Sheriff Sankoh resides in Temne Town, a community at Upper Wellington in the east of Freetown. He spoke to Premier News which visited the Community on Saturday November 28, 2020 saying that its residents face great difficulty in accessing health care because the community has no health centre.
He added that the lack of a health centre in the community threatens the lives of its residents.
According to Sankoh, resident of Temne Town have to go as far as Rokupa to get medical care. He recounted a personal story of an ugly consequence of the fact that there is no medical facility close by which could handle emergencies. The wife of one of his brothers in the past gave birth on the road to the health centre at Rokupa.
Sankoh also reveals that there is no school in the community and that has made their children to walk very long distances to access schools in other communities.
He furthered that the roads in Temne Town are bad making them inaccessible to vehicles except by motor bikes. He however criticized the attitude of Commercial Bike Riders who ask for high fare to transport persons to and from the community.
“We usually pay Le 4,000 from Wellington to Temne Town, but when it’s past 5:00 pm, we pay Le 7,000 per person. We are appealing for good road network in our community, because with good roads vehicles would be able to reach the community and that will reduce our constraints and save our monies,” he said.
Sankoh added that the community is not supplied with pipe borne water, but they try to cope with the need for pure water by buying bundle of sachet water every day. He added that those who could not afford bundle water draw water from streams nearby where the water is sometimes impure and unsafe for drinking.
He added that residents of the community have tried to reach out to the councilor and other stakeholders on several occasions but no one has come to their help, saying, “They only make promises to us but never fulfill them. We are appealing to the government to know that we are part of the country, it is not only when it’s time for election they should consider us.”
Sheriff also appealed for a police post to be located in the community.
By Ibrahim S.Bangura
7/12/2020. ISSUE NO: 7963