40% COVID-19 SAFE DISTANCING MEASURE OBSERVED AT KROO BAY, Etc – HON. ALU

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COVENANT NEWSPAPER - 40% COVID-19 SAFE DISTANCING MEASURE OBSERVED AT KROO BAY, Etc - HON. ALU

By: Melvin Tejan Mansaray

Safe distancing measure to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is increasingly being recommended globally to stop the social chain of transmission of the coronavirus.
In Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, a Lawmaker representing the country’s densely populated slum communities (Kroo Bay, Government Wharf and other slum areas) said the practice of safe distancing measure is worrisome.

Honorable Alusine Kaindeh Alu Conteh, Member of Parliament, APC party, Constituency 125, Western Urban (Kroo Bay, Krootown Road, Falcon, St. John, Kingtom) made this revelation in an exclusive interview with this press while speaking on the level of compliance with the COVID-19 social, physical or safe distancing measures in his constituency among other issues.

Kroo Bay alone is believed to host over fourteen thousand inhabitants in conditions far from being ideal for the growing coronavirus confirmed cases in the country.
Other slums, Government Wharf, Kingtom and elsewhere are having a similar number of people sharing almost every social facilities available communally; from water, toilets, birth rooms, to densely populated cubicle sized bedrooms making the level of adherence to avoidance of physical contact among people something that the MP is worried about.

Making an assessment on the diseases prone nature of a place like Kroo Bay, Hon. Alu said, “I am also afraid as a Member of Parliament not just for Kroo Bay; We have Falcon Community, Kolleh Town etc. We are afraid.”
“The people living in these communities are so clustered, the houses are so close to each other, If you visit some households you will notice that they have more than ten dependants packed in small accommodations, this is fearful, ” Hon. Alu said.

He however called on his constituents not to cluster while sleeping
urging them to keep a safe distance on their crammed beds.
The MP also appealed to his constituents to use face masks and wash their hands.

According to Hon. Alu the people are doing their best to keep the safe distancing measures although not at a hundred percent.

“If I am to give a percentage on compliance on safe distancing, I will award forty percent (40%) for slum communities like Kroo Bay, Kolleh Town, Falcon and Government Wharf communities. You will see that the people are observing little safe distancing among themselves. You will tell them to distance from themselves but they will forget themselves and interact,” Hon. A.K.A Conteh said.

Speaking on his personal contributions so far to the COVID-19 fight in his constituency, Hon. Alusine explained that they have embarked on sensitization, educating the people about COVID-19 around the Central Business District (CBD) which falls in his constituency, installing veronica buckets at every major corner of the constituency. He disclosed that Choitram donated forty big and small veronica buckets, soaps, sanitizers and tissues that were distributed among the constituents adding that
Rokel Commercial Bank also donated ten buckets plus other items, same for Red Lion and Ballani and Sons that donated five bags of rice to the people of Kroo Bay.

” I did not only stop at soliciting assistance from the corporate institutions in my constituency because it was not sufficient and there were areas that did not receive the donations. I personally took upon myself to fund the purchase of eighty veronica buckets, tissues, soaps, sanitizers, approximately costing twenty million Leones. I also rented a public address system and truck to reach out with the anti COVID-19 messages,” Hon. Alu said.

On the subject of whether MPs must be sponsored by the State to do a more robust coronavirus fight in their constituencies, the MP said, “yes, because on a daily basis constituents are knocking at my door for help and my Councilors are also demanding and suspicious about me receiving financial supports from elsewhere in championing the fight. In real fact, I only received material assistance. “

Sierra Leone has so far registered over forty confirmed COVID-19 cases, six recoveries and no death but its new cases have been spiralling.
The country is presently undergoing a fourteen days curfew and inter district lockdown.
However, public opinion is divided over whether a total lockdown or tougher measures to restrict the movement of people for two or more weeks is needed.

Hon. Conteh said, “we really need lockdown but if people are out finding water and food then their is a big question about the lockdown. It will not get the kind of results we are wishing to get.”

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