Sierra Leone Telegraph: 27 May 2021:
In a ceremony at the Moyamba Correctional Facility in southern Sierra Leone, UN Resident Coordinator Dr. Babatunde A. Ahonsi and United States Ambassador David Reimer handed over a new solar powered system to provide clean water for the inmates and correctional staff.
The water facility, including a borehole, water tower, and solar-powered pump systems, is part of joint work by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United States to support the strengthening of the criminal justice sector in Sierra Leone while protecting human rights.
“This joint initiative demonstrates how much can be achieved when efforts are harnessed around the same goal. We are proud of the work so far accomplished and UNDP remains committed to achieving sustainable results that are anchored around the SDGs”, stated the UNDP Resident Representative Pa Lamin Biyai.
“Nelson Mandela noted that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails,” stated Ambassador Reimer.
“Since 2014, the United States and UNDP in partnership with the Government of Sierra Leone have strengthened service delivery within Sierra Leone’s criminal justice system. We hope these installations will provide water for many years to come – protecting the health and human dignity of the inmates and corrections staff here,” Reimer said.
As part of the UNDP/INL program, boreholes, water towers and solar-powered systems have been installed in the Port Loko, Moyamba and Bo correctional facilities.
The program also works to institute needed reforms in the criminal justice sector to enhance case management, reduce overcrowding and to assist in the rehabilitation of inmates after their release.
A gesture of goodwill by the United States Ambassador and UN Resident Coordinator to present prison officers and prisoners their basic human right to water. Thanks for your heartfelt contribution to us the people of Sierra Leone. Nonetheless, our government ministry that is responsible for looking after the well-being of prison officers and prisoners in particular, should make sure that good water systems are in place in all prison locations in the entire country provided by their ministry. We so rely on foreign bodies to do every little thing for Sierra Leone. This is getting too belittling for Mama Salone. Asking or depending (baigbaig) on foreigners to do such a minor thing that ought to be done by state run institution is shameful. Mama Salone deserves better from her children to stand and provide for ourselves.