The Freetown City Council (FCC) Committee of management has the responsibility of maintaining and enforcing sanitation and keeping the city clean. But over the years this duty has been compromised with the FCC taking less responsibility while at the same time handing over this duty more than partially to a private sanitation and garbage haulage company MASADA.

The work of MASADA has been largely effective but due to lack of proper monitoring and default by the FCC to uphold payment for MASADA service running close to two billion Leones the company had reason to stop or go slow on cleaning the city which resulted to large increase of filth in pockets of Freetown and in places where garbage is not supposed to be deposited.

As a result, one thing led to another and currently, the state of filth in and around the Freetown Municipality would be a Herculean task for the incoming administration of Mayor Aki Sawyer who has promised that she has what it takes to change the face of the city and instill discipline into its citizens for them to keep the city clean or face consequences when they are caught deliberately depositing garbage in places not meant for this.

Meanwhile, with the number of homeless people in the city growing daily, and the city council having demolished shelters that they had, the Cotton Tree area in central Freetown has become an abode for homeless citizens; another issue which the new Mayor has promised to tackle head-on.