Leicester Road Community needs urgent help.

By Ezekiel Dumbuya

Leicester Road Community is one of the most deprived communities in constituency 124, ward 429 in the western area urban district of Freetown.

The community has a population of over Nine Hundred Thousand (900,000) people that are contributing to the developmental process of Sierra Leone, but today the community has lost most of its basic amenities that ease the livelihood of humans.

One of the facilities that a community should have is a police station or a police post, as at present there is no police post/station in the Leicester road community. Considering the rampant thefts, robberies and cliques activities in the community, the safety of residents is at stake in that community and residents in the community told this reporter that they are concerned and worried about the lack of police presence in their community and called on the Sierra Leone Police and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to help them get a police post.

Lack of a water facility in the community is also the biggest problem affecting the people in the community. This has forced parents to send their children to fetch water at odd hours and this has increased the rate of teenage pregnancy in the community.

Therefore, the Guma valley water company (GVWC) through the government of Sierra Leone needs to address the issue of water shortage in the community and to put proper measures in place for the hillside communities to have water facilities as soon as possible.

Health care facilities are a major problem in the Leicester road community, people in that community, especially pregnant women and lactating mothers are suffering to get good health care. There is an urgent need from the government to help this community.

Youths in the community started a project to improve the construction of roads in the community, but they had stopped because there was no support from the government or people as a sign of motivation.

Quite recently the Freetown City Council (FCC) with development partners started a drainage system from Leicester road community to Gloucester and its environs. This has made residents applaud the Mayor for taking such development in their community.