Sunkarie Kamara (FBC Intern) AYV News, October 22, 2025
The Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, has said the Council will no longer collect corpses from the streets of Freetown, unless the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs provides clarity on which agency is responsible for that process.
The Mayor said that while the FCC has no official legal mandate under the Local Government Act 2022 to collect corpses, the Council has taken on the role of providing burials for destitute individuals who die on the streets. She also requested that the ministry share contact details for the appropriate body to report such incidents moving forward.
The Mayor was responding to a letter from the Ministry,requesting evidence for her statement that 220 bodies related to Kush deaths have been collected in Freetown this year.
In a letter dated 20th October 2025 and addressed to the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, the Mayor confirmed that the Freetown City Council (FCC) collected 220 bodies from the streets of the city between 7th January and 8th October 2025.
She said all cases are recorded and supported by photographs, though images of bodies claimed by family members have been withheld for privacy reasons.
She said the Council can provide a spreadsheet detailing each case, including the date of collection, location, gender, and whether the body was claimed by family or buried by the FCC, adding that of the 220 bodies, 50 were claimed by relatives, while the remaining 170 were buried by the city council.
She said FCC has recorded a sharp rise in street deaths since 2022, adding that from 2020 to 2023, the annual average number of bodies collected from the streets was under 50.
She said in 2025 alone, that number has surged, and that on13th August, FCC collected 142 bodies, adding that between 13th August and 11th September, another 32 were collected.
