Sunkarie Kamara (FBC Intern), AYV News, October 15, 2025
The Mayor of Freetown, Her Worship Yvonne Aki- Sawyerr has said in recent interview with AYV that dividing Freetown into three cities will only add to the labour and utility cost in the country, instead of development and improving service delivery.
The Mayor believes that any city that fails to plan the use of land, where building permit is less effective, it will mean that access will be a problem. She said where there is absence of access to basic amenities will always be challenge with disasters like flooding, emergency access and good sanitation.
She emphasises that many families have lost their loved ones because citizens have blocked access to easy passage of water in drainages during the raining season. She said there are buildings everywhere including access road.
“In fact, many communities in the central part of the city lack access road, motorbikes and tricycle are challenged to access these communities which is why whenever there is disaster it always a problem. All of this is because of improper planning, Sierra Leoneans are always blaming city council. Just because we are city council does not mean we are the ones giving building permits, we are not in charge of constructing roads either, rather Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority (SLRSA)”. Mayor Aki-Sawyerr said.
However, she said the Freetown City Council will not give up, instead, they are moving forward with their new sanitation bylaw that they are looking forward to see continued improvement. He warned that any building that goes up has its own sanitation problems not just liquid waste but solid as well. Again, access to parking lots is a major problem in the city. “So there are challenges which affect service delivering, road use, sanitation and poor congestion. When we talk about poor services in Freetown sanitation is key. If the government decides to divide the city with different local government administration, I guarantee there will be three times the cost, with offices, function benefits and many more”.
The Mayor concluded by warning that dividing the city will make the situation worse, and that it will affect the limited resources they are using to remedy situation with more spending. She said, “Why not capacitating this administration with that finance and solve all these problems that need urgent fixing”.
