Fatmata Cecilia Williams, Councilor of Ward 409 in Constituency 116 at Lower and Upper Portee community in the East of Freetown, has said on Monday June 15, 2020, that the community does not have a properly constructed market structure, no source of water, no good toilet, and also no proper drainage system which has made the community prone to disaster.
Councillor William informed this medium that the market women at the Portee Community go as far as Low Cost Housing Estate and Shell, both communities further in the east of Freetown, to get pure drinking water for Le 1,000 per container.
She lamented that the lack of a source of pure water in the community has affected them to the extent that sometimes they could not finish cooking food at the appropriate time for meals. She also said that the situation is derailing the fight against the coronavirus within the community because they don’t have water to wash their hands.
Councilor Williams also said that because the community has not had a particularly designated site with a purposely built market structure, that is why traders have been elling their wares along the Old Railway Line.
Salamatu Sillah, a trader in the community, said that because there is no market structure, traders sometimes cannot sell their goods when it rains.
“We sometimes don’t sell our goods when it rains because we don’t have any place to store our goods. So we don’t sell in the rains, for health reasons and for our goods not to soak and rot,” she said.
Sillah also said that she usually pays her market dues to Freetown City Council but they have not been given any help to the market in the community. She appealed to the central government to assist the community with a market structure.
Councilor William further explained that the community also floods when it rains, emphasizing that the water covers a bridge at the end of her constituency and restricts the movement of people due to lack of a proper drainage system in the community. “Water enters into some houses, mostly those in the slums. The bridge is totally damaged, which is bad to the community,” she emphasized.
She informed Premier News that, together with the community committee, she had met with the government on several occasions and had requested for help but they had promised to so do, but had not fulfilled their promises.
By Ibrahim S.Bangura
19/6/2020. ISSUE NO.: 7849