“My Government has prioritized human capital development and I emphasize that this nation might not be able to develop its human capital when it is unable to improve public health outcomes for citizens by increasing their access to safe drinking water and sanitation and promoting health behaviors that would minimize the incidence of disease and death.” These were the exact words of President Julius Bio on Wednesday 5 December 2018 while – officially launching the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Annual Review Conference organized by the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation at the Bintumani Hotel, Aberdeen in Freetown.

However, in stark contrast, officials working at the Youyi Building are suffering from the lack of WASH facilities in this most-important government building as AYV found out.

AYV found that some parts of the Youyi Building stink for lack of WASH facilities and staff use the bathrooms either as kitchen or store. In one of the toilets at the Ministry of Lands, AYV filmed days’ old feaces, while at the Ministry of Agriculture the toilet is used to wash plates and cups; and at the ministry of Local Government the toilet is used as a store, while at the Information Ministry, a horrible smell permeates the air, although the toilet itself is faultless.

But could it be that some of these government officials focus on developing their own bathrooms in their offices rather than the ones for visitors because they do not care about this subject.

AYV also filmed some of the unwanted rest room furniture abandoned at the back of the Youyi Building as if there is no place to dispose them.

In another development the scanners bought some years ago for security purposes are no longer in active use which clearly signals a security threat to the government officials, visitors and other people working in the different ministries.