A journalist working for the Torchlight newspaper was attacked on June 19, 2013, by a group of workers of the Sierra Leone Water Company (SALWACO) based in Makeni, according to an alert from the Accra-based Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA).
Alie Mozart Sesay was “nearly lynched by the workers as he entered the offices of SALWACO upon an invitation by the Manager, Alimamy Kolleh Kargbo” MFWA reports, and calls for a public apology by the company to the journalist.
The workers accused him of taking photographs of them in the past and they had been looking for an opportunity to attack him, which they reportedly did once he entered their premises.
Sesay told MFWA that he was invited to the office by Kargbo after he called him on phone to inquire if he had knowledge of a group of workers in a SALWACO branded water tanker, busily selling water to Aqua Max, a private company that produces sachet water.
Kargbo allegedly claimed responsibility for the sale of the water and invited him to the office to see receipts of the transaction with Aqua Max. However, on reaching the premises the angry workers pounced on him and harassed him.
Sesay’s inquiry came in the back of allegations by the Resident Minister, Alie D. Kamara, at a press briefing that there was evidence of illegal sale of water to hotels and some private institutions by the Makeni office of SALWACO.
