By Amadu Daramy in Maryland, USA
In the past, the Dodo hydro dam supplied electricity and because of the Panguma Hospital, Panguma Town was enjoying reliable electricity supply.
However, reliable sources in the community say the transformer was stolen in broad daylight during the civil war.
It must be noted that even the chiefdom headquarter town of Dodo Chiefdom lacks electricity supply due to the same transformer that was stolen during the civil war.
Many people saw live what happened when the transformer was stolen by alleged rebels dressed in military uniform who loaded the transformer into a military vehicle that plunged Panguma Township into total darkness onto today.
The people are therefore appealing to the government and the Energy Minister to do all humanly possible to address this issue as soon as possible as they have suffered for over 20 years without electricity supply.
Lower Bambara and Dodo Chiefdoms have very close relationship from colonial days. Currently, the Dodo hydro dam is a white elephant simply because the two Chiefdoms are not even enjoying electricity supply from it for over twenty years now.
The people are kindly appealing to the Energy Minister to look into the plight of Dodo, Lower Bambara and Malegohun Chiefdoms respectively.
Another major concern for the people is the deplorable road network linking the two chiefdoms as the road network in Dodo and the entire area has completely been neglected by successive governments.
The government hospital is serving the three chiefdoms that were formerly called Kenema East Constituency.
According to the people, the road from Panguma through Njagor and Jaima in the Kono District is another cause of concern that requires urgent government attention.
It must also be stated that Kono and Kenema Districts share a common border with Lower Bambara. The area is rich in agriculture, forestry products and minerals.
Therefore, the need for the road network to be fixed need not be overstated.
