SLRA, RMF Disappoint President Bio
Freetown once-bustling streets is growing quieter by the day, a growing frustration is simmering beneath the surface. The reason? The appalling state of the roads within Sierra Leone’s capital city. Despite numerous promises and billions allocated over the years, the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) and the Road Maintenance Fund (RMF) have spectacularly failed to live up to their mandates leaving President Julius Maada Bio’s government red-faced before the people.
Across the municipalities of Freetown — from the densely populated East End to the commercial heart of the Central Business District, and up through the hills of the West — the roads have become virtual death traps. Potholes have transformed into gullies. Major junctions are impassable during the rainy season. Dust clouds, stagnant water, broken drainage systems, and collapsing culverts are now part of the everyday urban landscape. In some neighborhoods, even commercial motorbike riders are refusing to pass through certain areas due to safety concerns. This is not just a matter of inconvenience; it is a national embarrassment. The condition of Freetown’s roads does not only affect transportation it cripples businesses, delays in emergency responses, increases the cost of goods, and undermines investor confidence. Even more painfully, it threatens the safety and dignity of citizens who are forced to navigate this urban decay every day.
The citizens are asking the following questions: where is the SLRA? What is the RMF doing with the funds it receives annually? Why are contracts awarded if there is no oversight or timely execution? And most crucially, why must President Bio, a leader who has pledged infrastructural development and transformation in his 2018 manifesto, be let down by agencies under his own administration? The silence and inaction from the SLRA and RMF are not just disappointing; but it is tantamount to unaccountability and non-transparency as they are servants of the people. SLRA and RMF are setting a dangerous precedent. Additionally, they are eroding public trust in government and opening the doors to critics who argue that institutions in Sierra Leone are more concerned with bureaucracy than with delivering real, and tangible results for the people.
If the SLRA and RMF continue on this path of lethargy, they risk becoming symbols of failure in a government that has otherwise made strides in education, digital governance, and youth empowerment. But bad roads show no signs of moving national development forward. The time for excuses has long passed. Freetown needs urgent, strategic, and sustained road rehabilitation. The government must demand results or shake up the leadership of these road agencies. The people of Freetown deserve better. And President Bio, who has put his reputation on the line for Sierra Leone’s development, deserves better too.
