By Samuel Tengbeh
The people of Kissy Dockyard community are presently in a very confused state and dilemma, because the protest made by them, to relocate the City’s dumpsite, has met a stumbling block.
The stumbling block comes from the side of the Government; as the Armed Forces, through the Ministry of Defence, are still delaying in giving a new portion of land for their military training area to be used as a new dumpsite.
The people of Kissy Dockyard, who have suffered a lot because of the presence of this dumpsite, came together and called on the authorities, concerned, to relocate the dumpsite.
According to the people, the presence of the dumpsite has created a lot of suffering for them who live around the dumpsite. They even explained certain health problems, like lung infections and cancer, which have led to some fatalities.
The community stakeholders have written a letter of protest to the Freetown City Council, the Ministry of Local Government and some other stakeholders for the relocation of the dumpsite. This letter is also in the possession of this medium; we have not published it, in this publication, for some obvious reasons.
However the Freetown City Council, when talking to this medium, did confirm receiving the letter and also sympatised with the community for their suffering.
Talking to Mr. Alfred Kanu, who is the senior Supervisor of Sanitary and Health for the Department of the Environment in the Freetown City Council , he said they are also feeling the plight of the people.
He said they are also aware of the hazardous situation that the people always endure. He cited things like the burning of methane, which bi-product is very dangerous and can cause greater harm to humans
Mr. Kanu ended by saying that the issue is no longer in their hands but the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, who are to just locate the land from their training area for the process of relocation of the dumpsite to begin.