By Ragan M. Conteh from Yele
Residents along the Matotoka/Yele and Bo road and passengers who frequently ply the route linking the South and East of the country have expressed their dismay at the neglect of the only viable road linking the east to the south and the north to the south of the country.
The old-colonial fashioned road which has narrow, small and stepped culverts and old bridges is the only route for hundreds of traders who traverse between the rich diamond town of Kono in the East to south of Sierra Leone and the trading hub of Makeni in the North and also to Southern Sierra Leone.
Subsequent governments have neglected the construction of the economically viable road with rich agricultural potentials.
Traders and other social workers are suffering a lot in their pursuit to transport goods and services between the two regions on a daily basis.
Despite the huge infrastructural track of the previous APC regime, the road was never selected for construction.
The Paramount Chief of Tane Chiefdom in Tonkolili District, Bai Kafarie said the terrible condition of the road from Matotaka-Yele linking Bo City has stalled business activities, development and the delivery of other basic social services.
He revealed that, the road condition has degenerated thereby creating several challenges for farmers such as damage of farm produces.
Politicians according to him have made incessant promises in the past to construct the road but that such promises have felled on deaf ears.
Paramount Chief Bia Kafarie noted that the Matotoka-Bo road is critical in facilitating movement of goods and services especially vegetables and palm oil in very huge quantity to and from the urban cities in the South-East to the North-West.
“Salini Construction, the old man added had done feasibility studies and property surveys during the APC regime but nothing concrete was done to construct the road he recounted.
The state of this road has left many traders to the mercy of motorbikes to be able to conduct their daily trade.
Musa Kargbo,a bike rider in Matotoka,told Nightwatch that, he has completed two motorbikes since he started plying the route to and from Matotoka to Yele Town.
Gbonkolenken Chiefdom remains a very strategic producer of palm oil and other vegetable produces but the unavailability of vehicles to transport these goods has made motorbikes as the only source of transportation for traders.
Musa says, due to the huge quantity of palm oil that is sometimes available to carry he is left with no option but to carry between six to ten rubbers of palm oil across very far distances.
A passenger, from Mongere Town, Valunia Chiefdom in Bo District, Elizabeth Moinina Saffa who had arrived in Matotoka to trade in the Wednesday ‘Luma’ via a motor bike said, the bridges along the road are now a death trap for them.
She explained that she and her colleague traders had to come down whenever they approach these steep bridges.
Elizabeth maintained that doing business at the Yele Matotoka road is no longer easy for them.They have called on government to address the condition of the road.
Catherine Kamara, a health worker at the Matotoka Health facility stated that pregnant women sometimes give birth on their way to access Primary Health Care Units.
The ambulances allocated to the area are also hugely affected by the condition of the road.
She had underscored the fact that, many sick people have also died while trying to secure medical facilities using the matotoka-road.
Pa Momoh, an agriculturist with large acres of palm oil and cassava garden at Makele Village in Mayopoh Village informed Nightwatch that, he has not been able to access markets for his farm produces.
Such farm produces according to him have got spoilt along the way largely because of the unavailability of vehicles to the nearest markets.
He said thousands of residents along the Matotoka/Yele route suffer the brunt of the deplorable road condition. It is worse in the rainy seasons and most times the road becomes a no-go area for both vehicles and motor bikes.
Section Chief of Poli section, Pa Alimamy Kabia the condition of the road has exercercabated hardship in their respective chiefdoms.
“We have been promised by both past and present government to construct the only road that links the south and north of Sierra Leone”-he said.
The condition of the Matotoka-Yele/Bo road has largely affected all sectors within the area. NGO community and other development workers using the route are also hugely constrained in doing their work across these regions largely due to the condition of the road.