An old woman sitting crammed in a Nissan Patrol Jeep parked at the center of Kailahun Town wondered what time she would reach Kenema 74 miles away, to sell her produce.
Explaining in Mende while other passengers looked on, the old woman said, ”We take a whole day or even more to reach Kenema, provided we don’t have a break down.” She went on, ” And we pay Le 30,000 for a sitting space and pay double and even more for our loads depending on the size.”
Commuters consider terrible road conditions from Kenema to Kailahun a ”nightmare.” Dozens of people have died in accidents along it and the difficulty in moving goods to and from Kailahun causes prices to be higher and items to often be unavailable.
During the wet season, the journey can take days or even a week. On a good, tarmac road, the distance would take perhaps an hour and a half. This has a spillover effect on the price of food commodities and other utilities. If a bag of rice is sold at one hundred and ninety thousand Leones (Le 190,000) in Kenema, for example, when it reaches Kailahun there is the likelihood that it would be sold at two hundred thousand Leones (Le 200,000) or more.
One of the drivers, Sam Sandy, a 56-year-old who has plied the route for more than a year, said, ”The bad condition of the road does not only have a negative bearing on our vehicles but perilous to our health. When you travel to and fro on this road you are forced to go for medical check-up otherwise you would be ruining your life,” he said. “And I can’t stop because I have to cater for myself and my family.”
Mr. Sandy said, considering the ill condition of the road, there is always a tussle between passengers and drivers with regards the transport fare and luggage. Whereas drivers want to recover damages
and make profit, passengers grumble about the prices charged to cover the rugged distance.
On this account Mr. Sandy said, ”We drivers plying the Kailahun road are making sacrifices at the detriment of our vehicles.” He said that the roads become more dangerous at night since there are narrow bridges older than any one of us can imagine.
Evidently and more dangerous it seems, the 74 miles distance has almost no road signs. Sharp bends and blind hills are very common. In places, the road is little more than a bumpy trail through the forest,
with ruts and potholes that scrape the bottom of vehicles. Those who break down or run out of fuel, often have to walk long distances to find help in the sparsely settled region.
Recently, a truck load with people and goods was involved in an accident in which at least 21 people died with several injured. This is just one instance of many accidents. Commuters often use commercial motorbikes which more easily ply the road but are quite expensive to meet the pocket of the lay person.
A bike rider told this press that the cost per passenger from Kenema to Kailahun is Le 40,000 and such price goes up during the rainy season.
A shop owner in Kailahun, Fallah Bindi, primarily dealing in mattresses, cement, rice and building materials, said, ”We pay Le 10,000 to transport a bag of rice from Kenema to Kailahun, and this
changes during the rainy season when the road is at its worst.” He said he tries to make special arrangements with truck drivers and owners to bring in his goods at lower prices, but even so, they cost
much more than in Kenema or Freetown.
The Chairman of the Drivers’ Union in Kailahun, Alhaji Momoh Paye, said the condition of the road has posed a lot of challenges for them in the union. They receive complaints from passengers about missing
items when there is serious breakdown. He said the Public Works Department (PWD) used to maintain the roads, ”but that has since ended and we as a people feel we have been forgotten by authorities.”
While Mr. Paye was explaining ordeals about Kailahun road, he pointed to a huge pile of banana, oranges and other fruits and said, ”All those fruits packed there are wasting here in Kailahun because people hardly find means to transport them to Kenema.”
He said even after attempts would have been made to transport them, the bad condition of the road will rot the fruits before they are got into Kenema.
In as much as the completion of the road leading to Kailahun is yet to be realized, so is the township itself powered with dust. Apparently there is no road done in Kailahun town, not even a slight attempt to put granite. The government’s district headquarter road project ongoing in the country is not yet evident in Kailahun.
Being among the biggest towns in the east after Kenema and Kono, Kailahun is deprived of basic necessities including pipe-borne water less to talk of electricity. Work is underway on the road between Kenema and Segbwema.
The Chief Administrator of Kailahun District Council Mustapha E. Koroma said the road leading to Kailahun started slow initially but has progressed considerably this year. He emphasized the ruggedness of the road especially at a point called ‘Tigo Spot’- one of the many deadly spots along Kailahun highway.
He said communities used to take it upon themselves to brush the road sides but have stopped, expecting authorities to do it for them. “People no longer brush road sides and as a result vehicles do not see at a distance when in motion,” said Mr. Koroma. “This has resulted to so many accidents in recent times.”
By Poindexter Sama
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