Sarah Cole, the chairlady of the Tambacular Wharf at Aberdeen Freetown has on Tuesday December 1, 2020 raised serious concern over the lack of toilet facility at the Wharf which has increased the tendency of open air defecation in and around the wharf which compromises sanitation in the area.
She said that Tambacular has been without a toilet for decades. She called for the Government of Sierra Leone to help them with one. “Even though we create revenue from taxes we pay to the Freetown City Council, they have paid no attention to out plight,” she said.
She emphasized that because there is no toilet facility on the beach side, the inhabitants and some passers-by usually defecate at the seaside where they always do their activities.
“People usually use the open-air in the area where we manage our business and that causes illnesses.”
She called on the Government of Sierra Leone to assist the wharf with a public toilet because they regularly pay taxes to the Freetown City Council which is a local government body.
“Even though we sometimes have little or no catch due to lack of fishing nets and boats, this does not limit us from paying our dues to the government, but they don’t care about us here,” she added.
She revealed that there were insufficient fishing boats in the Wharf for them, adding that they themselves own the boats operating from Tambacular.
“But presently cost of timber has increased. We used to buy a plank at Le40,000 but now one costs Le70,000. Sometimes when our boats are broken there would be no way to amend them because of the high cost of the timber and some boats use over sixty boards,” she said.
She complained that Government does not care about the constraints they undergo in the wharf, adding: “They don’t care about us, but we are seeing other wharfs benefiting from them. We are still calling on them to assist us with toilet facility, fishing net and more boat,” she concluded.
By Ibrahim S.Bangura
4/12/2020. ISSUE NO: 7962