Flood Bank Account in Limbo…Victor Foh to Explain

By Abdulrahman Koroma

As they remain abandoned at Mile 6  in deplorable condition, flood victims are requesting  an explanation of the status of  their bank account. 

Sierra Leoneans who were affected by the September 16 flood in Freetown are calling on the government of Sierra Leone to explain what has gone wrong with the Bank Account that was created to solicit funding from philanthropist individuals and organisations.

 Morlai Marrah, deputy Youth Chairman at Mile 6 Relocation Site told Salone Times that sometime this year, a Sierra Leonean philanthropist based in England tried to send them money through the flood victims bank account but the account proved dormant.  He said several other attempts were made but the account could not be accessed. They had to resort to getting someone to hand deliver  the money to them at the site through an individual who was travelling into the country. 

Morlai furthered that they are demanding answers on how their bank account has been operating because they have not been benefiting from it. He added that things have not been easy for them at the site, and it would have been better if the government would have provided a better option to their sufferings.

Ibrahim Sorie Yillah, Chairman Mile Six Relocation Site revealed to Salone Times that  government reneged on its  promise to feed them for three months. he said since their arrival at the site on 16^th November 2016 they were only given 2 bags of rice and 4 gallons of oil.
He said the government told them they will stay at the zinc houses temporarily and later be transferred to their permanent houses. He added that since the construction of the six apartments, the government has refused them entrance into those structures. He pointed out that they are more than one thousand in number at the site. He lamented that they had no pure drinking water, neither school nor market or health facilities.
The Government of Sierra Leone had earlier announced during a government press briefing that they have designated 4 billon Leones from the consolidated fund to meet the needs of the September 16 flood victims, and that there is a flood bank account supervised by the Vice President Victor Bockarie Foh in case philanthropists may want to help.
 On 16th November 2015 over 100 family heads affected victims were relocated to occupy 50 ‘Pan Body’s’ (Corrugated Zinc Houses) at Crossing few miles from mile six, Koya in the western rural district of Sierra Leone.
John Vandy Rogers, head of flood disaster in the Office of National Security (ONS), told Salone Times that he has no knowledge that have to do with the flood account and he cannot make any comment on it.