Heavy persistent rains in Freetown

Alhaji U Njai: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 23 July 2023:

Sierra Leone suffers from the convergence of two wicked environmental problems, one not our doing and the other, the result of our reckless environmental stewardship.

Climate change is not our doing in Sierra Leone; the shifts in climate and rainfall patterns definitely points to Climate change for which the industrialized nations bear the moral responsibility.

Sierra Leone’s contribution to global carbon emissions is negligible and infinitesimal when compared to even a city like New York in the US. Hence, climate change represent one of the greatest environmental injustices for our generation.

The perennial floodings, risk of landslides, and disasters are largely the result of our irresponsible and unregulated environmental stewardship.

Massive deforestation, unplanned and unregulated building constructions on hill slopes, creating heavy run off and mass flow down hill with limited land cover barrier to aid infiltration.

Poor drainages are not the problem. We have the drainages but they are filled up with soil and silt from up hill. We are not short of institutions and agencies with mandates to regulate, implement policies, laws and provide proper stewardship of our precious environments. The buck stops with them.

We cannot fix Sierra Leone without fixing Freetown, and to fix Freetown requires an active integrated multi-sectoral collaborative transformational process of decolonising and decentralising the capital.