By Foday Moriba Conteh
In commemorating World Water Day in the country, the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone (CCSL) has called on Government to take action against those who violate water catchment areas and perpetrate many other crimes. This disclosure was made during a Press Conference held on Monday 22nd March, 2021 at their Head Office on Kingharman Road in Freetown.
In his address, President of the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone (CCSL), Rev. Henry Samuels, noted that March 22 every year marks World Water Day, a day set aside to focus on the importance of water in every community in the world, adding that the day was set aside by the United Nations in 1993.
He said the Churches in Sierra Leone, through the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone (CCSL), joined faith communities all over the world, under the auspice of the WCC Ecumenical Water Network in celebrating the day on the theme: “Valuing Water.” of which he said the value of water cannot be measured in monetary terms and that Water indeed is life and it is not merely a slogan but a reality.
Rev. Henry Samuels noted that the provision of safe and affordable water is a Human Right issue recognized in International Law, through Human Rights Treaties and Declarations Sierra Leone subscribed to saying it is incumbent on any Government to see to it that clean, safe, accessible and affordable water is available for personal and domestic uses of the people it governs, furthering that for any Government to negate that responsibility is to violate the God-given right of God’s people.
“We express our strong concern that, estimated, over two thirds of our population are without adequate supply of portable clean and affordable water,” he lamented.
The President noted that they recognize the various challenges and constraints of the companies that are entrusted with the supply of this essential commodity to the population of Sierra Leone, but these challenges have remained for far too long and no serious attempts are made towards solving them, pointing out that the provision of water for the vulnerable population of our nation must be a priority.
Rev. Henry Samuels noted that as a Council they have called for decisive actions towards solving the problems as they are tired of global reports that tell us that only 13 % of Sierra Leone’s population has access to water and sanitation further expressing the strong concern that pipe-borne water in Freetown, the capital of our nation, is obtained in the most unhygienic ways with pipes running through gutters and drainages and people having to put their containers in the filthy gutters to obtain water.
He said they are also greatly concerned with the present pollution of our rivers, particularly the Taia River of which he said they went on a fact finding mission and did an assessment of the polluted river, from Matotoka and Magburaka (Pampana), Taiama (Taia) and Mattru Jong (Jong) and they were appalled by the level of pollution, adding that the Taia river used to be a source of livelihood ( for fishing and mining) for many but that it no longer serves that purpose as a result of pollution. Fishes are infected and sand deteriorates in quality, he highlighted.
“We call for argent action by the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Water Resources; the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Mining Agency (NMA) to take urgent action to stop the pollution of our rivers, (River Taia in particular) and save the lives of our citizens. The protection of citizens is a right and not a favour,” he concluded.
