By Mohamed K. Turay
Residents in Masiaka town, in Port Loko District northern Sierra Leone, are complaining bitterly about the high electricity tariff which they claim is killing them economically.
The most disheartening thing, according to some of the residents who spoke to The Nationalist over the weekend, is the fact that when they buy top-up of fifty thousand Leones (Le50,000); it cannot last for four days in a household having just four energy-saving bulbs without the use of a television set, fan or freezer.
“The electricity in Masiaka can only be afforded by those whose financial muscles are strong while 70 percent of residents cannot afford it”, one Adama Kamara said.
It could be recalled that the electricity project in Masiaka was initiated in 2014 by the administration of former President Koroma, which asked the then UK government to support his government to electrify chiefdom headquarter towns in Sierra Leone.
The UK government responded positively by approving and providing the funds for the implementation of the project through the United Nations Office for Projects Services (UNOPS).