By Foday Moriba Conteh
In a bid to support the Freetown City Council Transform Freetown Initiative, the United Bank for Africa (UBA) has on Thursday 15th April, 2021 handed over 1,300 Sanitation Aprons to the Freetown City Council. The handing over ceremony took place at the Freetown City Hall in Freetown.
Handing over the sanitation aprons, Executive Director of the United Bank for Africa, Mohamed Samoura, used the opportunity to congratulate Her Worship the Mayor of the Freetown City Council on her recent selection as Vice Chairperson of the Steering Committee of C40 Cities, which is a global network of 97 cities committed to address Global Climate Change issues.
He noted that as a bank, they commend the remarkable work of the Council in improving the hygiene and sanitary conditions of the city, adding that this city belongs to all living and doing business here and with that in mind, he assured the Mayor that UBA SL is committed to the Freetown City Council Transform Freetown Initiative.
He revealed that over the years the bank provided various supports to the Government and People of Sierra Leone and will continue to do so of which he added that in 2017 the bank made donations and provided support for rescue missions and victims of the Regent mudslide, adding that the Bank has also supported the office of the First Lady during the launch of the “Hands of our Girls” Project furthering that they are among the first corporate institutions to respond to the Government’s call for support to combat the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Underscoring the bank’s support to the Freetown City Council, he maintained that as one of Africa’s largest financial services institution, they recognized the need for a social contract between the bank, the community and its people.
He noted that as part of the bank’s support to the Freetown City Council, they are handing over a total of 1,300 Aprons worth over $15,000i.e (Over One Hundred and Fifty Million Leones) to support the Council’s Clean Freetown Initiative.
He added that in May 2008, the UBA Foundation joined a group of elite financial institutions who signed on to the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). Through this, they have pledged their commitment to improving the environment and promoting
sustainable development by forging best practice throughout the
industry, pointing out that as part of the bank’s commitment towards sustainability of the environment the UBA Foundation maintains several gardens across Africa of which he said they have almost completed a garden in front of the Freetown City Council on Wallace Johnson Street which will be commissioned soon.
Receiving the donation, Her Worship the Mayor Freetown City Council, Yvonne Aki-Sawyer applauded UBA for the laudable venture in supporting the Council with the 1,300 Sanitation Kits which she said will definitely support the Transform Freetown initiative.
She noted that the move by UBA is a demonstration that Transform Freetown is all about collaboration with all the stakeholders in the city, from individuals to organizations and private sector corporations, adding that they have demonstrated what they truly believe, that as a city, they go forward together as those collaborations truly make a difference.
She stated that as a Council they created a platform with Transform Freetown, which has allowed all understand where the city is going in order for people to come forward with their ideas and suggestions in order to transform Freetown.
She added that the Bank’s decision to provide these 1300 Aprons will help them at the Freetown City Council to amplify one of their most important sectors of transform Freetown, which is their sanitation work.
She informed the gathering that Transform Freetown has four clusters, which include Resilience, Human Development, Healthy City and Urban Mobility with eleven (11) priority sectors of which she said that sanitation falls within their healthy city cluster.
“And with sanitation, we have a target to move from the collection of 6% of liquid waste and 21% of solid waste to at least 60% for both liquid and solid waste. So what does that mean, it means that we need to have the manpower, the infrastructure to move that waste from homes from markets, from the streets to the dump sites, and that infrastructure includes our teams. But what you have done today is to help amplify the work that we do,” she noted.
She used the opportunity to call on all to push very hard to ensure that everybody plays their part in keeping the city clean and that the simplest thing that everybody can do is not to throw waste on the street.
She added that her second call is that if people don’t have somebody collecting their waste, then they should go to find me in Freetown .com or call 8244.
