By Sulaiman Jalloh

Her Worship the Mayor of Freetown City Council (FCC), Yvonne Aki-Sawyer, has passionately appealed to the Government of Sierra Leone to reconsider its recent proposal to divide the capital city. The plea was voiced during a town hall meeting at the FCC auditorium on Thursday, June 26, 2025.

Mayor Aki-Sawyer highlighted the proposal’s implications, noting that Freetown occupies just 0.1% of the nation’s landmass. She stressed persistent challenges improving living conditions, ensuring affordable electricity, and providing water that demand urgent attention. “Dividing the city will foster an unjust society and strain government resources with a new council administration,” she warned, adding, in 2025, we’ve yet to receive any revenue to manage the municipality, deputy Mayor Kwaku Lewis echoed her stance, urging focus on residents’ needs in this melting pot of Sierra Leone’s ethnic groups rather than division.

Opposition Leader Hon. Abdul Kargbo called the plan a misstep, suggesting funds be redirected to bolster the ailing health and education sectors. Paul Valcasel, representing the Krio community, likened the division to South Africa’s Apartheid, advocating decentralization to decongest Freetown and spur job growth elsewhere.

Councillor Zainab from Eastern Freetown decried the lack of consultation, while speakers like Femi Claudious Cole, Samue Valcasel, and Ahmed Sahid Nasralla championed decentralization for a thriving Freetown, the consensus among leaders and residents is that splitting Freetown is counterproductive and unjustified.

Copyright –Published in Expo Times News on Monday, 30th June, 2025 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)