By Amin Kef (Ranger)
The leading Mayoral aspirant for the Freetown City Council (FCC), Mohamed Gento Kamara, better known as Gento, was on the 4th April, 2023 hosted on the AYV Television “Wake Up Salone” programme during which he succinctly responded to questions posed to him on a wide variety of issues bordering on his political bid and how he intends to transform the Freetown Municipality if voted for as Mayor during the June, 24, 2023 General Elections.
Dressed in a bottle green French suit which matched perfectly with the expensive and attractive sneakers he was putting, the Man of the Moment, appeared on TV very cool and calculated as always as he articulately expressed his views and how he intends to translate his manifesto promises into reality after he must have been elected as the new FCC Mayor.
Not too verse in public speaking, however, the way Gento marshaled his thoughts and eloquently as well as contextually made his points during the programme somehow clearly manifested that he can deliver very well.
Starting with how he was born and bred in Freetown, he succinctly intimated viewers that he later travelled to Britain where he attained his college education and how he is now a successful entrepreneur.
He also disclosed that he decided to enter the political race in order to contest for the Mayoral Seat of the FCC out of the passion to be strategically placed in order to alleviate some of the sufferings that residents in the metropolis of Freetown are currently going through.
Gento continued telling Freetonians that when he becomes the Mayor-Elect he would focus attention on fixing the problems of accessing pipe borne water supply by ensuring that every household gain easy access to it further underscoring how his administration will also endeavour to deal with the sanitation problem that the city has been grappling with for too long.
He also mentioned enhancing the health sector to a level that will see more improvements than it is now so that more people will affordably have access to good medical facilities and treatments as well as upgrade existing markets and build new ones to accommodate more traders and thereby decongest the streets already dominated by traders.
Responding to how he intends solving the water problem, Gento, mentioned that out of feasibility studies he has conducted, he realized that the topography of Freetown could be harnessed in a proper way to use catchment areas in the hilly parts to access water supply with constructed reservoirs and pipes connected to them to supply water down to end users.
“We should not only depend on Guma but rather find other innovative ways of accessing water,” he maintained lamenting how it pains him to see young girls being deflowered because they have to be out during odd hours just to fetch water , a situation which he said all must endeavour to put an end to.
Responding to how he intends dealing with floods and flash floods, he stated that Freetown needs a builder and he is that person that has emerged to build Freetown. He hammered home the point that it is only when someone understands the problems of the people that he can be at a vantage position to solve them adding that he finds himself in that position.
According to him, an assessment was done in disaster prone communities and strategies are now been put in place to implement them in order to minimize risk factors.
In terms of generating the necessary finance needed to translate his aspirations into reality, Gento said he will ensure that Council does not only depend on the Central Government for subventions but to generate its own revenue. He said as a successful entrepreneur he knows how to access finance further disclosing how he will not only raise what he referred to as a Municipal Bond but will collaborate with NASSIT to work out a scheme that will generate revenue.
Somehow debunking the notion that Freetonians are unwilling to pay taxes, the leading Mayoral aspirant argued convincingly that when he does exactly what the People like them then they will be willing to honour their tax obligations without having to coarse them into doing so, saying for example if water is made available and consumed then bills must be paid.
On what will be his take on the notion that the Freetown City Council must be the exclusive preserve of the Creoles, Gento responded by stating that initially when he made his intention known, the focus of his engagement was to break the chain of tribalism in Freetown by putting an end to it.
“To become the Mayor of Freetown is not about a matter of tribe,” he asserted adding that contemporary politics is all about inclusion. He argued that when the Creoles first came to Sierra Leone they met the Temnes who gave them land where they built their shelters. “I have nothing against the Creoles, I like them which is why I choose my running mate from among them,” he disclosed adding that when Council was headed by Creoles the endemic problems now plaguing the metropolis were still existing arguing that it does not really matter the tribe the person belongs to but rather his competence to deliver and the relationship that the person has with the masses saying he is that person who has good interpersonal relationships and is very confident that he is competent to serve in the capacity as Mayor of Freetown.
Gento said he has an investment dream which he would translate into reality and out of the revenue generated he will be giving free of charge to the Central Government, Five Hundred Million Dollars ( $500 Million) on a yearly basis.
He spoke on how he will liaise with the Ministry of Health to see how Council could manage some hospitals to ensure that residents get what they want.
“As a former pupil of the Kissy Municipal Primary School I am quite au fait with the problems certain Municipal schools are going through,” he stated while responding to a question of how he plans to enhance the status of those schools. Gento maintained that Freetonians have to be very passionate to fix the problems of these schools.
He said Freetonians need to cut across party lines to fix these problems underscoring that he knows the problems of the vast majority as he has lived like them maintaining how people only relate with someone whom they trust and have confidence in saying he is that type of person.
Gento made it known that if elected Mayor he will move the dumpsites at Kingtom and Kissy to other locations going further to disclose how they will be transformed into sources of generating electricity.
According to him, the only better way to deal with the transportation crisis is to deal with congestion maintaining that such could only be done when empty lands are developed and people relocated. “When we create jobs outside Freetown then people will move,” he stated as a panacea to the transportation and congestion issues affecting Freetonians.
He ended by stating confidently that the SLPP will win the elections, that he will emerge victorious and appealed to Freetonians to better vote for someone who feels their pain and is willing to serve to his best of ability in the interest of the vast majority of Freetonians and make Freetown a great Metropolis all will be proud of.
