap vehicles to people who roam Freetown looking for scrap metals to sell? Or is it about meeting procurement requirements?
3. We call on those responsible to look into the pay and conditions of service for personnel of the Fire Service. We have never heard about strikes from that sector so we consider them the most loyal servants of the nation. Surely such workers deserve to be adequately compensated.
4. The Fire Service should now stand up and tell its own story. They possibly need a serious Public Relations department to help this country understand their situation better.
5. By the way, do they have a role in approving building permits? We think they should so that they can provide the necessary advice to builders. God Bless the Fire Service.
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