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As APC Politicises Garbage Collection in Freetown, Klin Salone Programme Cancelled.
4.07.2008
FREETOWN: FROM JUNIOR: The government of Sierra Leone has taken garbage collection out of the hands of the Freetown City Council and has privatized the operation, the Chief Administrator of Freetown City Council said.
Freetown will continue to be filthy until huge capital investment is spent in solving the current structural problems in waste management. The solution that the government has chosen is a new privatization arrangement which will be run by Freetown Waste Management, a business backed by a 3 million dollar World Bank loan. Evidently, the operation is slated to be granted to APC loyalists.
Mr. Philips made this statement while speaking on a panel discussion on the workings of Freetown’s local council. He said the council does not have the logistical capacity to dispose of the city’s mounting garbage.
The Freetown City Council used to receive between 35 and 40 million Leones per year for garbage collection from the government. From this money, the FCC would pay staff, hire vehicles and machines, buy fuel, protective clothing and medical care for the employees.
Environment Officer of the FCC, Sulaiman Parker says the council is not pleased by the government’s decision because garbage collection has traditionally been the responsibility of the local council. “The council is not actively involved in the privatization of the garbage collection. People pay their taxes and expect a clean city,” he said.
The vehicles currently in use by the FCC are not able to collect the volume of garbage now in dumping sites. “There are very few official garbage dumping sites and citizens use the gutters, the city is overcrowded,” Mr. Philips said. The reality on the ground is that there is an inadequate number of trucks to clear garbage as it is generated.
He however noted that citizens resort to using unofficial dumping sites resulting in choked streams that flow down to the sea, sending waste into the waters that only wash up again on the beaches, destroying the environment and beautiful tourism centers.
Philips continued to say that the current waste disposal situation will bring about many health hazards in the country.