By Hassan Osman Kargbo
Member of Parliament and representative on the Water and Sanitation Oversight Committee, Hon. Abdul Karim Kamara, commonly called Hon. AKK, has raised serious alarm over the increasing human activities taking place around the Greenbelt area at the Freetown Peninsula. He warned that continued encroachment on the water catchment zones poses grave danger to residents, and risks triggering a disaster far worse than the 2017 mudslide at Matormeh.
Speaking at Liberty Online platforms on Tuesday, Hon. Kamara expressed deep concern about the environmental degradation caused by settlements, farming, and other unregulated activities within the protected zone. According to him, the destruction of the Greenbelt is undermining its natural role in protecting water sources, regulating runoff, and safeguarding surrounding communities from floods and landslides.
“The ongoing human activities, including severe encroachment on the water catchment area, will put residents in grave danger,” Hon. Kamara cautioned. “If urgent action is not taken, the catastrophe that will hit this area will be far worse than the Matormeh mudslide in 2017.”
The Matormeh mudslide, which claimed over 1,000 lives and displaced thousands more, remains one of the worst natural disasters in Sierra Leone’s recent history. Environmentalists and civil society organisations have since urged government to prioritise the protection of water catchments and enforce laws against deforestation and settlement in disaster-prone areas.
Hon. Kamara stressed that insufficient access to water and poor sanitation in many parts of Freetown is partly linked to the destruction of the Greenbelt. As vegetation is cleared and land is degraded, natural water sources are lost or polluted, leaving residents struggling with inadequate supply. He emphasised that this situation undermines both public health and national development efforts.
Calling for urgent government intervention, the MP urged authorities to strengthen monitoring and enforcement of environmental laws, particularly in the Greenbelt zone. He noted that while legislation exists to protect catchment areas, implementation has been weak, allowing communities and individuals to encroach with little consequence.
“This is not just about water security, it is about saving lives,” he stressed. “We cannot afford another disaster on the scale of Matormeh. The government must reinforce robust actions to protect the Greenbelt and ensure sustainable water management for the future.”
Environmental experts have long warned that rapid urbanisation, poor planning, and weak enforcement are pushing Freetown closer to ecological collapse. The city continues to grapple with deforestation, recurrent flooding, and waste management challenges that put pressure on already fragile systems.
Civil society groups welcomed Hon. Kamara’s remarks, describing them as timely and necessary. They called for immediate collaboration between Parliament, the Ministry of Lands, the Ministry of Water Resources, and local councils to safeguard the Peninsula, which serves as Freetown’s main water catchment area.
As Sierra Leone prepares for the peak of the rainy season, concerns are growing that unchecked human activities in the Greenbelt could leave thousands vulnerable to flooding, landslides, and water shortages.
For Hon. Kamara, the message is clear: protecting the Greenbelt is not just an environmental issue but a matter of national survival.
