He said “government should take care of us right now. We are dying.”The President of the amputees in Sierra Leone, Edward Conteh has accused government of “neglect” saying they “do not care for us”. Speaking to Politico during a one-day meeting with district amputee leaders in Freetown, Conteh, who had one of his hands hacked off by rebels during the war, said he and his executive committee were disappointed over the “lack of attention” paid them by government and accused them of “just playing waiting game for us to die”.
He said eight of his members died in July “because of the lack of medical attention”. He said they lay in their homes and died because “there was no-one to take care of them”.
Quoting from the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission which recommends that war victims be tended to, Conteh said they should be entitled to a social benefit which he said was not forthcoming.
He said they needed help to educate their children, meet their medical and feeding needs.
He threatened that they would soon embark on a street protest once the new cabinet was formed, “to state our case”.
“We are prepared to die on the streets on that day [because] we shall never go home until the government answers to us” he said.
The district amputee leaders lamented over”the deplorable conditions under which we live”. From Bombali to Kailahun and Kono and Bo, they all said they were receiving no help from government but only the Norwegian Friends of Sierra Leone whose head, Mammy Elisa was also present in the meeting.
Respondng to the allegations, the Director of Reparation at the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA), Obi Buya-Kamara said they started dealing with the issues in 2008 and registered over 33,000 victims of the war including amputees, war wounded, rape victims and their dependants.
He said the registration proved that there were 1,138 amputees nationwide and that they each received US$ 320 paid in two installments. He admitted that the amount was not enough but that “the import was for them to put it into use” which he said some of them did.
He said a paper had been readied and was already with the Chief of Staff at State House for payment of a monthly social security allowance to them. He said the recent elections meant the issue had to drag on but assured that it would kickstart in the new year, adding that the amputees and other war victims are “a part of the agenda for prosperity” of government.
“Definitely there are plans for them to get a more sustainable form of development” Buya-Kamara assured.
He said there was a medical intervention scheme for all amputees who had bullet lodged in their body or experienced a war-related attack. He said they could come to the NACSA headquarters in Freetown where they would be taken to the Connaught hospital. Asked what happened to those in the provinces, he said it had not yet been decentralised.
The Reparations Director said plans were also underway for a health benefit to be mainstreamed so other illnesses could be attended to.
It is common to see amputees on the streets of major towns and cities in Sierra Leone begging to eke out a living.
(c) Politico 13/12/12
