THE ENVIRONMENT Sierra Leoneans Need to Accomplish Environmental Management in the City Posted by Ishmael Kindama Dumbuya on Oct 14, 2009, 20:19

There is presently a need for all Sierra Leoneans to carryout a thorough environmental management activity in the country. This is because the environment is our God given gift which deserves protection from all forms of destruction through pollution and the likes. There is presently and environmental destruction being carried out by the A. Abess Company at their garage in Aberdeen at the back of the Bintumani Hotel very closer to the Kimbima hotel complex.

Certainly so, according to the Oxford Dictionary, an environment is part of the surroundings that are affecting lives. There is a garage at the Aberdeen environment where lots of vehicles of the A. Abess are pilled to undergo maintenance processes. When I visited the garage on a fact finding mission, I discovered many ills of the environment that needs the attention of the Ministry of Lands Country Planning and the Environment and or even the Sierra Leone Environmental Protection Agency.

I sat at the garage for almost an hour observing how the mechanics are going about their processes. I observed that there were thick smokes coming from the vehicles. The people who sit in their homes were even tormented by the heavy smoke and I saw them blowing their noses in protest against the pollution created by the garage of the company. A resident of the community after observing that I am observing the activities of the garage whispered to me and says “this smoke normally affects us and we don’t really know what we should do to remedy the situation”.

After a while, I also saw toxic liquid wastes from the engines of the vehicles scattered at the environment in Aberdeen. However, in the places where these toxic substances were displaying, the grasses has refused to grow and any animal found around that environment will surely loss its life as a result of the environmental pollution and destruction perpetuated by the garage of the A. Abess company.

This environment is like a dumping site where all types of rubbishes are being gathered and pampered. Apart from the garage causing environmental pollution in the community, there are also waste tins such as cans and highly intoxicated metals that have diverse environmental effect on humans, plants and animals such as insects, birds etc.

It is important to note that air pollution is one of the environmental effects on the earth. The air polluted by this company when inhaled will cause severe health problems and even causes diseases of the skin.

The earth is one of the best gifts that the Almighty God have given to mankind and when He was committing it to him, He warned man to take proper use of it. So long as God has given us the earth and warned for us to take greater care of it, it is highly necessary for any mankind to adhere to this task. It is worthy to note here that it is not only the A. Abess garage that is causing environmental pollution and destruction to the environment but all the garages in the Freetown municipality. Most pitifully, these garages are causing these destructions in the heart of the city where hundreds of people are passing to carryout their different activities like releasing of smokes, and other related activities. There is now time for the authorities concern to begin monitoring processes of these garages in the country.