With Freetown currently plagued with mess, environmental and sanitation challenges, one of the most popular opposition All People’s Congress (APC) mayoral hopefuls for the June 24 election, Bjorn Greene has reassured residents that he is here to fix Freetown.
“I’m here to fix Freetown. Freetown will be cleaned and environmentally friendly to all and friends of the city. When you talk about reforms and changes, people must be able to see, feel, experience and the tangibles efforts of progress that have been made so far on the ground,” Greene said and adds, “Me as the Mayor of Freetown, will be always approachable by the people I serve,” disclosing that his municipality leadership will first of all evaluate the existing structures he shall be inheriting and roll out results oriented working strategy that outline specific terms of references to ensure that staffers deliver their assignments with value for money. We are not going to sack anybody but to avoid a working situation wherein FCC workers deliver with value for money.
Greene said that capacity development opportunities will be put in place for unskilled all FCC workers to enable them meet to emerging needs of the council so that it will no longer be business as always.
Speaking in an interview with FORUM last Friday 14 April 2023 at his private resident in Freetown, the core APC son of the late Christine Greene said he is in political as a servant leader to provide solutions for the progress, development and over all transformation of Freetown.
“I am here with structures that shall be working along the existing ones, as you can see lot of things have to be put in place in the city even before we can be comfortable to call Freetown a modern city of the twenty-first century. And I believe working with the team I shall be meeting, I believe I will be able to bring Freetown together and reunite communities under the banner of the reformed municipality management by closing the existing divisions, because I have already identified the challenges and I am willing, prepared and fully ready to solve them,” said Greene.
Greene explained that he has done studies in The Gambia, Cape Verd and in Jamaica, who share similar landscape and environment with Freetown. He said during his study tours of the aforementioned cities he learnt a lot about their solutions that addressed their respective sanitations, environmental and revenue mobilizations challenges through rates and taxes, plastic waste recycling and managements. These he shall be transferred by his leadership as a mayor of the Freetown City Council to address the highlighted challenges. He added that Ward executives and shall as well be fully committed to empower and collaborate with the people to handle and address the aforesaid issues. He furthered that his administration will also help in mitigating of emerging environmental challenges that will be probably caused by erosion during the rains.
As the right man to transform Freetown through practical project implementations with tangible impacts that will be physically felt and experienced on the ground, Greene said he will use his warm and perfect human relationship to work with people from all shades of the municipality and even beyond.
“I my Non-Governmental Organizations and private sector world, I set up businesses, hired and worked with people from different religious and cultural backgrounds, and we succeeded collectively. I setup my first business called Adonkia Cleaning Services when I was sixteen years old, during which we used to clean churches, mosques, private and other public places of gathering, which shows that I have worked beyond borders and all divides. I have worked all my life with so many people irrespective of one’s beliefs,” he said.
He said that the Freetown populace are his primary priority, adding that he has not seen any candidate of his march for the mayorship of Freetown.
“I am a grassroot politician. I have worked with and supported the former APC National Youth League now called the Young People’s Congress for years to the point of earning the status of Honourary National Executive membership status,” Greene explained, and added that APC is his party. I love the APC. APC is in my blood which is why I have decided to team up with the grassroots including the keke-tricycle and commercial motorbike riders to redeem the APC party from where it is now so that we can all re-build Freetown into a whole new city.
Though it is a huge risk to leave his private businesses and investment to work for the party, he is also worried that the APC is in such a challenging political situation in the democratic space. He thus vowed to fight hard to liberate the APC from the current political situation though the ballot box.
