February 22, 2017 By Joseph S. Margai
Member of Parliament for the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) party, Hon. Karifala Conteh, popularly referred to a “Hon. Kello” of constituency 98, has on last Saturday, commissioned WASH facilities at the Bottom Oku community, Wellington in the east end of Freetown.
The WASH facilities, which included water well and toilets for both male and female pupils of the Sierra Leone Muslim Primary School, costs about three hundred and forty six million, nine hundred and ninety thousand Leone (Le346,990,000).
In his address to the beneficiaries before commissioning the facilities, Hon. Kello, disclosed that with support from Sierra Leone Brewery Limited, he facilitated the provision of a water well and the toilet for the pupils and staff of the Sierra Leone Muslim School.
“The WASH facilities are very important for the smooth running of the school. Most times, people accused their leaders of embezzlement but as for me, besides what Sierra Leone Brewery Limited provided, I personally made my own contribution of 12 million Leones to this project,” he said.
He added that he has brought lots of development projects in his constituency and that he has been given him hope that he would be re-elected in the 2018 parliamentary election.
Hon. Kello said before he was elected MP for constituency 98, they were having interrupted electricity supply, but stated that he has recently facilitated the installation of a transformer at Bowen Street and that the problem has been solved.
Hon. Kello donated a cash of two million Leones (Le2m) to the mosque and staff of the school as a way of motivating the workers of the mission.
Ojo Collier, Corporate Relations Manager, Sierra Leone Brewery Limited, said the WASH facilities for the school were part of a fulfilment of his institution’s corporate social responsibilities.
“Sierra Leone Brewery Limited (SLBL) continues to play a formidable role in the social and economic growth of Sierra Leone. Our corporate social responsibility spans through sports, health care, provision of water and sanitation to communities, and support to education sector. In the last three years, SLBL together with Heineken Africa Foundation (HAF), has provided over two billion, nine hundred million Leones (Le2.9bn) directly to health care delivery, water and sanitation throughout the country,” he said.
He added that SLBL was currently building two hospitals in Wellington and Calaba Town communities.
He noted that SLBL was also sponsoring a water and sanitation project at Ward 352 at Mellon Street and a water project at Up-Mountain in the Peacock Farm at Wellington, adding that through HAF, SLBL was also supporting the Lion Heart hospital in Yele, Gbonkolenten Chiefdom in the Tonkolili district and other hospital at Masanga, northern Sierra Leone.
“Today, we are commissioning six projects of water wells and toilets to promote WASH facilities in schools in constituencies 97 and 98 where Brewery operates. The total value of this post Ebola WASH and school stationery projects is Le346,990,000. If you could recollect, part of the project was the provision of learning and teaching materials to six schools and this was successfully launched in both constituencies 97 and 98 in 2015,” he disclosed.
He said the post-Ebola WASH projects in constituency 98, headed by Hon. Kello, was the first project to underwent a complete process of tendering, bidding, procurement of materials and now commissioning, which was done in a transparent and credible manner, noting that the project was expected to benefit more the school and residents in the Bottom-Oku community.
“Our support does not end here; it is the beginning of a new relationship with Bottom-Oku with more sustainable projects which will be intended to improve the livelihoods of our people. However, we also count on the support of all Sierra Leoneans, especially our host community, Wellington to help us promote our brands by buying the products of SLBL. Our products include Maltina, Star Beer, Mutzig, Guinness stout, among others. This is the only way you can help to support our business and sustain our continued support to such projects,” he appealed.
School authorities expressed their appreciation for the WASH facilities and promised to ensure their sustainability.