The Kush Menace Continues to claim 100s of lives in Freetown
By Musa Kamara
Yvonne Aki Sawyer, Her Worship the Mayor of Freetown
“I am compelled to draw your immediate attention to the alarming increase of corpses on the Streets of Freetown which are, anecdotally, linked to the consumption of Kush.” An extract from the Mayor of the Freetown City County Yvonne Aki Sawyer’s letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs Morie Lengor on the rampant death of Kush victims on the streets of Freetown.
Resident of Freetown and other major cities have to endure the disturbing smell of corpse lying on the streets and in their communities. “This corpse has been here for two days, hence we are calling on government to please come and remove it here,” a community member explains. But she is not the only one in this situation as many people have to endure the decomposed smell of humans. “The way the dead bodies are lined up in our community is worrisome and sickening, we are calling on the attention of government to please come and remove them here,” another community member states. Sometimes dead bodies will be left for a week on the street before removal.
This is the situation in the country, currently, where in some cases some of the victims start smelling even before their deaths. This medium spoke to one of the Kush victims who formally reside in Kenema,East of Sierra Leone who explains his ordeals after relocation to Freetown..’ Upon arrival to Freetown, I embarked on gathering plastics on one of the dumpsites in the East of Freetown. As I speak, one of my leg is rotten and I am calling on government to amputate it because of the severe pain ” he cried out. Unfortunately, he passed away two days after this interview.
With this situation and similarly many more One could be tempted to ask how often do Kush victims die on the streets of Freetown and other major cities? Sorie A. Kamara deputy two, Health and Environment Department Freetown City Council confirmed that from January 1st, to August 17th 2025, they have buried One Hundred and Twenty-Six (126) victims that died on the streets of the capital Freetown from Kush intake. The toll rate is alarming during the rainy season “In the last three months, from May to August of this year, we have buried 47, 10 Females and 37 Males,” Sorie added. But this situation is not just limited to Freetown as the Chairman for the Western Rural District, Kasho J. Holland Cole explained their experience and challenges in picking up and burying Kush victims. “From January to August 17 2025, we buried 66, 55 Male and 10 Females” Mr. Cole confirmed. From pictures displayed by these councils of the victims, it is obvious that most of them are in their early 20s.
Professor Sahr Foday, Executive Director, National Public Health Agency
There has not been any postmortem report to establish the causes of deaths of these young people on the street, but they die with conditions that are seen on Kush addict. “Most of them decomposed before death, some have sore on their feet and body, we pick some with Kush by their sides or even in their hands.” Mohamed T. Bangura revealed. Bangura is a metropolitan Police at the Freetown City Council in charge with the responsibility to pick dead bodies on the street of Freetown.
In the case of the Freetown and Western Rural District Councils, the councils are the first points of call when dead bodies are discovered on the street. But according to the Public Relations Officer at the Freetown City Council, Koma Hassan Kamara, the council does not have the capacity to collect all the dead bodies on the street on Freetown. “We only have one Ambulance as Council, so it is not enough to collect all the dead bodies that suffices per day.” She opined. Responding to the challenges the Freetown City Council get in clearing corpse from the streets, Metropolitan Police, Mohamed T. Bangura, said that they most times use tricycle meant for garbage collection to collect dead bodies.
Campaign for Human Rights Development International as a human Rights and Development Civil Society in Sierra Leone, its Chief Executive Officer, Abdul M. Fatorma, describes the situation as human rights issue. “It has a serious Human Rights Implications, I view this as a negligence from government to protect its citizens.” Fartoma states. He believes that government has failed to perform its sacred duty in protecting the lives of citizens by not preventing them from Kush intake and from not stopping the importation and distribution of Kush in the country.
In 2024, Government established a national task force on drug and substance abuse with five key mandates; Community engagement, Public information and Risk Communication, Care and Treatment, Rehabilitation, Reintegration and Law Enforcement. All these pillars are to support the fight against Kush and substance abuse in the country. The task force led by Professor Foday Sahr said that they are concerned about the situation and that they are working to coordinate government agencies to support in the fight.” Government can’t do it alone, we need every citizen to support the fight,” Professor Foday laments
Section 5, Subsection 2 Paragraph -b-of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, charges government with the responsibility to protect the welfare and security of its citizens. This warrants me to ask the Vice Chair Person of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone Victor Lansana Koroma whether they are concerned or not. According to him, in 2024 they put out a press statement calling on the attention of government to the situation with some recommendations namely a state of emergency on Kush which according to him the government did. The current trend is a surprise to them as a commission, hence calling on government to address the situation which they regard as human rights concern.
A kush meeting point in Freetown with zombie users
With the rampant bodies of Kush victims on the street, one could be tempted to ask about the intervention of the task force on substance on drug and substance abuse. “We have built rehabilitation centers across the country and have graduated four sets of cohorts from these centers accounting for about five hundred youth’s victims, it is not an easy fight, but government is committed to saving the lives of young people,” says Professor Foday Sahr task force lead.
With all these efforts, what is the missing link to a state that Kush is ravaging young people? Well according to Abdul M. Fartoma, Chief Executive of CHRDI believes that the lack of drug use policy at the Drug Law Enforcement Agency is the missing link in the fight against drug and substance abuse in the country. The drug use policy should have helped in regulating the use of drug and its importation and distribution. The current drug law was passed in haste after the cocaine plane landing at Lungi Airport in 2008, hence the provisions in this law can’t address the current drug trend. But as it stands, there is no sign of amending it.
Note: I used the Western Urban (Freetown) and Western Rural (Waterloo and its surroundings) due to accessibility of data and population. And the Kush death in this report only captured January to August 17 2025 as this report wae compiled between this period.
Copyright –Published in Expo Magazine, September-October 2025 Edition Vol.3, No.6, (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)
