THE ENVIRONMENT
The Environmental View Leading To Kailahun Sierra Leone In Dire Need Of Good Roads
By Ishmael Dumbuya -076 897-169
Feb 22, 2008, 02:29

Infrastructural development is indeed important in any country to grow such as the construction of good road network across the country to convey public and private activities from one place to the other.

However, the road network stimulates the rapid flow of investors to come into the country and invest to maximize profits.

In Sierra Leone, presently despite pasts government have tried to construct good roads leading into all major regions and towns across the country, yet there is approximately seventy percent (70%) of the road network not in good condition. That is, only thirty percent (30%) of the roads in the country are well constructed and cared for. Considering the population of about five million people in Sierra Leone, roads maintenance and construction should be top of government agenda.

Almost all the districts in the country are victims of bad road maintenance. The Rogbere-Kambia leading to Panlap highway for instance is very difficult traveling along and doing business with neighboring Guinea.

To complement this effort, the World Bank Group sponsored the Government of Sierra Leone with loans to construct that road since 2004 through Sierra Leone Road Authority as the implementing partner and the Civil Engineering Company (CEC) were to construct the road. But the contract was terminated very recently after the government discovered that the CEC construction company failed to reach to its agreement.

One district that was badly constructed is the Kailahun. Candidly speaking, Kailahun district absolutely has no developed and well constructed road network in the present situation under review except the old dilapidated roads constructed during the colonial period under the British.

Quite recently, I traveled from Freetown to Kailahun with Lamin Vonjo Ngobeh, former parliamentary contender for the People’s Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) in the just concluded elections. Vonjo Ngobeh hailed from Kailahun and was received in tumultuous welcome by his people for the great works he has done for his people.

The route leading to Kailahun is very awkward to travel along from Freetown and Kenema axis. There are potholes everywhere that prevent many vehicles to reach early until after a day during the dry season and two days, in the rainy season before reaching to your destination. It is not possible seeing commercial vehicles plying along the Kailahun highway and as a consequence of that, drivers are always prompted imposing heavy prizes for travelers in the district.

While our party went to the district, we hardly met with commercial vehicles unless the NGOs.

After Segbwema, where the SLPP was alleged to have attacked the APC group, the bad road there prompted me asking if it had been like that since time immemorial. He surprisingly answered yes despite the district had produced state politicians like John Benjamin, John Karimu etc, none of them had considered bringing any development to the township.

Again I asked Mr. Ngobeh what plans he had for Kailahun despite losing the parliamentary seat during the elections. He pointed out one thing to me, and that was though he lost, he always like the people of Kailahun.

We later reached at a place called “Nigeria Camp”. This was a former military base for the Nigerians contingent troops in ECOMOG that helped restored peace and stability in Sierra Leone during the eleven year civil war.

Along the place, a fourteen feet Benz vehicle had wrecked on the road for two weeks because of the bad road network.The present Members of Parliament in the district don’t think well for the development of Kailahun.

However, President Ernest Bai Koroma has already signed an agreement with Austria for the construction of the Kenema-Kailahun highway to alleviate the problem of bad road network in Kailahun.