Youth in First Street, a Community in Kissy in the east of Freetown, have embarked on the maintenance of road which has been in a poor state for decades.
According to Alhaji Foday Kargbo, the second in command among the group of youths, the poor state of the road has been the cause of frequent road accidents, which has triggered apprehension from drivers of vehicles from visiting the communities.
He insists that the community has also missed out most of the developmental programs which other communities usually benefit from.
He disclosed this to Premier News in an interview on Saturday November 7, 2020.
Kargbo told Premier News that, the communities have suffered from poor road network over decades now.
He added that the situation in the community worsens in the rainy season, adding that residents who ply using commercial motorbikes as the means of transport pay much raining season in addition to the frequent occurrence of accidents.
“Residents in the communities always complain about the poor road network, so since no one is ready to help us, we took this challenge ourselves. We believe that, it would be a big punch to us if we don’t take this responsibility to solve some of the problems in our communities,” Kargbo insisted.
“We are concerned more about development. We believe that youths can do more in any society. So we have taken this venture to be example to youths in other communities. Youths should be always asking themselves what they have done for their country and the communities not what the country or the communities have done for them,” he added.
He noted that, with good road network in any society, there would be development and empowerment, adding that if the communities have good road network people with different ideas in development would happily visit that particular community to invest.
He said that they sponsored the work through tasking people to willingly give any little contribution they may want to give.
He said that money which they usually get from people is what they usually would use to buy tools and food for themselves.
He said that they started maintaining the roads in August 23, 2020.
Kargbo appealed to the government, humanitarian bodies and the NGOs to support his community with tools to speed up work in the community.
He advises youth within the community be united in their quest to bring development to their various communities.
“We live in the First Street Community, but we have taken the responsibility to maintain roads of over five communities in the Kissy municipality,” he concluded.
By Ibrahim S.Bangura
12/11/2020. ISSUE NO: 7950