By Henry Kargbo
Following her recent visit to Makeni, during which she experienced gallops whilst driving on dozens of the pot-riddle roads to and from the north-eastern regional headquarters city, the First Lady, Madam Fatima Bio, has blamed the deplorable network of roads in that part of the country on Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) and Road Maintenance Fund (RFM).
Explaining how she with her presidential motorcade painfully and delicately experienced gallops on her way to and from Makeni, First Lady Madam Fatima Bio raised concerns about the disgraceful condition of the public highway leading to a whole regional city.
She said the highway starting from Rogbereh Junction onto Makoth and Makeni is in bad condition and requires urgent attentions of SLRA and RFM. Mrs Bio thus called on the appropriate agencies, authorities and the line Ministry of Works, Housing and Infrastructure to do the needful by urgently fixing the road to Makeni.
Mrs Bio instructed authorities charged with the tasks of building and maintenance of roads in the country’s infrastructural sector, to take full responsibility for the poor road network in that part of the country and address the problem immediately.
She said founds are periodically allocated to the RMF for the upkeep and regular maintenance of all roads across the country, revealing that the Makeni road is, reportedly, to have been awarded to a contractor, whose name she did not mention, for rehabilitation. The wife of President Dr Julius Maada Bio however insisted that the service provider do the road in record time.
Madam Bio therefore made an urgent appeal to SLRA and RMF to take the necessary actions in the maintenance of the road, as its current condition poses serious threats to lives and properties as people are plying the route in question. “It’s scary and life-threatening and we cannot afford to wait for the worse to happen to our people,” the First Lady said.
