TRACE: That Unfortunate Statement By FCC Deputy Chief Administration

Oh yes! TRACE meant what he said. Folks how are you doing anyway? TRACE along with other Freetonians woke up on Monday morning 22nd August this year with the hope that our garbage would have been cleared by no less a company but MASADA Waste Management Company. To our dismay, it was not so as the company staff has laid down their tools for what they described as two months salaries backlog.

Admin Director of MASADA Sahr Karku confirmed the strike action to TRACE. According to him there are workers who usually work at night but due to their financially constrain, they failed to show up for duty.

He said they have being working for eight months now but they have not been receiving payment for the work they have done from the government.

“The workers went out of patience. We have been talking to them to continue working while we are trying to settle their two months salaries but to our surprise they resisted us. Eight months now we have not being paid by the government. We have being paying our staff from the little we got during the past six months through bank loan when the government payment was not forthcoming.”

The confirmation of Admin Director of MASADA prompted TRACE to make some moves to the Freetown City Council (FCC) which is the intermediary between MASADA and the central government.

TRACE was present when a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) was signed between FCC and MASADA at the then office of the Freetown Waste Management Company.

TRACE left Black Hall road in the east end of Freetown battled with the Kissy Road traffic and rain to reach FCC’s office.

When TRACE reached FCC, Trace first talked to the Mayor, the Mayor asked TRACE to talk with the Chief Administration. After waited for an hour, TRACE was then asked to talk with the Deputy Chief Administrator.

TRACE finally met the Freetown City Council (FCC) Deputy Chief Administration Mohamed Koroma at his office. He confirmed to TRACE that they owed MASADA 8 months salaries but according to him he was not aware of the strike.

He told TRACE that there is a contractual agreement between MASADA and the Government of Sierra Leone and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between MASADA and FCC to be paying MASADA Le 200 Million every month to clean the city.

“The MOU is binding. We don’t deny paying them at all. To say because we don’t pay them that is why they are not working is unfair to the country. Freetown is not clean. We  employ MASADA to continue their work and for them to prove themselves.”

TRACE raised the issue of the Bye-Laws to the Deputy CA when he said Freetown is not clean as it should be and  which is affecting Masada’s operation because the bye-laws are not functional.

The FCC Deputy Chief Administration Mohamed Koroma has to respond this way, “Every Wednesday on Council radio hour we have been telling people not to throw filth on the streets and in the gutters. You can take the horse to the stream but you can’t force it to drink.”

From this point, TRACE began to doubt Freetown City Council because it was a clear justification that the current administration of FCC cannot handle the pressure of the city.

TRACE was reflecting on the days of Mayor Herbert George Williams when he posed fined of Le 100,000 for anyone caught throwing filth on the streets. For some months the law was effective until the then Mayor began to negotiate with other politicians whose family members were victims of the law.

If the then Mayor was listening to TRACE and other well-meaning Sierra Leoneans, he should have been one of the best Mayor of Freetown.

But here is a Council that is afraid of implementing the laws of the City because of politics

The Bye-laws should have gone a long way for the development of Freetown but Council placed it on the shelf to gather dust.

So TRACE can say FCC is beating the dead horse that they are trying take to the stream. How can you just talking on radio about a thing that is not working, using tax payers’ money in vain.

The FCC Bye-Laws have all what it takes to make Freetown clean and look like any advanced city in the world but who will take the lead to enforce it, not MASADA you know.

Here again the FCC Deputy Chief Administrator got it wrong,

“It is correct that there have been challenges on the side of FCC to make the payments but at the same time we were expecting MASADA to clean 43 transit points. MASADA is only cleaning 19 transit points. We did not say we will deduct on their payment but for them to say because we were not able to pay them for few months as an independent company that is unfortunate.”

TRACE wants to believe that the Deputy CA doesn’t have updated records. Some of the transit points he was claiming is not even in existence. FCC and MASADA closed some transit points such as the one at Congo Cross Bridge, Main Moto Road by Airtel office, Brookfiled by Youyi Building among others. Some points were listed by FCC. How can you count none- existing places just to cast blame on the company?

Beside from the agreement which TRACE knew about, MASADA is not responsible for the cleaning of streets but only responsible to take care of transit points which they are doing faithfully.

If today they are cleaning streets, clearing illegal garbage points it shows commitment.

MASADA also took the Mayor of Freetown to Lagos for him to get first-hand information on how Lagos state governor was able to change the one battered and filthy state to a clean and orderly one. 

If not for the good work of MASADA, Freetonians knew where Freetown was heading. Filth was all over the city but now the city can breathe fresh air. We no longer see huge garbage pilled on the streets. MASADA is not a law enforcement agency. They need the support of FCC for Freetown to be a clean city.

This is not the time for them to undermine the company. The one setup by City Council which was the Freetown Waste Management Company performed badly despite the huge money that was deposited there.

So if Freetown is breathing fresh air now, all what TRACE is expecting them to do is to come with ideas that will change the city. We know that if there is no body to enforce the laws, the people will continue to do what they like.

It is very difficult having somebody working for you and you are not able to pay them. TRACE has been working with MASADA for a while. TRACE knew how committed the company is to make sure that the streets of Freetown are clean. It is hardly for you to see the streets littered with waist unattended to since MASADA took over the cleaning of the city.

TRACE hope to see total commitment from all sectors for the growth and development of the city.