August 31, 2021
By Ilyasa Baa
Mathuru village in Debia Chiefdom, Kerene District in the Northern Province currently lacks pure drinking water as the unfinished community well gets dirty due to cattles that are reared in the village.
The fifteen feet depth community well has been unfinished for long time since its construction was started by the village people it continues to serve as the main source of water although it was deemed unclean.
The village women have said the water is smell, tasty and colored making them and their children sick with diarrhea and other related water borne diseases.
Mabinty Karama told A-Z Newspaper that sometimes they find it difficult to consume the water but have no alternative because it is the only one that they can afford.
She said the only alternative is the stream which is strewn by cattle defecation.
She noted that even the school going pupils depend on the stream to fetch water for use at school.
The Village Immam, Shiekh Musa Sesay said there is need for intervention by government as well as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to address the water issue the village is faced with. He said economically, the village people are down and could not contribute financially to finish the community well project.
According to the Headmaster of the District Education Committee (DEC) Primary School, Abu Emmanuel Dumbuya, pupils use the stream as an excuse to play truancy because even the school lacks water facility.
Pa Alimamy K. Bangura, the Village Chief said the situation becomes worsened during the dry season as the stream dries up with plenty bubbles. He reiterated that there is need for immediate intervention so more lives are not affected in the village.
Mathuru village in Ward 227, Constituency 052 is one of the impoverished villages in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone with poor infrastructure although the chiefdom has produced important personalities in governments. Being the home district of the former flagbearer of the opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) party Dr. Samura Kamara, people say they had the chance to develop the district but did not do so. As such, the names of people serving in the current government such as Dr. Alpha Wurie and the Honourable Speaker of Parliament have come up as well as other prominent indigenes of Debia Chiefdom.
However, the Jafai Support Foundation has conducted needs assessment looking at the DEC Primary School and the water issue. Its Chief Executive Officer, Madam Fatima Savage has expressed the need for intervention to assist the local community.