Commentary
By Hassan Bruz in Port Loko, Sierra Leone.
Unlike what obtains in the sister district of Kambia where a lot of praises have been heaped on that district for hard work and forthrightness in the fight against Ebola, the membership of the Port Loko District Health Management Team continues to demonstrate incompetence and unprofessionalism with no semblance of an immediate change of attitude.
Many well meaning including the poor and needy inhabitants of the town have continued to ponder on what will actually be their fate in the midst of a barrage of clumsy developments. People cannot easily comprehend why the fight against Ebola has continued to be shrouded in such complexities as outlined below.
I am sure you would accept the version of the Resident Minister of the Northern Province, Honourable Alie D. Kamara who is perturbed by that fact that Port Loko now has the highest number of Ebola related cases in his region, with over 30 confirmed deaths. One is therefore tempted to wonder why the district of Kambia which is the oldest border to the Republic of Guinea is just with one imported confirmed case of Ebola and with no recorded death.
It is a painful and an undeniable fact that Port Loko is currently leading in terms of cumulated suspected and even confirmed death cases. Apart from the over 8 suspected and 30 death cases, the number of probable cases is now in the neighbourhood of 50.This is perhaps why a representative of the World Health Organisation in Kambia, Dr. Momodu Sesay, recently informed the Resident Minister that they have been asked to join another group from Freetown to reinforce the Port Loko District Health Management team and map out ways through which the ongoing mess in the district could be handled.
It would certainly be worthwhile for you to be briefed on some of the conflicting versions and subsequent mess in case you have not been told of any. Perhaps you were able to have read my previous articles with particular reference to the one in which I posed the question whether the Port Loko District Team is only there to escalate the spread of Ebola instead of championing the fight to stop its spread.
This question still lingers as it can be deduced from what is said to be the number of Ebola cases the Port Loko District Health Management Team has had cause to refer to the Kenema Treatment Centre. Interestingly, the District Medical Officer, Dr Adikali Alpha Kamara continues to refer to most of these as confirmed cases even when they have declared the suspects as Ebola- free persons with certificates from the very Treatment Centre. The case of a nurse in Lunsar and another in Masiaka could be a few examples. But you can take the case of Falaba Road in Port Loko which was even challenged by Paramount Chef Alikali Mella of Maforki. It was the case of a lady that was dragged to the Kenema Treatment Centre by the District Health Management Team and returned after a few days with a certificate that freed her of any Ebola infection. But Dr. Alikali Alpha Kamara has always referred to her as one of the positive cases in the district.
I guess you may have also known about how the Health Minister was also baffled in her most recent visit to Port Loko when she realised that the district could only moan about financial constraints for its under-performance in the fight against Ebola. It however turned out to be a far-fetched point after she had explained to the general public that she had actually asked the District Council to factor about Four Hundred and Fifteen Million Leones from the Decentralisation Service Delivery Programme[DSDP] to the Health Sector in a bid to address the issues of sensitisation, transportation, fuel and other Ebola-related emergencies. It was a clear indication of a case of susceptibility when the Minister spoke of an official correspondence she had earlier addressed to the Port Loko District Council with copies to other pertinent sectors including the Port Loko District Health Management Team.
Now let us have a look of what could be much more scary as far as signs of inefficiency are concerned. Let us start with the issue of Paramount Chief Koblo Queen of Marampa Chiefdom (photo) who was now demanding a thorough explanation from the very District Health Management Team. For your information, a cross section of the Ebola Surveillance Team clandestinely proceeded to the compound of the Paramount Chief with alleged instructions to take the blood samples of the wife of the Paramount Chief. Unfortunately, the wife and some family members were in Freetown. As a result of the physical absence of the wife of Chief Koblo Queen this perceived stage-managed mission was not accomplished.
However, the Paramount Chief immediately mobilised some members of his Chiefdom Committee to Port Loko where he demanded an explanation. My dear reader, you can call it the worst blunder of the decade, when the District Medical Officer stood to the general disbelief of the gathering with a version that he absolutely had no idea of the trip of the Surveillance Team to the residence of the Paramount Chief in Lunsar. Although the Senior District Officer Mohamed Sheik Kargbo and the Member of Parliament for Constituency 50, Honourable Isata Kabia, openly apologised on behalf of the District Health Management Team, Paramount Chief Koblo Queen and his people have threatened a legal line of action.
Most of those that got wind of this ugly development were stupefied by the one million dollar question with regards to the actual motive behind the trip of the Surveillance Team to the Paramount Chief’s compound in Lunsar. Could it be a mere trick to stigmatise the family of such an important dignitary? Or was it another ploy to tarnish the image of public and prominent figures in the District of Port Loko? Or is it the usual means through which evil individuals continue to frustrate the classic efforts of President Ernest Bai Koroma and Government in the bid to enrich themselves at all cost?
I shall return to brief you on how some grave diggers and Contact Tracers in Kaffu Bullom and several other parts of the district have been paid less than what they should receive or have not been given a single Leone since their recruitment a few weeks ago.
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