Freetown — Councilor Ansu Osman Koroma of Constituency 98 Ward 352 in the Congo Water area, eastern Freetown, said his Ward lacks a community centre thus forcing the community to host most of their activities at the Wellington Community Center.

Apart from the non-availability of a center, Councilor Koroma also lamented the absence of a health center to service the growing health demands of the densely populated area. He said 'the last Saturday of the month' cleaning exercise initiated by him is helping the community to mitigate some of the dangerous diseases around the city.

"We've undertaken lots of road maintenance work and rehabilitation of bridges within the community for which the people are very much appreciative. We are also happy to see the Sierra Leone Roads Authority constructing street drainages and we hope that before the next rainy season all work would have been completed," he said.

Councilor Koroma also observed that water supply in the area is very erratic as most residents only have the opportunity to fetch water at night. The Ward 352 councilor said he has already engaged the Guma Valley Water Company to help rescue the situation.

On the issue of child labour, Mr. Koroma said the community was strongly against it and that a committee already exists to deal with parents who send their kids to the street to sell. He stressed that the committee views the issue very seriously and that defaulting parents would be liable to pay a fine.

In the area of the youth, the councilor disclosed that a good number of them have been enrolled at the Christian Brother project, Old Wharf, for skills training that will help them become self-reliant.

Congo Water community chairman, Idrissa Kito Sankoh lauded the strides being made by the councilor in addressing some of the felt needs of the community. He said the councilor uses his personal money to pay for the disposal of garbage being collected from people's houses.

"It is important to bring to the attention of the authorities that the community also lacks a market. But the councilor is making frantic efforts to ensure one is constructed in the area," he noted.

Sankoh recalled that some time in 2005, the National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) started constructing a market but that up to this time it is yet to be completed, as according to him, the contractor told them there were no more funds to complete the project.