The Hon. Member of Parliament representing the people of Cons. 076 in the Port Loko District, Hon. Ibrahim Aziz Bangura has said that electricity supply in the Western Area and other parts of the country is “under life support”. He said as matters now stand, Lungi is currently undergoing a serious challenge on electricity supply since this Government took over in 2018. According to Hon. Bangura, Lungi used to get 18 hours uninterrupted electricity supply but as it is now, Lungi cannot even boast of 4 hours electricity supply.
He made this statement on Wednesday 30th June 2021 in the Chamber of Parliament during the debate on President bio’s speech on the State Opening of the Fourth Session of the Fifth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone.
Adressing the Speaker, Hon. Bangura pointed out that, the increase in the electricity tariff on citizens hurts the people, and yet still the government cannot provide sustainable electricity. “Electricity supply in the western area and some provincial headquarters is a challenge. “, For me I can only say electricity supply is under life support”, “I am a Member of Parliament in Lungi, as I speak we are still facing a serious challenge in electricity supply, even to switch on our appliances at night it difficult for us” he said.
He continued by saying Makeni which used to describe a “city of light” now degenerated to a city of darkness. He also said Port Loko used to enjoy 18 hours uninterrupted power supply, are now having 4 hours electricity supply,
He urged President, Julius Maada Bio to pay more attention in the area of electricity so as to alleviate the suffering of the people.
Lamenting on the area of transport sector, and also coming from the river land areas, the Hon. Member from Lungi called on the President to pay attention to the transport sector, reminding Parliament that, in the speech of the President, he talked about Marine Safety and its development objective, but underscored the point that the current state of the Lungi jetty is nothing to write home about, adding that it is in a deplorable stage and “if nothing is being done about it, it will be catastrophic” he said. He called on the
President to recall the promises he made to the “people of Kaffu Bullum” for providing them with two ferries and note that ,nothing has been done in that regard.
Speaking on access to water, Hon. Bangura said water in the western area is a challenge; revealing that in the eastern part of Freetown especially at Locust Step during the night “you will see school going kids fetching water and this has led to high teenage pregnancies”, he asserted.
The dynamic and outspoken MP being once an artist, touched on the music industry in which he commended the president for appointing one of his constituents by the name of Amara Turay commonly known as “Kao Denero” to act as an ambassador to the entertainment industry and to see how he can transform the industry. He called on the ambassador to embraced all artist and work in the interest of the nation.
He said ,President Bio promise to revamp the industry since 2018 to no avail. He called on the Preside to review and enforce the copyright law, adding that he also promised to established an entertainment center for actors and artists of this country “but nothing of that has been done “, “The artist themselves are Sierra Leonean and whenever we have a program, we pay for international artist thousands of dollars we give our Sierra Leoneans stipend” he stressed.
